After embarking in Doha, Qatar, the NCL Dawn docked in Abu Dhabi, UAE the next morning. It was a short 102 nautical miles across the Persian Gulf. In 1892 the area now known as the United Arab Emirates became a British territory, and because India and Pakistan were nearby British territories, there are a lot of immigrants from those countries, as they were brought in as workers. Britain began a withdrawal from the territory in 1968. On December 2, 1971, the UAE was formed and on that date, any person in the country had to declare to be a new citizen or retain the citizenship of their native country. If you did not declare to be a UAE citizen, you can never be a citizen, even if you are born in the country. There are currently 1.5 million citizens and 8.5 million work visa holders. If you are not employed, then non-citizens must return to their nationality country, even if they were born in the UAE. Citizens get free housing and free mandatory education which has created a 98% literacy rate. There are currently over 200 different nationalities living in the UAE.

Oil was discovered in the region in 1958, and the main oil company, ADNOC, Abu Dhabi National Oil
Company is owned by the government. Before oil was discovered the area was very poor, with the main industries of pearl diving, fishing, and wood carving.

The first UAE leader was Sheik Rashid Bin Saeed and he ruled until 2004. He established Abu Dhabi as the capital of the UAE. There are no elections as it is considered a kingdom and succession is by birthright.

Abu Dhabi has 100 malls to cater to tourist, which is their second largest industry. The city consists of 100+ islands but only 10 are occupied islands with one being man-made. There are no natural water sources and it has very little precipitation. When it does rain, the school children at let out for recess to play in the rain.

In disembarking off the boat we went through a passport check.

We had two tours planned, one during the day, and one in the evening. Our day tour guide was Shabuee who was born in the UAE but is an Indian national.

The day tour was to the Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque, named for the ruling family. Construction was started in 1994 and completed in 2007. The mosque complex covers 30 acres.

There is a very strict dress code for women inside the mosque. When we were in Malaysia a year earlier, we thought we were okay with our clothes but ended up having to buy clothing, so we brought those clothes with us and they came in handy. Ladies need to have their legs covered, including their ankles, long sleeves to the wrist, no hair can be seen so have to wear a scarf and nothing see-through. A lady on our tour, had a see through scarf to cover her arms and they were not going to allow her to enter the mosque, so Jim gave her his jacket. He had brought it just in case he needed to cover his arms, which men only need to have their knees and shoulders covered. The tradional rob is black.

There is a food court and reception area at the entrance of the mosque.

The mosque was absolutely beautiful and massive. It is the world’s 7th largest mosque.

The inner courtyard is white marble, with a variety of precious stones. The mosque has 96 columns inside and 1000 outside. The largest dome is 85 meters high and 32 meters across. The four minarets on the corners of the inner courtyard are 351 feet high. The marble and precious stones came from all over the world.

The mosque can accommodate 40,100 worshippers with prayers occurring 5 times per day.

The mosque has the world’s largest carpet made from New Zealand wool. It took 2 years to create and 1200 workers to install.

There is a wall that has 99 names of God (Allah)

After leaving the mosque, we had a quick driving tour of Abu Dhabi…around the water front and even an oil derrick

Our last stop was at a historical fishing village.

It was interesting to look at the items from the way of life “before” oil was discovered.

It had been a very interesting day of learning about Abu Dhabi and the UAE. We had just enough time to get back on the ship, grab a quick snack, and head back to the pier for our evening tour.