Beach Club

One of the nice things about living here is that during the months of good weather we can enjoy the weekends. We never have to think about what the weather will be like, we know what it will be like! As reported, we do get one or two days of bad weather, but mostly it’s bright and sunny.

If you want to enjoy some time on a beach in Abu Dhabi you have two options.

1. Go to a public beach
2. Join a beach / Health Club

There are really only two public beaches in Abu Dhabi. The first is called Ras al Akhdar and is to be found round the back of the Emirates Palace. It sounds very nice, but really there are no amenities here, but despite this it does get busy at the weekends. There is a bus route that takes you there and access to the beach is free. This beach will shortly disappear as the whole area is being redeveloped as the new Presidential Palace.

The second is the public beach on The Corniche (the City Sea Front). Actually, it’s a very nice beach which has recently been redeveloped. The sand is nice, the calm breakwater is great for swimming in and there are plenty of food outlets/toilets/changing areas etc. There is a free area in the central part, which also has volleyball and football pitches laid out for public use, and paid areas for females and families.

The Corniche Beach being redeveloped last year


Andrew Henderson / The National


You can pay to go into the family section (as long as you are not a male on your ow​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​n​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​) - I’m trying to recall but I think it is about 12Dhs (2 quid). You can also pay extra to have use of some rather nice sunbeds and umbrellas - c.30dhs (£5). You can even pay extra to have a sun bed on the “front row” by the waterside. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The beach sunbeds and umbrellas





So, now to the second option - a health/beach club. These are mainly within the hotels. Many of them are accessible to non-members on a day rate, others are either not available to non-members at all or only mid-week. Some of the prices are as follows:-

• Beach Rotana - 150 Dhs (£25)
• Intercontinental - 115 Dhs (£19)
• Le Meridien - 195 Dhs (£32)
• Hilton - 160 (£27)
• Sheraton - c.180 Dhs (£30)

As you can see, these are pretty steep - also bearing in mind that The Hilton is really the only one that has a nice view with no cranes or construction noise. Unless you live close by one of these, you may as well drive to the public beach if you are going to be an occasional user.

We have a membership at The Sheraton, for a few reasons. First, as a member of staff at The Corniche Hospital, Caz gets a 30% discount. It’s still expensive, but with the discount it isn’t extortionate. Second, we can walk to the Sheraton in 10 minutes. Third, I can also carry out my new year resolution of going to the gym (which is included). Since the new year I have been going in the mornings midweek, when I am not going to Dubai, so 3-4 times a week. So at least we get reasonable usage from it. Although our visits to the beach will reduce when the really hot weather comes. They do however have an indoor spa with sauna, jacuzzi, steam room etc, so maybe we will chill there for a while instead.



The beach front at The Sheraton





The Pool Area





The Gym

..and the big news of the day is.....

...we are moving home!!!! Or as they say over here we are "shifting" to another apartment. We really have had enough of life in Mohammed bin Zayed City, so we are moving to the City. Lots of people think we are mad because of the higher rents, therefore smaller places that are affordable and the total lack of parking in most areas. However, we need to feel like we are "connected" to this place and not isolated as we are now. If you look out of our window you see nothing except maybe someone arriving that lives upstairs. In the City there is life. There are people. There are shops and restaurants etc etc. We have none of this at the moment.


So, we have found an apartment which is right near Caroline's work, so she can walk there - perfect! It means we can dispense with one car, Caz can walk to work and when I am doing business in the City, which is 75% of the time, I am right there amongst it too. Here's the location of the tower....unfortunately no sea view for us!



Also when we have visitors they can easily walk to places or get cabs to go anywhere. No cabs ever come past our place in MBZC. The apartment is secured with a deposit, the contract will start 1st May, although we may not actually move in until a while after. Our current lease doesn't expire until July 5th, but our current landlord has agreed to release us 1 month early. We will be back in the UK from May 28th-June 6th, so basically we will definitely have to have moved before then.

So watch this space.........

Maternity Madness

Caroline has complained on more than one occasion that I have entitled the Blog "Neil & Caz" but basically I write it and it's nearly all about me! Well here's one of her stories. Caz works in a local maternity hospital as a midwife. She could easily fill a blog herself just on what happens there! Each ward has a "VIP" suite to which eligible expectant mothers are invited by Sheikha Fatima bint Murbarak (Sheikh Zayed's widow) on hand written invites in gold ink. Now when one of these local VIPs has a baby it is like nothing you will have seen before. Firstly the room is decked out in furnishing brought from home including (I kid you not) chandeliers (!), rugs, cupboards etc. When the baby arrives a big party is held in the room with all her lady friends and family. A massive feast is brought to the room and outside the room is filled with balloons, chocolates and other decorations. Like the examples below:-

Now, she thought she'd seen it all until this week..... Outside one of the rooms, in the hospital corridor, appeared a cage with two live white doves! They were left there all day and overnight with no food or drink and a small square of astro turf. Caz felt sorry for them and sneaked a dish of water into the cage! Anyway, here's the evidence:-