If you’ve ever taken a boat ride alongside the Jumeirah coast, you’ll be familiar with all the now famous landmarks.
From the docks of Dubai Marina heading out into the open waters of the Gulf, past the skyscrapers of JBR and Dubai Marina, and then onto Dubai International Marine Club, and forwards towards Palm Jumeirah.
To the right, you snake around the Palm’s outer crescent with its many hotels. Soon you are at the tip of the Palm, looking back on the Atlantis Hotel.
You can even spot the Sheikh Zayed Road’s metropolis and the sky-punching Burj Khalifa.
After a small stop to take in the view, the journey continues out to towards Jumeirah and Burj Al Arab, the return journey taking you back through the stem of the Palm Jumeirah, underneath the overpass the links mainland Dubai to Nakheel’s iconic man-made island.
There, your attention is likely to turn to Dubai. Not Dubai the city, but Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum’s majestic, 162-meter yacht.
Even if you didn’t previously know what it looks like, or especially if you’ve never set eyes on it before, it’ll take the breath away. A landmark, or water mark, in itself.
Commissioned in 1995 and built by Blohm+Voss in partnership with Lurssen for cost of $400 million, it was originally meant to go to Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei. After he decided to halt production in 1996, it was then completed and became the property of Sheikh Mohammed in 2001.
Since then it has become fixture on the coast of Dubai, easily the Gulf’s most impressive and recognisable yacht.
It’s the yacht that every other yacht owner stops to take photographs or videos of.
And no wonder. Dubai has eight decks and can accommodate 88 crew members and over 100 guests. On board you’ll find a cinema, a 90-person capacity dining hall, a 10-meter swimming pool and squash court. It’s equipped with 20 water bikes, two 10-meter motorboats, a submarine, a lobster tank and a squash court.
It can hit speeds of up to 26 knots (48 km/h).
And it’s as impressive when it’s just anchored off the coast of Dubai.
