The Dubai Hangout

The Surf Club offered me an escape from the supercilious crowd that Dubai most often attracts.  When you're in an environment you enjoy being in, everything else seems to fall into place.  Maybe that's why I travel so much- a quest for the perfect spot. 




View of the beach through the Surf Club gate

The club was located right behind Umm Sequime Beach, commonly referred to as "Sunset Beach" because every night it held the most remarkable sunset (no rain in the desert remember). 

Still, my favorite time at the club was first thing in the morning.  Anjie (a surfing coworker of mine) and I used to wake up bright and early to beat the crowd.  Most days in the summer the waves were only just big enough to catch using a longboard.  We would grab florescent foamies and head out for some fun in the sun.



Pick a board



Anjie and I



Surf instructor Eddie from Sri Lanka and myself



Days it was too flat for even the longboards were set aside for paddle boarding.  The club was right next to the Burj Al Arab, which in my opinion is the most exquisite piece of architecture in Dubai. It's the fourth largest hotel in the world shaped like a sail boat drifting off to sea.  I'm also a little bias because the engineer was Canadian Rick Gregory.  Tom Wright was the brilliant British architect behind the masterpiece.



Anjie paddling in beside the Burj Al Arab



Since the hotel was built on its own man made island 300 meters offshore, you can actually paddle 360 degrees around the hotel.  Often times we would lay on our boards half way through and sunbath in the tropical blue waters until the lifeguards on the beach told us to move along. I didn't see why it was a hazard, maybe there were falling beer bottles coming from the windows of post-brunch hotel guests.  Regardless, those were some of my favorite days in Dubai.