Hi smartd
I checked out your UAE hobbies list of activities and noticed Watercycling was not on the list and this is probably because bicycles that float on water and propel themselves by peddling are not available in the Palms.
If I was unable to post a picture of a waterbike below please
visit http://www.shuttlebike.it for a novel and interesting look see
Is this true? Are their no waterbikes in the palms?
Watercycling is one of my hobbies and I am among other things researching a Watercycling holiday in the palms.
As you can hopefully see from the picture of my waterbike, it is an ordinary bicycle that you can pedal on water using attachments that all fit into a 13kg backpack and assembles in the 10 to15 minutes time it takes to inflate the floats by simply pedalling the bicycle.
Iv been a watercyclist for 5 years and have had so many fun experiences with it. Both when I have used it and when watching children and young people basically play have fun and fool around with it. If they want to just Thinking about the waterbike cheers me up because of the fun times I and many people have had with it .
(You can read an example Fun experience story about a Amazon Watercycling trip and see pictures of Coventry England where I live at
http://www.coventryweb.co.uk/editorials ... onsor.html )
The palm Islands look like a potential watercyclist paradise to me.
But I do have reservations about the climate. It could be either to hot or humid or both for people to want to do anything on the beach or water, other then get under the shade of a palm tree with a cool drink. (See end of post references for climate information)
It may be that there are already a lot of waterbikes in the palms that I could holiday hire, perhaps they are already popular inter frond drive yourself taxies. So many waterbikes together that people have races and play waterbike polo with them.
Some waterbikes are made to look like camels and other animal traversing the water, like a mirage at sea some are made to look like pirate ships, Viking boats
and the like. They attract a lot of phone camera attention so
If there was Watercycling in the palms I assume the forum would know about it.
I have had some feedback from my Watercycling bubble bursting friend by has summed up my plans by saying :
“So you have turned 50 and now you want to perspire and aspire to be a bum on a nuke zone beach, where if rising sea levels don’t get ye, the camels will”. Are you crazy” .
Well I said, ill ask some folk that live there.
And here I am, asking .
I Found answers to a lot of background questions relating to visas, cost of living and accommodation in the Dubia Guide sections of the forum. and found a lot of pictures that gave me a sense of the distance between fronds and I could quite easily visualise a lot of waterbikes amongst the swimmers and on the beaches but I did not see any waterbikes.
Watercycling is a hobby that I would like to introduce to the palms (if not already there) and I am researching a Palm island Watercycling business plan, hiring and selling them based on that assumption.
I will try and post my outline plan in the Dubia Business discussion and ideas section under the tread title Bicycle boat ! sales and hire business. http://www.dubaiforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=32191#32191
Part of the Plan is an emergency employment contingency plan and so I intend to post my C.V in the Dubai Employment section under the tread title. Refrigeration, BSc(Hons) http://www.dubaiforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=32193#32193
I like to think of myself as an Aspiring professional water cyclist, delivering family fun and happiness trough sales, hire and fun promotions.lofty aims for a bicycle attached to two floating bananas.
I don’t often say a lot but when I do it’s a lot.
References:
www.uaeinteract.com United Arab Emirate Ministry of Information & Culture
http://realestate.theemiratesnetwork.com about the palms with films and pictures
http://www.dubaiforums.com/ grassroots information on all things Dubai
http://www.shuttlebike.it/ Italian manufacturer of the brilliantly designed and engineered waterbike.
UAE climate information
Straddling the Tropic of Cancer, the UAE is warm and sunny in winter and hot and humid during the summer months. Winter daytime temperatures average a very pleasant 26°C, although nights can be relatively cool, between 12–15°C on the coast, and less than 5°C in the depths of the desert or high in the mountains. Local north-westerly winds (shamal) frequently develop during the winter, bringing cooler windy conditions. Summer temperatures are in the mid-40s, but can be higher inland. Humidity in coastal areas averages between 50 and 60 per cent, touching over 90 per cent in summer and autumn. Inland it is far less humid.
Rainfall is sparse and intermittent. In most years it rains during the winter months, usually in February or March, but occasionally earlier. Winter rains take the form of short sharp bursts, which, if occurring in the Hajar Mountains, run off rapidly into wadis and onto the downwashed gravel plains. Localised thunderstorms occasionally occur during the summer. Generally appearing over the mountains of the south and east of the country, these rumbling cloudbursts can give rise to severe flash floods.
Some years are totally dry and it is only through the regular formation of dew that vegetation and wildlife can survive. This applies even to those places that experience a relatively high annual rainfall: at the Hajar Mountain town of Masafi, for example, 350 mm may fall in a ‘wet’ year, whereas as little as 30 mm may be recorded in a ‘dry’ year.
Table 1.Mean monthly maximum temperature (Bateen airport, Abu Dhabi) and national mean monthly rainfall 1971/72–1988/89. 0°C and mm.
Jan Feb Mar Aprl May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec
Temperature in °C 24 25 29 33 38 39 40 40 39 35 30 26
Rainfall in mm 11 38 34 10 3 1 2 3 1 2 4 10