Guide · 9 minute read
Ain Dubai sits on Bluewaters Island a few hundred metres off JBR, and every boat leaving Dubai Marina passes it within about five minutes of clearing the breakwater. From the water you pass almost directly beneath the wheel, which is closer than any road gets you and the reason it appears in most Marina charter photographs.
By Roshan Shriwastav · Published
A man-made island a few hundred metres off the JBR shoreline, built as a mixed development of hotels, apartments, restaurants and retail, with the observation wheel at its seaward end. It is connected to the mainland by a road bridge and by a pedestrian bridge from JBR, so it is walkable from The Beach in about fifteen minutes.
From land it reads as another Dubai development. From the water it reads as what it is. A separate island with a 250-metre wheel on the end of it, and the scale only registers when you are underneath.
Close. Charter yachts leaving Dubai Marina clear the breakwater and turn north, which puts Bluewaters immediately to starboard within about five minutes. Crews slow down for it because everybody wants the photograph, and the pass runs almost directly beneath the wheel's outer edge.
RIB tours do the same thing faster and lower, which changes the perspective, from a metre above the water the wheel looks considerably bigger than from a flybridge.
Nothing lands on the island from the water. There is no public jetty and no boat access for guests; Bluewaters is reached by road or on foot.
After sunset, without much competition. The wheel is lit and the lighting is the main event, from the water at night it is the brightest thing on this stretch of coast.
In daylight, the run out in late afternoon gives you the wheel with the sun behind you and the JBR towers lit warm. Midday is the worst of it: flat light, hard shadows and heat haze.
Between May and September, haze frequently softens the whole skyline from the water. That does not affect the wheel much because you are close to it, which makes it the most reliable summer subject on the coast.
The wheel is a strange object to photograph and most people's pictures of it from land are disappointing without their quite knowing why. The reason is that it is enormously wide as well as tall, and from a distance on shore it flattens into a circle against the sky with nothing to give it scale.
From the water, two things change. You are underneath it rather than in front of it, so the structure goes up and away from you and the eye reads depth. And there is a boat, a hull, a rail and a horizon in the frame, all of which the brain uses to measure against, so 250 metres finally looks like 250 metres.
The other difference is the background. From JBR the wheel stands against sky. From the water it stands against the Marina tower wall, which puts something behind it for the first time and turns a lone object into a skyline.
Bluewaters from a boat is more coherent than Bluewaters on foot. Walking it you experience a sequence of retail frontages and hotel entrances; from the water you see the whole thing at once. A low crescent of buildings sitting on a rock breakwater, with the wheel anchored at one end and the Marina tower wall rising behind it across the water.
The seaward face is the interesting one and it is the side almost nobody sees, because there is no public access along it. From the water you get the full length of the breakwater, the hotel frontages that face out rather than in, and the gap between the island and the JBR shoreline with the footbridge crossing it.
It is also the clearest demonstration of how this whole stretch of coast was assembled. Bluewaters is a rock-armoured artificial island; the Marina behind it is a dredged canal; the Palm is visible further south. Three separate pieces of engineering in one view, none of which existed thirty years ago.
Every boat out of the Marina passes it, so the question is really about angle and speed rather than access.
A charter yacht gives you height and time: a flybridge four metres up, moving slowly, with the crew willing to hold position while people take photographs. That is the best of it for a group. A RIB is the opposite: a metre above the water, fast, and the wheel goes past rather than being looked at. What a RIB gains is drama, because at sea level it looms in a way it does not from a flybridge.
A jet ski on the thirty-minute route loops the Bluewaters end and gets closest of all, though holding a phone on a jet ski is a good way to lose one. The Marina dhow cruise runs out towards it and turns, giving you a long slow look from a stable deck at dinner, which for photographs after dark is arguably the best of the four.
If a boat is not in the plan, the island is free to visit and easy to reach. Walk the pedestrian bridge from The Beach at JBR, about fifteen minutes from the sand, or drive across the road bridge and park on the island.
The best free view of the wheel itself is actually from JBR beach rather than from Bluewaters, because you need distance to see it whole. The best view from Bluewaters is the other direction: the island's promenade looks back at the Marina tower wall across the water, which is the finest skyline view available on foot anywhere in this part of Dubai.
Riding the wheel is a separate proposition with its own ticket, and its own operating periods which have varied. Check current status before planning an evening around it. The view from the top is of the coast you would otherwise be sailing along.
Yes, and closely. Every boat leaving Dubai Marina passes almost directly beneath it about five minutes after clearing the breakwater. It is nearer than any road view of the wheel.
About 250 metres, which makes it the largest observation wheel built. From the water at that range the scale is much more apparent than it is from land.
No. There is no public jetty for charter guests: boats pass rather than land. Bluewaters is reached by road bridge or on foot from JBR, about fifteen minutes' walk from The Beach.
No. It is a separate artificial island a few hundred metres off JBR, which itself sits west of the Marina. All three are adjacent and walkable but they are three different places.
After dark, when the wheel is lit and is the brightest thing on the coast. Late afternoon works in daylight, with the sun behind you. Midday gives flat light and heat haze.
Because you are underneath it rather than in front of it, so the structure goes up and away and the eye reads depth. A hull, a rail and a horizon in the frame also give the brain something to measure 250 metres against.
On foot across the pedestrian bridge from The Beach at JBR, about fifteen minutes from the sand, or by car over the road bridge with parking on the island. There is no boat access for charter guests.
A charter yacht for height, time and a crew that will hold position. A RIB for drama at sea level. A jet ski gets closest on the thirty-minute loop. A Marina dhow cruise is the most stable platform for photographs after dark.
It has its own ticket and its operating periods have varied since opening, so check current status before planning an evening around it. The view from the top is of the coastline you would otherwise be sailing along.
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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