Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Yesterday was Muscat, Oman - boy, is that ever a bleak, dreary country. The head guy is spending money like crazy trying to make it into something before the oil runs out - supposedly in 25 years. Good luck with that.
This morning we sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, an event for which I actually got up early. There is a persistent haze that may consist of wind-borne dust, visibility is diminished out past a couple of miles. Nevertheless, one can see the outlines of both shorelines and a lot of ship traffic in the channel - it's a busy sea lane for sure.
We'll sail that strait again tomorrow early evening. This strait is where Iran would shut down sea traffic in the event of hostilities happening, say with Israel or the U.S. I wondered if we'd see any naval vessels here - not so far.
Tomorrow we take a look at Dubai. It appears to be a city on a sand spit, with a man-made harbor. We are told Dubai nearly went bankrupt a few years ago. The haze creates buttermilk sky conditions, makes the place look un appealing. More later....
Later ... the next day, actually. We had a cloudy day in Dubai, it actually sprinkled on us in the desert. Not real rain but enough to see spots on the pavement. So it wasn't hot, just warm.
We took the Big Bus Tour, the formal name of the hop-off, hop-on bus in Dubai. While costly, it is a good deal as it includes everything - museum entry, river cruise, park entry, etc. Almost anything you want to hop off and do is included, except perhaps shopping.
If you had a whole day to ride this bus you could do a bunch of stuff; maybe see the whole city. Of course, if you know you only want to do one particular thing, taking a cab and paying admission might well be cheaper, and quicker too.
