Fujairah, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

After two days at sea out of Mumbai, India we arrived on time this morning in Fujairah. We hovered at sea and didn't go into port as expected. We figured there was an issue with swell that would likely turn our stop into another day at sea. The port was actually closed according to what we were told due to high winds. After hovering for an hour the port opened and we went in late. We were due to leave at 2:00 pm and it was delayed until 3:00 pm to allow enough time for all the shore excursions. We were booked for a relaxing day at the beach at Le Meriden Al Aqah Beach Resort a large place with a lot of westerners in bikinis along side Muslims in the pool dressed from head to toe. Because of a long 45 minute drive each way we only had two hours so we had a nice swim in the pool, the ocean was too cold. We had some chicken satay, calamari, and a club sandwich with egg in it. Weather is moderate this farm north and it was actually cold to us this morning at 75 degrees with a light wind. Keep in mind that our last weeks were very hot especially India at 105 degrees for a high. We had Sir Bani Yas Island up next but are skipping that due to some shore erosion and nothing much there in favor of an extra day and an overnight in Abu Dhabi. We have a night time special excursion to the Emirates Palace Hotel. They actually have an ATM on site that dispenses GOLD BARS in several sizes from about $140 US and up. The machine updates the price of gold every ten minutes. Tomorrow we are slated for a Dune Bashing experience where you go out into the desert in SUV's and deflate the tires and our driver will try to scare the yahoo out of us. Dinner tonight with Emma Lee and her Mum Jude on the pool deck. Should be nice now with the cooler weather. I don't think it got above 90 today.

Typical Gas station

Le Meriden Al Aqah Beach Resort

The beach at said resort

There were thousands of these oil storage units in port and hundreds of oil tankers waiting offshore to fill up.

My arm after the Indian Mosquitoes got done with me.

India's only aircraft carrier in port in Mumbai. If you can see the front it is a "ramp" type carrier unlike ours that have a catapult. This was of interest because there was a long article in the Jaipur times about this ship and the one China has that is like it. They are both trying to build the more modern type without much luck so far.