February 2019: Dubai Diary – Day 7

We slept well in our new beds and woke up hungry. We made the walk to the lobby where we would be able to go to the breakfast buffet.

The buffet consisted of several western and traditional Arabic options. There were more Arabic options than at the hotel in Dubai and fewer western options. Overall the options it had were of higher quality. There was an omelet station that Tomatico took advantage of.

Bikes

Ugh, the bikes. Each room has two adult bikes for guests to use to get around since the property is so spread out. On checkin we requested bikes for the kids, which we eventually got delivered on the first day, except they were both too small for Tomatico. We asked several times for a larger bike for him but kept getting more of the smaller ones delivered. Eventually on our second day we got one that was slightly larger that he could manage to ride.

The bikes in generally were pretty awful though. Some were borderline dangerous. They were old, rickety, creaky and entirely retro and not in an on-purpose millennial chic hipster sort of way. Most should have been assigned to the junk yard.

Some guests did have newer bikes (the green one in the picture above), so hopefully they are phasing in better bikes but we were not lucky enough to get those. The bike my youngest got was a modern bike, though and was easily the best one we got. Tomatico’s bike was old school (much like a kids version of the blue one in the picture above) and I was surprised it didn’t fall apart when he rode it. It certainly make creaking and squeaking noises when he did.

The kids REALLY wanted to bike, though, so they were willing to make due with whatever was available.

Fishing

After breakfast we headed to the watering hole for the kids fishing activity. We were a few minutes early and there was a father and son taking a lesson in front of us. We watched while they finished up and then it was our turn.

The instructor was great with the kids asking if they had gone fishing before (they had at summer camp). My wife and I were not doing this activity so we quietly snuck away without the kids noticing. It was encouraging to see them feel comfortable and independent and we felt confident they would be safe.

The session was for an hour and I came back with about 15 minutes left to watch them from the shadows. They had a lot of fun and the water hole was stocked so they each caught several (small) fish.

The water hold also attracted several animals which came by to drink and made for a great photo!

Biking

After fishing the boys said they wanted to go exploring the resort on the bikes. By this point Tomatico had a bike that was almost big enough for him that he could use so we went off exploring the farther reaches of the property.

We headed past the falconry deck, past the pool, and past the equestrian center towards the stargazing platform. It was about a mile from our room over a paved brick road. There were some large hills we had to go over to get there but the effort was worth it for the views.

Coming back we had to be careful coming down the hills as the bikes didn’t have great breaks and were not stable (borderline dangerous) but we generally made it back with only one minor spill.

Lunch

It was time for lunch so we all headed back towards the lobby on our bikes in order to go to the lunch buffet at the restaurant there. When we arrived we found there was a special event for Ferrari so the restaurant was closed. As an alternative the Farmhouse restaurant was open for lunch (normally only open for dinner) and we decided to go back there.

I tried a different cut of steak (also excellent) and my wife tried the prawns but wasn’t all that impressed compared to the grilled sea bass she had the previous night. Service was again… relaxed at lunch as it was at dinner the night before

Camel Ride

After an hour or so enjoying the pool in our room (it’s still cool to write that) it was time for the family camel ride we had scheduled as one of our activities. We headed to the equestrian center to sign in and were lead to the camels straight away. Just like everything else we experienced at the resort it seemed like we were really the only ones there and all of our activities were just for us. It was great!

We were lead to the camels we would be riding and climbed on top. As the camel got up it was amazing at how high off the ground we were. My wife and Tomatico were on the other camel and they were already “experts” from their short ride at the desert safari. It was awesome!

The guides walked the camels around the property and up some of the dunes. They stopped a few times to take our pictures and to point out some of the animals along the way. The ride lasted about half an hour and I think we were smiling the entire time.

Evening

After the camel ride it was getting close to dinner time so we took our bikes to the restaurants near the lobby. There were two options. One called Moorish served Arabian food. The Moon Bar, located upstairs, was an open air bar that also served a Spanish Tapas menu and had excellent sunset views.

We took some pictures upstairs but opted to eat downstairs. For most of our meal we had the place to ourselves. My wife really enjoyed the Arabian food. The Ritz Kids menu was also slightly different than the menu at the Farmhouse.

After dinner we made our way back to our room and call it an early night after a very active day!