Guide · 8 minute read
Abu Dhabi from the water divides into three separate trips rather than one: the corniche and Lulu Island in the west, the mangrove channels in the east, and the Yas and Saadiyat coast in the north. They are far enough apart that a single day covers two of them properly or all three badly, and the mangroves are the one that has no equivalent in Dubai.
By Roshan Shriwastav · Published
The city sits on an island with water on several sides, and the interesting water is not contiguous. The corniche faces northwest across a bay to Lulu Island. The mangroves are a separate system of tidal channels behind the city to the east. Yas and Saadiyat are north, off a different coast.
Getting between them by boat is not a short hop, so a day on the water here means choosing. Two done properly is a good day; three is four hours of transit and no time anywhere.
The corniche is an eight-kilometre curve of beach and promenade along the northwest of the island, and it is the city's front. From the water it reads as a continuous low skyline rather than the vertical wall Dubai presents — a different-looking city, and a more coherent one.
Lulu Island lies directly offshore, a man-made island with beaches and no development to speak of. It is the closest thing Abu Dhabi has to an anchor stop within the city, and on a calm day the water between it and the corniche is flat and shallow.
This is the half-day that most closely resembles a Dubai Marina charter, and it is the one to pick if the point is a comfortable trip with a skyline.
Abu Dhabi has roughly nineteen square kilometres of protected mangrove forest in tidal channels on the eastern side of the island, and there is nothing remotely like it in Dubai. It is quiet, green, shallow and full of birds — herons, flamingos in season, and turtles in the channels.
It is best done in a kayak or a small boat rather than a yacht, because the channels are shallow and narrow and the point is to be inside them rather than looking at them from outside. Several operators run guided paddles from the eastern corniche.
Go in the morning. It is cooler, the birds are active, and the light in the channels is better before the sun is overhead. Between October and April it is one of the best few hours available anywhere on this coast; in July it is unpleasant and there is no shade.
North of the city, and a different kind of coast: newer, more built, and organised around the attractions rather than around the water. Saadiyat has the best beach in the emirate and the Louvre Abu Dhabi sitting over the sea. Yas has the circuit, the theme parks and the marina.
From the water it is the least interesting of the three unless there is a reason to be there — a race weekend, or a berth. What a race-weekend berth actually gets you is in Abu Dhabi Grand Prix yacht berths.
By road: about 130 kilometres from Dubai Marina on the E11, ninety minutes on an ordinary day, and there is no useful public transport for the trip.
By boat: possible and rarely sensible. It is a long open-water passage each way in a boat charged by the hour, and it consumes the day it was supposed to create. A charter that starts and ends in Abu Dhabi is a different arrangement from a Dubai charter that visits, and it is the one to ask for.
How far a charter can practically go from the Marina, and what that costs in hours, is in how far offshore can a charter go.
Drive down early. Kayak the mangroves from about eight until ten, before the heat and while the birds are moving. Lunch on the eastern corniche.
Afternoon on the water off the western corniche and Lulu Island, finishing at sunset with the city lit behind you. Drive back in the evening when the E11 is clear.
That is two of the three areas done properly, roughly twelve hours door to door, and it is the version of this day worth having.
Three separate areas: the corniche and Lulu Island in the west, the protected mangrove channels in the east, and the Yas and Saadiyat coast to the north. They are far enough apart that a day covers two of them properly.
They are the single thing on this coast with no equivalent in Dubai — about nineteen square kilometres of protected tidal channels with herons, turtles and seasonal flamingos. Go by kayak, in the morning, between October and April.
You can, and it rarely makes sense. It is roughly 130 kilometres of open water each way on a boat charged by the hour, which consumes the day. A charter that starts in Abu Dhabi is the better arrangement.
About 130 kilometres by road on the E11, which is ninety minutes on an ordinary day and longer on a race weekend. There is no useful public transport link for the journey.
Off Lulu Island, which sits directly opposite the corniche. The water between the island and the city is shallow and flat on a calm day, and it is the closest thing to an in-city anchor stop the emirate has.
Early morning between October and April. It is cooler, the birds are active, and the light in the channels is better before the sun is overhead. Summer in the mangroves is genuinely unpleasant.
The emirate's official tourism board, for current opening hours and access at the places named on this page.
Leave the date and roughly how many of you there are and we will come back with the boats that are free and what each costs. No deposit at this stage.
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