I am trying not to think too much about missing my son having his shoulder operation on Wednesday. It doesn’t look like we’ll be back in time. It feels completely wrong not to be there with him as he goes under a general anaesthetic and then needs looking after post op. Also, yesterday my brother texted to let me know that my father was readmitted to hospital yesterday with more vomiting. So I am worried about him too and feeling helpless all round.
For the moment there is nothing I can do about any of it. I could try and get us on a plane to Athens or Madrid, but from there it could take us just as long to get back. Might as well sit tight here for a few more days. Emirates are being very good to us and covering out hotel costs so far and the hotel staff are really looking after us well. So. Yesterday I decided to put all my concerns and fears aside and take a more positive view of our situation. Many people pay a FORTUNE to come to Dubai for a holiday and suddenly, here we were, on an unexpected enforced holiday. “Isn’t there a film called “Stuck in Transition’ like we are?” asked my daughter, but I think she probably means “Lost In Translation”.
So with massively conflicting news about when we will be able to leave, ranging from months to the next few days (after I had heard that tests are being conducted by the major airlines into the effect of the ash on their engines), I decided that we had to get out. On a day trip. There were many options that we looked at but one thing tipped the balance for me. My daughter showed me some photos on Facebook of her friend’s recent holiday here and pleaded with me to do the same thing. Her friend was swimming with dolphins…..it happens to be something that I’ve always wanted to do, so I decided just put the whole thing on my “*OFI” card because I can’t frankly see when we are going to get an opportunity like this again.
We had SUCH a good day. We spent a long time in the water with one specific dolphin – swimming and stroking it and learning all about it. The kids adored it. They both said it was the best day of their lives. The trainer used a dog whistle to tell the dolphin what to do next and it was a very hands on, interactive experience. Both my children now want to be trainers.
I did have a bit of a nightmare moment at the end. It was a scene right out of “Outnumbered”. Everybody had gone and my two children were standing by the edge of the water watching the dolphins cavorting about and my nine year old suddenly wanted to borrow my Iphone. I thought he wanted to take a picture but in fact he was downloading the dog whistle app in order to call the dolphins to the edge….which would have been interesting, when he had no fish to give them or no experience in what to do when they swim right up to you. Especially because I can’t hear the whistle (being over 40) and wouldn’t have known what was going on.
We were in Atlantis an extraordinarily ostentatious development – it’s the one that has a palm tree shaped beach. It has an amazing water park, shops, many restaurants and a private beach so we had no difficulty spending the whole day there. We clung on to huge rubber rings and went down rapids – it’s all very similar to Disney World in Florida but much better because it’s not themed to the same degree. It has great facilities for small kids (I’ll show you some pictures tomorrow) and again my two children were in heaven.
