al wagan STARFISH dunes || Sat MAR 12
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Great video Fadi and great driving. This area really does look so much better than Liwa for our preferred kind of fun.
And great lead Joe for the fewbies. Nice to see all having fun :thanks:
Awesome video @Panther :ymapplause: . Ur right I’m already in love with the area 😡 . These dunes really seems like a dream @-) the ridges r endless =p~ . And the way you drove made the video more interesting :ymapplause: . Looking forward to join the trip on 25March :drive: B-)
@Panther video looks so awesome as your drive on top of the ridges! definitely can call you – dune shaver 😀
Our drive last weekend was an experience like none other. The meeting time was 5am #-o at the outlet malls. This meant leaving the house by 4:30, which waking up at 3:30 to get ready, which meant setting the alarm for 3am @-) so that I could hit snooze a couple of times. When you wake up at 3am to go play in some dirt you are either really crazy or you know the drive will be phenomenal. For sure, it was the latter. 😀
We had a convoy of 11 cars. After a few stops for fuel and refreshments along the way we entered the Al Wagan Starfish dunes at 9am. :yesss: We quickly deflated and did our last minute prep before finding our track. Joe was leading us, Paul was second lead and Sam and I were sweeping. In the middle we had some very great driving by Paul&Anja, Deva, Adi, Alex, Fadi, Heitham, and Gallo. :drive:
The sand was quite firm due to the rains, which kept us on our wheels 😮 . We even had a bit of light drizzling rain for a bit. Joe led us up and down a few medium-sized dunes in order for us all to get into the groove. The firm sand allowed us to climb high on the dunes. Most of us had our tire pressure at 20 psi throughout the day with a few tweaks and adjustments here and there but needless to say traction in the sand was not an issue :ymparty:
Throughout the day, the sun began to warm things up and made for a very enjoyable atmosphere. The legs of the starfish dunes created a great environment for ridge riding. There were many “land bridges” that we crossed to avoid the areas of sabkha around us. Some of these areas were full of water, mud, or very soft sand :-ss . Even with all of these navigational nuisances, we had only a few second attempts and even fewer recoveries throughout the day :ymapplause: . The drive was very smooth and fluid.
We stopped for a quick 30 minute lunch break where a group of about a dozen camels sat and watched us. We could only imagine that they were wondering what kind of idiots would come to these dunes to sit and eat their lunch. :))
As the afternoon progressed, the ride just kept getting better and better \M/ We drove close to a potential exit point around 3pm but with another 3 hours of daylight left we unanimously agreed to head back into the dunes to keep exploring :-BD . When we finally came to our exit, we stumbled across a massive lake 😮 . This was an extremely surreal experience to see such a big lag in the middle of the desert. This was the point where we noticed a brand new Nissan Patrol attempting to cross the lake. Suffice it to say, the Patrol could not swim and the 3 occupants had to get out and swim to shore .
We left the dunes and continued on a graded dirt track for about 25 Kms before reaching the tarmac to inflate. We had a solid 9 hours in the dunes and covered about 120 Kms :yesss: . It was a first time experience for all of us in these dunes so the trip was very much an exploration. Once we were finished inflating we embarked on the 2 hour drive back to Dubai. I reached home by about 9pm and was in bed by 9:30pm still dreaming of starfish! (*) (*)
The whole team had a great day with awesome driving and solid comradery. I know for sure everyone is looking forward to the next trip!!
A huge thanks to Joe for leading us and all of the great DO drivers that took part! :thanks: :thanks:
thanks Matt for yet another fantastic trip report 🙂 and thanks for your much appreciated support on that day…
peace
fantastic off-road experience, thanks @joe.zeinoun
fantastic video, thanks @Panther Dune Shaver
fantastic report, thanks @matthewficco
fantastic place, thanks God
fantastic memories…
:drive:
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