A recent paddle around Lulu Island found us chasing 4 dolphins that added another hour to the 3 hour paddle....totally worth it!


Here are the dolphins:






out paddling and a close up of the closest thing I'll ever have to a tattoo...i think...here's my recent henna

The Kandora is the official dress for Emirati men and what a great way to mix a little local culture into stand up paddleboarding then having a Kandora SUP challenge. Surf Dubai hosted the event and we took first place in the relay with our friends Marc and Bonnie and managed to finish near the top in the individual race. Unfortunately, only the men were allowed to wear the Kandoras and there were no abayas for the few women that participated. Great fun and looking forward to getting the ball rolling with some more events here in the UAE.

While water polo in Abu Dhabi is non existent ( I know I should be working on getting that going), Dubai has a club that is growing. We went up there a few weekends ago for their first inaugural sea side polo tourney. It was great to get back in the water and play and I think the salt in the water helped us float a little better compensating for our lack of 'polo legs'. The only problem were a few waves that came through from the wake of boats passing by, but other than that a great setup along the Dubai coastline!

Yes they do have ice cream trucks over here in the UAE ! You won't find them driving around where we live in the city, but out in the little gated communities where our friends Pete and Christine live, you can hear them coming down the street playing music just like at home. We just had to get one!

A long awaited weekend away finally was cashed in last month as we visited the Miramar Resort in Fujairah. Fujairah is about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Abu Dhabi (with boards on top) and on the other side of the country where the mountains meet the sea. Nice change of scenery from our city life! It was an extremely late anniversary present but we still acted as if it was that weekend and managed to get a cake, a fruit platter and some sparkling....cider. We spent two nights hanging out on the beach, snorkeling around the reef where we saw a shark, some giant squid and lots of fish. On the way out we stopped at Khorfakkan and found some new places to paddle and a few friendly turtles to follow.

One of the newest golf courses in Abu Dhabi, what views...and a ton of sand which my ball usually loves to find! You can usually see dolphins just off the coast swimming :) Been playing with a ladies group each week, the cheapest way to get out and play. It's something I didn't think I'd start playing until later in life, but really enjoying learning the game.

Now that school is done for the summer, it's time to catch up on the BLOG! I'll head back in September for one more year and then finish up in June, definitely enjoying it and managing to still get pretty good grades (yes I'm still being pretty anal with those just like always!) We've been busy the past couple months and are preparing now to head back to the US. Nick's still enjoying school, he did some extra classes this spring in the evenings which kept him very busy!

Here are a few posts of what we've been doing in the UAE lately, of course a lot more SUP'ing adventures, some rock climbing, we took a weekend trip to Fujairah which was great, helped out with the AD International Triathlon (next year maybe we'll enter instead), saw Harry Connick Jr. for free (thanks to all of our FB friends), played ocean water polo in Dubai, finally got out on our friend Mac's boat and got to enjoy the AD islands and do some SUP wake surfing, have done some desert trail riding and been working on the golf game (Nick's been working while I play golf, oh well some one has to, it's work too!)...

Here's to more summer fun ahead!

We spent two weeks in Sydney catching up with friends and family....it's been a long time since we were back. It was well into summer, mostly sunny a few rainy days, but coming from AD we don't mind a little rain every once a while. Nick remembered how to drive on the wrong side of the road, we had our favorites like Paul's Hamburgers, did a massive walk from Maroubra to Bondi when the waves were incredible to watch (most of the beaches were closed), SUP'd at Cronulla Beach and in the Harbour where we picked out our multi million dollar home for the future, went surfing down the coast, saw old colleagues, met up with friends and ate a lot of food! It went by way to fast, but enjoyed every bit of it.

Nick had to work during Christmas and New Years, but thankfully they fell on the weekend so he didn't have to go to class on those days, future years will be different :( The middle of January was his semester break and we headed back to Sydney, first time in over 3 years!

What better way to travel back there, then in an upgraded business class seat! Thanks to Nick and of course the ticket agent at Emirates, we enjoyed the long trip with extra comfort and class. Originally, we had booked emergency exit seats and they were confirmed until we got to check in and we had been put way at the back in the middle. After a bit of complaining just wanting our original seats back, the lady had told us that coach was full, but to come back in an hour and we might be able to get business. Well, we didn't hold our breath, but we did hope for the best and she came through for us on this one!

Everything was great, on the big A380, yes this is the one with the bar on board. It's hard to go back once you've spent a long haul flight this way, but unfortunately unless we find a full proof way to get upgraded each time, I think this was a once off...at least for now!

Our friend Tara won a competition in the National newspaper to play tennis with Rafael Nadal, lucky her. Well not so lucky for her actually, she HAD to work :( Instead, she ever so graciously gave me the opportunity to spend the morning on the court playing with Nadal. I suppose there were a few other people there as well. This was all part of the Capitala Tennis Tournament in Abu Dhabi with Federer and Nadal battling it out for the Championship. It was an hour clinic, where we did a few drills, got a few points past him and had a little q and a after. Very cool! Definitely a highlight of the year and it appeared at the very last minute of 2009! In the video I'm off to a rocky start, but manage to get one by him at the end, it wasn't so hard!