Month: May 2017

It wasn’t supposed to take so long.  It definitely wasn’t supposed to be so difficult.  We looked at finding a boat as something between buying a used car and buying a home. It isn’t like either of those things.  The learning curve is steep, and a screw up is a very expensive screw up. Before we moved here we considered a boat purchase as something we could use not only while living here, but also into our retirement. Once we arrived, it became apparent that for many reasons it made a whole lot of sense. So, we started looking around a bit more seriously. There were and are so many options in terms of type and style and amenities on boats. For us it makes more sense to have a power boat. If we want to spend a long period of time on it, the boat would need things like a decent kitchen, comfortable living and sleeping quarters, and more than one bathroom. Range is also important. The more research we did, the more we came to believe that to meet all of those needs and in terms of bang for the buck, a Power Catamaran was the way for us to go.

So that narrowed the search. More research and more time spent trying to determine the right questions to ask and the right design to look for.  Still more to find an amenable broker to help in our search, and to walk us through the process.  We found somebody we liked to work with and we began the search in earnest.  Finding the right boat is not easy.  We considered and rejected 40-50 boats along the way for one reason or another.  Then we found one we thought we loved.  We asked questions, LOTS of questions.  We hired an expert to look it over for us, and flew to France to be there as he did his inspection.

She was a beauty.  Tons of storage, a cross beam master suite with king bed, only 600 hours on the twin Volvo Penta engines.  Very nice.  Except… that little part the owner was trying to hide.  The fire suppression system had gone off.  Our inspector discovered this and yet found no evidence of fire.  He did however, believe that the powder may have been sucked into the engines and advised us to have that checked.  The owner balked at that but nonetheless we followed the expert’s instructions and found that the port engine was seriously corroded and not likely to last much longer. The local broker claimed to have no idea and apologized for suggesting we come to look.  Yeah OK.  So… Strike One.  We turned our trip into just vacation play time, then came back home to begin the search again.

We added a few questions to our pre-trip list and kept looking.  Nothing suitable was coming up.  We were beginning to come into boating season, and the inventory was drying up. We even looked at a few monohulls, and found one we liked.  Just as we were beginning inquiries into it, the auto search request I had for Power Cats dropped a new listing into my email.  It was a boat we had seen before, and had initially shortlisted.  At the time (many months previous) our broker had inquired to find out that the owner had decided to keep her.  Boat brokers, like car salesman, often do not take down old ads, especially if the boat is nice.  They have been known to run them for years in order to pull in inquiries, and then point buyers at something else.  You probably know that tactic as Bait and Switch. The listing we had originally looked at was over 5 years old. That was early in the search and I had since then learned how to do multiple searches in order to determine – more or less – if a boat was truly available or not.

This listing I had was brand new (same day) and showed a different selling broker.  I reached out to our guy who immediately inquired about it.  After a week of back and forth we made a contingency offer, and arrangements to go to Tunisia for inspection. The inspection was very positive, and after a bit of back and forth on who was to do what etc, we came to an agreement. Fast forward to the past few harrowing weeks trying to close the deal. The broker we had hired and liked so much had left the company. Our deal was handed over to the managing broker who it turns out, is a complete A#* and no help whatsoever in terms of walking us through the final stages of this deal. I was at wits end, and called my dad for help.  At his insistence, we hired an attorney to help us cross the finish line. I haven’t ever before been so happy to speak with a lawyer.  I’d managed to get the paperwork done properly and in order. I just had no clue how to make it all formal and have everybody in the right place at the right time to get it done in a completely unquestionable way. There were people on 3 continents, 5 time zones, 7 locations that were involved in getting this done.  But now, as of last week she is ours.  Whew!

So let me introduce you to the newest member of our family, Tao 1.  Those of you who know my history will laugh at this name. Seems I cannot seem to shake the Tao! She is in great shape. She’s 45′ long with a 22′ beam.  Twin inboard Yanmars have only 800 hours, and the Genset is relatively new with only 86 hours. She has two 16,000 BTU air conditioners (mandatory for here) which are reversible into heaters should we take her anyplace cooler, maybe as part 1 of the overall retirement plan.

    

The layout is completely different from the first boat we looked at and we like it better. There is much more living space. The design offers 3 separate living areas (two outside and one inside) in addition to 4 berths and 4 heads.  The down side is that this boat has less overall storage space. The first one had copious amounts of storage, but that resulted in relatively cramped living space. We can deal with that difference, since the one place storage is greater on this boat is in the Kitchen. We have a full sized refrigerator and freezer, as well as more counter space, and an overall larger, better laid out kitchen (sorry – Galley.)  There’s also a bar area (looking at you SBA)!  We have fishing pole holder (and a few substantial fishing poles that came along with the deal.) The leather captain’s chair swivels and leans back, and comes with a footrest. So it can double as Larry’s easy chair.  Maybe. 

The boat has had only one previous owner, and comes with all original manuals, maintenance documents, and specs on the custom features he had put in.  These include the hood over the stove, an enlarged hard top flybridge bimini, and the fishing pole holders mentioned earlier. 

She is on her way here, sailing out of Tunisia for a port in Italy hopefully tomorrow. In Italy they will load her onto a custom made cradle on a specialty transport ship that will sail for Dubai on the 7th. Depending on conditions and the number of stops en route, she should be the here before the end of June.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now you know why I was taking classes to get my Skipper’s license.  I am officially legal to drive this baby!  Larry is working with the school to try and make classes fit into his work or vacation schedule so he can do so as well.  The school is in Dubai, and the schedule I had was killer, especially when combined with the daily commute back and forth.  He is trying to create a more reasonable scenario, and it sounds as though it will be possible for him to do so by splitting up the classes.

There are a couple of things we have to do when she gets here.  Though she comes with a black “glare cover” that decreases the brightness from sun and reflection while you are at sea.  We need a full cover like this one… (same model but not our boat) in order for our a/c to be able to defeat the sun.  There is a guy here who custom makes them in 2-3 days that we are already in contact with.  No clue what that entails!  We DO have a cover like this one for the cockpit though… (Also same model but not our boat)

Clearly we have guest space.  Friends of ours are invited and in fact encouraged to come visit! The Reservation Books are now open and we already have takers in late October and Late November into early December. Before you say anything about the area, please read about the UAE (3rd safest country in the world) and in particular Abu Dhabi (Safest city in the world) and then decide to come see for yourself.  The best time to come is between October and April when the weather is spectacular, and there is a whole lot to do and see. So think about it. In the meantime, here are a few more photos.  All of these are our boat, even this staged one taken by the seller for his ad…

 

I apologize. It has been a while since my last post, and I promise to tell you more on that in a Tuesday post this week. For now I want to tell you about this time of year in the Arabic world.

Today begins my first Ramadan in the Middle East. I arrived last year at the end of Ramadan, during the period known as Eid. Ramadan in essentially the holy month. Working on a lunar calendar, the exact dates of it change every year, moving forward more or less 11 days on our calendar each year.
Ramadan is a time of fasting, self-reflection and prayer. It celebrates the time that Prophet Muhammad received the initial revelations that became the Quran. Muslims resist all food and drink during daylight hours for 30 days. In addition, they pray 5 times daily, refrain from all impure behavior, and increase charitable acts and donations. The belief is that by directing your attention away from worldly activities and into religious ones, this month of restraint and prayer will purify the body and spirit, and bring you closer to God. It is thought that by observing and complying with the rules, they will reap maximum reward at their Judgement Day. Detachment from worldly pleasures and reminding each other of the suffering of those less fortunate is believed to be recognized by God. I find this remarkably similar to the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when in the Christian world, prayer, charitable donations, and family time all increase. It’s very much the same thought process (without the timed and publicly broadcast prayer reminders.) The standard greeting when you encounter people is either “Ramadan Mubarak” meaning congratulations it’s Ramadan or “Ramadan Kareem” which means Blessed or Generous Ramadan.

During Ramadan, many restaurants are not open during daylight hours, everybody’s work hours are shortened, and allowances for prayer time that are not normally made, are for Ramadan. There is not a standard for Ramadan business hours, so each business creates their own. In Larry’s case, his work load will go from 40-45 hours per week during a normal work week, down to 30-35. Many people will work less than that. I cannot imagine another way to do this. Who could sanely and safely operate without food or water all day and still work a 40-50 hour week? Especially during a long summer day? We are talking about 14 hours of daylight right now, and we haven’t yet reached the longest day of the year! During the remaining 10 hours, they eat and sleep. Ok maybe they sleep some during the day too (I would) but not everybody has the schedule availability to do so. Time off work is spent preparing the evening feast (called Iftar – which literally translates to break fast).

The Iftar feast begins at the time of the evening call to prayer. The feasts are HUGE! The ones offered by local restaurants easily rival the decadent buffet brunches that the UAE is known for (but without the alcohol). The food is abundant and plentiful, and the meal can last for hours. Much like the American tradition of Thanksgiving, it is a time for family and friends old and new to come join in and share the bounty.

For an expat, Ramadan means you must remember not to eat or drink in public during daylight hours. So that translates to, no water bottles on your walks along the Corniche, no French fry snagging in your car, no popcorn at the movie matinee, and no mid-morning beverage with your book at the local coffeehouse. There are exceptions. At The British Club for example, there are indoor restaurants (where doors can be closed, curtains drawn, etc,) that will allow you to enjoy your morning beverage, or grab a full breakfast after the sun comes up. I am told by the old timers here that the rules have eased up dramatically in the past 2-3 years. Even as recently as 5 years ago it was not the case. Nobody was allowed to eat anywhere in public, and all liquor stores were closed. Expats had to find out which places they could very literally sneak into in order to have a meal in a back room. Expats who have been here for 10-20 years speak fondly of a Chinese restaurant here in AD in which they could order the “special” tea, and enjoy some wine with dinner that was “camouflaged” in a teapot.

These days, workplaces now have a designated room that can close off where non-Muslims can go and have a midday meal at the job site. Some public restaurants are open, especially those in hotels that cater to tourists. As stated above The Club has been granted permission to serve food in designated locations (still no booze until after sunset). These are all changes that the local government has made in order to acknowledge that not all residents are participating in the same religious beliefs.

A friend of mine pointed out today that during Christmas, one of the major celebrations of the Christian faith, the local malls, restaurants, and shops were highly decorated, and traditional western style meals were offered in order to make us feel welcomed and honored. I feel that as guests in their country, it is the least we can do to reciprocate, and honor their traditions as well. I will drink my morning beverage in the privacy of my own home. Or maybe at the club in a private room after yoga class. But definitely not in public.

Tune in Tuesday for exciting news and photos….

Ask any local what they like about where they live, and you almost always will get a ‘pro’ list, but you are also likely to get a ‘con’ list along with it.  Such is life here in the Middle East.  As with most things, I choose to focus on the positives.  Though to be honest the speed with which the weather has turned in the past 2 weeks makes it a bit difficult right now.  The good news is that with each day more and more faces become familiar to me and vice versa, so I am settling in to being a ‘regular’ in the places I frequent.  The upside of that is that I get invitations to see places and do things that I would otherwise not know about.  I get to learn more about this country we live in.

For example, in the past couple of weeks I have made 2 trips to Dubai just for fun.  The first Dubai trip was midweek into Old Dubai with a few women from yoga class at the Club.  We took a boat ride up Dubai ‘creek’ on a small covered boat called an abra.  These are the traditional style of boats that have been used to transport people and goods for ages there.  After our boat ride we had a nice lunch over the water and then wandered through the old souk.  I wasn’t in the market for anything in particular, but 2 of the ladies I was with made some very nice purchases for themselves and their families.  That was one of the last cool days I remember, and the breeze made it a very enjoyable day.

The following weekend I made the same trip, only this time with my husband.  He had seen the photos and wanted to get there before the weather got too hot.  I think we barely squeaked it in, though hot is really relative over here.  Truthfully it is already hot.  Way hot.  But not too hot to function hot… yet.  He and I shared an abra ride, and then opted for the air conditioned Dubai Mall instead of the souk.

Things to know about the Dubai Mall:  It is right next door and connected to the Burj Khalifa (the giant building from my previous Dubai post).  It is the 5^th largest mall in the world and houses the Dubai Aquarium, which is the biggest suspended aquarium in the world.  You can see the fish swimming through the glass as you are doing your shopping.  We opted to go inside.  Like many aquarium of this size, there is a glass tunnel you walk through that surrounds you with underwater life.  This guy stopped to say hello.

Our admission included a glass bottom boat ride and a virtual reality animal viewing.  This was my first experience with virtual reality anything.  Here’s how it works: You step up on a roughly 3 foot radius round platform enclosed by a metal guardrail.  You select what you want to see.  In this case, you got to choose 3 wild animals you wished to view and learn more about.  Then you press start. For the record, Larry chose sea turtles, manatees, and whale sharks.  (He did much better sticking to the theme.)   I chose meerkats, cheetahs, and spotted eagle rays.  I’ve been diving with a school of those rays before, and my goal was to see how realistic the experience was.  I was mesmerized.  I learned quite a bit about all three animals (the meerkats are hysterical) and really felt very much like I was right there.  I also learned why you wear a helmet and are surrounded by something you can hold onto.  I must have banged my head 3 times looking all around me.  Without the helmet I would have been down for the count, but what a kick.  I would do it again in a heartbeat.  The glass bottom boat ride and underwater zoo take you to a different level of the aquarium and you get an idea of how large this thing is.  It’s pretty impressive.  I would call a trip to this mall a worthwhile experience.

Then for something completely different, I went on a day trip this week with AWN (American Womens Network) to Nurai Island.  (Some of you may have seen the pano shots I posted on my FB page.)  You reach Nurai via water taxi from Saadiyat Island (which is on the southeast side of Abu Dhabi.)  There is a secure parking lot and welcome center located just off the freeway, and the ride to the island takes about 15 minutes.  Upon our group arrival to the island, we were treated to fresh fruit mocktails, and given a tour of one of their water front villas. 

This one was a 4-bedroom model that goes for 20,000AED ($5,450US) per night in slow season.  It’s quite nice and really huge, with an amazing view.  You cannot tell by the time of day that I took these, but the view of the sunset would be spectacular from here.  The thing is, this place is only a 15 minutes boat ride and yet, there is no trace of Abu Dhabi.  You cannot see the high rises from here.  There’s really a sense of isolation and it feels great.

This place is truly fantastic.  Conde Nast recently voted it one of the most amazing private islands in the world and it’s easy to see why.  The gorgeous shade of turquoise water, and landscaping that is really well done and very unusually lush for the area make it something very different.  The resort on the island was purpose built for luxury in the typically Emirati over the top way.  If you want to stay, you can choose for a selection of waterfront houses or villas with 2-5 bedrooms, or poolside 1 bedroom hotel suites.  There are 4 restaurants, 2 swimming pool areas (including a surf pool) and multiple beaches with varying activities available at each.

The island itself was originally quite small.  The development company undertook a dredging and reclamation project to enlarge it.  Sand was dredged up from the bottom of the sea and moved to create a good sized breakwater island upon which this resort was
built.  You can see that clearly in the 2 photos I pulled from the net.

Day passes are available for anybody wanting to come out and play for a day at a cost of 420AED ($115US) per person.  They bill it as a “minimum consumption fee,” which means that amount applies to your food and beverage tab, or spa treatments, or… whatever else available that you wish it to apply to.  After 7PM there are no fees, and the restaurants on the island are open to the public by reservation, though I imagine the end result to be likely a bit more than the cost of a day pass.  I didn’t get any pictures of the wine storage, but the selection is very nice, and very little of it is low end.

Photos of a Beachfront house:

 

 

It is truly enjoyable to be able to live in a place that has such a variety of things to do and see that differ so much from home.  The next adventures will take us inland I think.  I hear that there is a city with some altitude and associated cooler temps just a few hours away.  I’ll let you know how that goes.

If you’d like to read more about Nurai Island, here’s a link:  http://zayanuraiisland.com/

And here’s one for Dubai Aquarium:  http://www.thedubaiaquarium.com/en/Default.aspx