Day 18 – Sunday 31 December

This was a delightful start with a 6.45am wake up kiss from Austin.  Another lazy morning sitting with the boys gaming before lunch.  Off to Yas Island & the Stars & Bands Restaurant for lunch sitting looking over the big boats in the Yas Marina & looking at the spectacular Viceroy Hotel surrounded by the Formula one Race Track.  Lunch was magnificent, Charles & I had the surf & turf wagyu steak & seafood, we both agreed that it would have been one of the best steaks we have ever had, it melted in my mouth.  I was a little envious though of Jackson’s sizzling fajita, that was my second choice.  Tereza said her Australian lamb cutlets were also delicious.  We were so full of nice food that we decided to go for a walk around the marina.

The Yas Island Marina has a lot of very nice boats inside it, the highlights were moored together, an 84 feet catamaran moored next to an even larger yacht with another three over 100 feet long, these are big, expensive very nice boats.  There are lots of smaller very nice expensive boats as well.  We walked around to the Viceroy Hotel & underneath the mezzanine level that joins both parts of the Hotel on either side of the track.  The boys found a fountain which shot up at different times so they entertained themselves for a while running in between the jets of water trying to stay dry.  We moved on further & came across a very nice playground to play at.  More interesting were 2 very beautiful very big yachts.  Charles drove up close to the boats so we could see them & photograph them from close up.  The small one is 198 feet long, the “Caipirinha” & weighs 1,182 tonne.  The larger yacht is the “Pelorus” at 377 feet long & 5,400 tonne.  These are both owned by the same Hong Kong multi billionaire businessman, a totally different way of life than I know.  The Pelorus belonged to the UAE royal family, it was sold in 2016, now they have a much bigger & more luxurious one, but unfortunately it wasn’t docked there for us to see.

We dropped in at a “Winter Wonderland” on the way back, a temporary amusement park built for kids with a large snow hall setup with snow-themed playgrounds for the kids, the air conditioning is turned down low.  We only stayed there for about half an hour before heading back home & more gaming with the boys.  Tereza had a nanna nap for a while.  No dinner for us as we were still so full from lunch.  We went down to the waterfront to view the kids fireworks at 9pm, it didn’t happen.  Next we went down at 10pm, still no fireworks.  We are not giving up we will try again at midnight.  We are watching the latest Dr Who on TV to while away the time.

Midnight & the fireworks at Yas Island arrive on time, very showy & last about ten minutes.  The crowd on the foreshore turn & head back into their apartments. On the way back we look across at the Abu Dhabi city skyline & see the fireworks from the city lighting up the sky, it must be very spectacular up close.  2018 & Happy New Year.