Trip to the Waterpark

After 2 years of living in Abu Dhabi, we are finally making our first trip to Yas Waterworld!  Here we are getting close to the entrance:

Graham and Charlie are obviously super-excited!

All ready!  I'm glad we had these bright flower swim shorts - a recent hand-me-down.  It was just a little bit easier to spot them at the big water-play area. You'll see what I mean in a bit!

We decided to rent a cabana.  Best decision ever! I think we got our money's worth as we were at the Waterpark from 10am to almost 5pm!

Here's our view from the cabana.  We have the view of 1 of the 3 water splash areas.  This was the big one!

Charlie was a bit tentative at first:

Oh, and if you ever need to dry off.  This automated dryer can fit 2 people for Dhs10 (just under USD$3).  I don't know if I saw anyone in it.  It was 40C (104F) that day so you probably would have dried pretty quickly just by standing in the sun!

Despite how loud the water was splashing everywhere, you can still hear the airplanes on their approach to the airport:

And... they're in!

There's a snake/spout at the very top that fills up this HUGE bucket. It would probably tip over every 5 minutes (Bob thinks it's more like 3 min).  Anyhow, the boys love it!  You can sort of see Graham towards the right side trying to escape the big splash. Ha!

For whatever reason, Charlie was being grumpy about taking this photo. He's got such a pout!

And the consensus is... thumbs up!!!

Did I mention the cabana came with butler service?  It sure beats having to be in line.  I know... we're spoiled! ;-P

Time to relax after lunch.  I know... REALLY spoiled!!!

After a few more hours, we are finally finishing up.  The boys can't get enough of the water.  I do love these showers by the cabana where you can rinse off:

By the way, renting the cabana also meant the inclusion of a Pearl Diving experience.  So... couldn't really say no to pearls, could you?  I really struggled though getting to the bottom of the diving tank.  We (me and 2 other men) were provided with these goggles with a nose cover. It really threw me off!  I couldn't get accustomed to just breathing through my mouth.  Well, thankfully the diving instructor in the tank with us, had placed some oysters in a few buckets down along a rope. I managed to grab 2 oysters from the very top bucket and one more from the middle bucket.  That was it for me!  The boys were getting a little bored by then too, waiting on Mommy, who wasn't really doing too much. Ha ha!

In any case, I was told by my mother-in-law that I am not allowed to ask Bobby for any pearls because it represents tears.  So I suppose this one I can keep since I actually dove for it!  Too bad I could only keep one. Pretty no less and I also bought a pendant for it :-)

It would have been another Dhs49 for another pearl (almost USD14) and I did already spend money on a pendant + necklace.   This whole experience actually made us spend even more money after already spending a whole bunch on the cabana!  And the diving experience will also remind me of how much I dislike those goggles with nose covers. Someday though, I'm going to get to the bottom of that tank!