Missing seaweed, sea slugs and natural beaches, I decided to walk the entire stretch of Jumeirah Beach (from Jumeirah Beach Hotel to Mercato Mall) one day. It didn't occur to me that it was a Friday till I reached the beach and noticed the chaos there.
The stretch of beach next to Jumeirah Beach Hotel was packed with people. Young and old, Caucasian, Indian, Pakistani, Middle Eastern… There were kids picking seashells and building sandcastles...
Half naked men and bikini clad women soaking up the sun, and two men playing cricket, not bothered about the fact that the tennis ball they were batting might hit a child or passerby.
Then there were hunky surfer dudes, either riding the waves or checking out girls.
White sails dotted the horizon, with the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club not too far from this beach.
I walked to the far end of this beach and found nothing. There was nothing on the shore that was alive (except for the humans of course) – only scattered seashells plus a few seagulls soaring above.
The beach is divided by a marina, cordoned off by a rock wall and barbed wire. The rich and elite of Dubai were enjoying the ‘weekend’ too, taking their boats and yachts out for a ‘swim’.
The next stretch of beach I came across was deserted, as it was not as artificially flat and white as the one before.
However, I still did not spot anything here except for vacant shells and broken bits of coral.
After a while, an Indian couple came by, and to my wonder, performed some sort of Hindu ritual right before my eyes. The lady removed a large, wooden statue of a reclining Ganesha from a bag, placed it in the sand, and walked around it three times. Then she scattered the few flowers she was holding in her hands over the statue. The man with her then picked the statue up and threw it into the sea.
The waves of course washed the statue back ashore, so the man threw the statue back again, a few times, without luck. Finally, the couple climbed the rock bund at the end of the beach and threw Ganesha into the open sea.
After the couple left, an Arab couple arrived, choosing this more secluded beach to set up their ‘payung’ and do a bit of sunbathing.
This stretch of beach also ended with a man-made rock wall, separating it from another marina. So I continued, till I came to the next beach, and the next, and the next, till the sun set and my legs could not take me any further.
My finds for the day…
Sand collar of a moon snail
Sand Star (dead)
Limpet?
Cuttlefish "skeleton"
The beaches are so ‘clean’ that you don’t even see seaweed, so spotting an occasional sliver of algae became some sort of “Desperate Search For Weed”.
Sargassum sp.
Next ‘discovery beach walk’ - the other stretch of beach, from Umm Suqeim to Jebel Ali. I hope to find more there, as there used to be a marine sanctuary at the far tip of Jebel Ali (closer to Abu Dhabi). The Palm Jebel Ali is being developed at this same location (taking over the marine SANCTUARY itself), so this means more walls, barbed wire, tighter security, a lot of sedimentation and maybe even devastation of marine life.
The stretch of beach next to Jumeirah Beach Hotel was packed with people. Young and old, Caucasian, Indian, Pakistani, Middle Eastern… There were kids picking seashells and building sandcastles...
Half naked men and bikini clad women soaking up the sun, and two men playing cricket, not bothered about the fact that the tennis ball they were batting might hit a child or passerby.
Then there were hunky surfer dudes, either riding the waves or checking out girls.White sails dotted the horizon, with the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club not too far from this beach.
I walked to the far end of this beach and found nothing. There was nothing on the shore that was alive (except for the humans of course) – only scattered seashells plus a few seagulls soaring above.
The beach is divided by a marina, cordoned off by a rock wall and barbed wire. The rich and elite of Dubai were enjoying the ‘weekend’ too, taking their boats and yachts out for a ‘swim’.
The next stretch of beach I came across was deserted, as it was not as artificially flat and white as the one before.
However, I still did not spot anything here except for vacant shells and broken bits of coral.
After a while, an Indian couple came by, and to my wonder, performed some sort of Hindu ritual right before my eyes. The lady removed a large, wooden statue of a reclining Ganesha from a bag, placed it in the sand, and walked around it three times. Then she scattered the few flowers she was holding in her hands over the statue. The man with her then picked the statue up and threw it into the sea.
The waves of course washed the statue back ashore, so the man threw the statue back again, a few times, without luck. Finally, the couple climbed the rock bund at the end of the beach and threw Ganesha into the open sea.After the couple left, an Arab couple arrived, choosing this more secluded beach to set up their ‘payung’ and do a bit of sunbathing.
This stretch of beach also ended with a man-made rock wall, separating it from another marina. So I continued, till I came to the next beach, and the next, and the next, till the sun set and my legs could not take me any further.
My finds for the day…
Sand collar of a moon snail
Sand Star (dead)
Limpet?
Cuttlefish "skeleton"The beaches are so ‘clean’ that you don’t even see seaweed, so spotting an occasional sliver of algae became some sort of “Desperate Search For Weed”.
Sargassum sp.
Next ‘discovery beach walk’ - the other stretch of beach, from Umm Suqeim to Jebel Ali. I hope to find more there, as there used to be a marine sanctuary at the far tip of Jebel Ali (closer to Abu Dhabi). The Palm Jebel Ali is being developed at this same location (taking over the marine SANCTUARY itself), so this means more walls, barbed wire, tighter security, a lot of sedimentation and maybe even devastation of marine life.
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