Umm Al Quwain Sea Kayaking

The "Vegas End" of RAK, UAE's northern Emirate

I was sorted at last.  After some heartache, I now had a car and a roof rack and the ability to move my sea kayak.  We had left some clothing in a Hotel Room at Ras Al Kaimah when we stayed in a hotel to watch a friends band and, I would like to say that there was a great story behind our stupidity, but I can't. Anyhow, I decided to kill two birds with one stone and do some paddling as well as recover our lost property.

The new wheels with my difficult to obtain Thule cross bars.




After some reconnaissance on Google Earth, I decided that the northern tip of the sand island that protects Umm Al Qwain harbour was a good bet. There isn't a lot of surf in the UAE but that is not to say that there is no surf. There was an ebbing tide early in the morning and a slight NNE swell which, combined with a river bar that you could easily see from the images, should have provided some fun. I was able to be on the water at peak flow for the outgoing tide so if there was any surf on the bar I should be there to see it.


A sand barge being towed out through the mouth of the estuary.


An hours drive from home and I was unloading the boat and heading out.  There was plenty of marine life, some kind of silver schooling fish, maybe pomfret, which you could see in the waves and lots of sea turtles.  Unfortunately, I was not quick enough with the camera to get decent photos of either. The sea turtles just pop their head up for a few second, less if they can see you, and then they are gone.

Believe it or not, that is a sea turtle.  If i encountered this off the coast of Mumbai, I wouldn't like to think what it could be!

 I had hedged my bets in the event that there was no surf and had loaded my mountain bike on the roof so I could operate a car shuttle if needed. I shouldn't have worried, the bar was working, long spilling waves that were perfect for a sea kayak or even better for a ski! It was great to really feel the waves and to get to boat carving a little. Remember its a 5.8m sea kayak not a surfboard so I doubt kelly Slater would have felt too threatened. Unfortunately, as I was alone, I don't have any photos to demonstrate my prowess!

Nice waves in a long kayak, not so steep that the rudder pops out the back when you are on the face

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