Palm Jumeirah

Palm Jumeirah is an enormous artificial island with the shape of a palm tree and is located in the Persian Gulf in front of the Dubai Jumeirah coastal area. This island is created using land reclamation and is constructed from only natural materials like sand and rocks. The palm tree island is about 5 km (3 mi) by 5 km (3 mi), has a trunk of about 2 km (1,2 mi) long, 16 palm leafs and a circular breakwater of 11 (7 mi) km long. With this island the coastline of Dubai has increased with 78 km (48 mi). It is the first of the three planned palm islands. The other two planned islands are called Palm Jebel Ali and Palm Deira, but because of the 2008-2010 financial crisis is Palm Jebel Ali still under construction and is Palm Deira revised to Deira Island.

The construction of Palm Jumeirah wasn’t without problems. One of the large problems was the absence of natural tidal movement because of the design of the island and its breakwater. This led to smelly beaches and wide growth of algae. Now that they have made a wide gap of 100 m (328 ft) at either side of the breakwater, the problem seems to be solved.

Nowadays are on every leaf of the palm gated communities with villas that are worth millions. On the trunk is a marina where the yachts are and the hotels and resorts are spread over the trunk and the breakwater.

The road on the trunk goes from its foot up to its top. If you drive to furthest point of the trunk there is a subterranean tunnel which goes beneath the Gulf to come up again at Atlantis the Palm Hotel on the breakwater. From the the foot of the trunk at Gateway Towers station goes a high and impressive driverless monorail all the way up to Atlantis the Palm Hotel at the breakwater. If you want to visit Palm Jumeirah and take the monorail it is possible to go there with the the red line of the Dubai metro, which has a station at the foot of the trunk. And if you want to go by car it is possible to park the car in the garage at the Dubai coast in front of the foot of the trunk.