Trip to Dukhan beach 26/9/2015

Sadly so true ... 

Before starting with our trip report i had to say a few words about a sad uncivilized view which was the first thing anyone will notice once arrived to the beach ... unfortunately your eyes will catch all kind of trash and litter humans can left behind ... plastic bags, water bottles, cans, baby diapers, and unfortunately broken glass bottles, name it and you will find it .... I really don't know how a civilized human can leave all such a mess and dirt behind him while it doesn't even require any efforts to keep the place clean ... just use one trash bag and what ever trash you produce just put it in the bag directly and just before leaving drop the trash bag in one of the many available big trash containers ... if you don't really care about the nature or the environment, don't have respect to other visitors just think about your self when you visit this place later on ... and for the view i would defiantly assume that 90% will think about a second visit to this beach ... i don't want to make this trip report a moral or environmental lesson but i really had to say some words about this behavior.

Back to the trip report .,..
As planned we prepared our self to visit the lovely beach of Dukhan as we read over the internet it has the most wonderful sun set in Qatar ... and yes in dead it was...

We started at around 1:45 PM ... and yes we started a bit late as our plan is to enjoy the sun set after a couple of hours playing on the beach ... we took Al Rayan road which continues to Dukhan high way, the beginning of the Dukhan high way waas a little bit disturbing and needed more cautions specially when Al Rayan road meets Dukhan high way as there is some road reconstruction and some detours, but after a while the high way start to be as comfy as any other high way in Qatar and with a speed limit of 120 Km -  what we liked here in Qatar that road signs are  all over the roads so you will not get lost even if you are not familiar with exact direction ... it took around one hour to reach Dukhan city ... which is really a very nice city with a lot of green plantation ... we stopped for around half hour to have some rest from the driving while we ordered pizza to take it with us for lunch ...

We followed the road signs to reach the beach in a short drive from the commercial building and the first impression was Oh my God too much crowded beach and a lot of trash and dirt all over the beach, and we were not sure if it worth the 75 km drive from Doha .... finally we located a spot were it seems to be OK to park the car set our lunch .... we cleaned were we decided to set and as i found some broken glasses i checked the surrounding area to make sure it is safe for our sons .... after having our lunch each of us starting his own activity ... my sons start playing with the sands, my wife start shooting some photos and for me directly i went to the water :)

Putting the people crowded beach and the trash a side the beach was a very nice place ... the water Crystal clear and very warm ... another feature of this beach is the shallow water as i walked for a very long distance while the water level as i believe doesn't exceed one meter ... from the beach you can spot some small fishes and if you look carefully you can spot some small black crabs and the beach is full of colorful shells making it a nice beach for the children to enjoy ...

The most wonderful moments during this trip was the sun set ... and for sure a big YES it make it worth the drive to Dukhan ...The best view of the sun set we ever see till now in Qatar was this day view ... really amazing view fro the start till the end watching the sun  diving in the sea with a great sky color make it a very remarkable memory for the whole day ...

After sun set we have some time relaxing and continued enjoying the  day for a couple of hours the we washed out and head back to Doha.

A few tips and advice to have the best of your trip:
- As always in summer a good sun block is essential
- Bring your camera ... you don't want to miss shooting the sun set
- Bring or buy all your supply from water, food, and drinks before heading into the beach as there is no service at all at the beach
- Sea shoes or a sandal will be very helpful as there is few sharp rocks in the sea and we found some broken glass
- Please collect all your trash and don't leave anything left behind ... others wants to enjoy the beach the same as you do.

Trip to Purple Island and Thakhira beach - 24-9-2015

Yesterday Me with my lovely family went for a trip to Purple island in Al Khor and enjoyed a nice time at Al Thakhira beach.

We started the trip around 8:45 AM from Bin Mahmoud, using our Nissan Sunny car, have one stop at a petrol station then heading through Al Khour coastal road (i thought it wuld be near the coast line and we will enjoy the road trip near the sea) it was a nice road with spead limit of 120 km and almot there was no traffic and a straight forward to Al Khor ... Around 9:45 we reach Al Khor and lucy for us we had all needed water and refreshment ready with us as Al Khor Mall was closed and will not be opened before 2:00 PM ... then continued our way heading through Al Thakira way untill we reached the right turn just before Al Mera  which leads to the Purple Island around 5 km asphalt narrow road ended with around 1 km dirt road to reach the parking area at the Purple Island at 10:10 AM ....

There was some cars parking and some people preparing to leave while others preparing to get into the Island, after preparing the backpack with the required water and refreshments and preparing our cameras we started our way into the Island... it was really hot and my watch reads around 45 degree but the scenic view of the Mangroves and the water make you keep walking ... along the way you have to cross two running streams which will add some sort of adventure to the walk specially in our way back the stream was stronger and the water level was much higher than it was in our way in ....

At the middle of the Island - i believe- there was some nice rock formulation which was nice for some bouldering with an amazing view of the Island from the top ... unfortunately having the kids with us under the extreme sunny and hot day limit the time to enjoy the rocks and we had to start heading back to the car before getting a sun stroke....

 To conclude about Purple Island it is a very very nice place to visit in Qatar the great Mangroves - the nature green area - along with watching a lot of small fishes, a variety of crabs, and some variation of birds defiantly will make the hike enjoyable for kids and adults as well ... but it would be better to be visited in cooler days as the heat will limit your enjoyable time.

After the Purple Island we had one stop at al Mera to use the rest rooms and buy some food for the rest of the trip to Al Thakhira..

It was a short drive to Al Thakhira and direcly heading to Al Thakhira Cornish which is a very nice place equipped with shades and seats... with a nice view to the sea and the Mangroves tree in the horizon ... the water was warm which make it joyful to play and walk in the water ...and the kids enjoyed playing with sands ... we had a very nice time, enjoyed every moment at this lovely beach :)

In our way back we decided to have a look at Al Khor Cornish but we found it very crowded and doesn't look suitable for a family at that time ...

At the end it was defiantly a very very nice trip exploring some places outside Doha, and for sure we will visit the Purple Island again once the weather is cooler and for sure we will have another visit to Al Thakira to relax on the lovely Cornish ....

A memory stamped lovely day in Qatar :)

   

Step into health

Around two months now, and a great achievement - feeling accomplished :)

Walked Around Qatar

Winning the first place and golden medal in Ramadan competition