The Dubai Marina Fountain Show

Dubai Marina Fountain show

As the Dubai Fountain show ended I blurted this out. “How did they do this? Incredible. Water fountains dancing! Once is surely not enough. We have to see this show again”. I immediately told my wife. She agreed with me so we decided to pay the price to wait for another show. We wanted to see how glorious it would be like in the night. Just imagine 6,600 lights, 50 colored projectors operating in a synchronised manner over a distance of about 902 ft with a black silhouetted background (at night) . I mean water shooting up to 500 ft into the air accompanied by beautiful music and loud booms. Oh God, those boom sounds.

This is what the Dubai Fountain show is all about. An animated fountain show. It is reputed to be the world’s largest choreographed fountain system. It sits on the 30 acre man made Burj Khalifa Lake. A wonder sitting next to other wonders like the Dubai Mall, the Burj Khalifa itself etc. (the tallest building in the world. That’s story for another day).

Burj Khalifa

But there was a problem. Time. Why you may want to ask? The problem with our timing was because we took this decision in the afternoon. That means we were going to have to wait till night time. Good enough, there was much to watch and do in the mall. So we chose to hang around in the Mall. The Dubai Mall itself is an endless network of high class shops so if you had time to kill like we had, what to do to kill time was not a problem.

Dubai Mall

We went from shop to shop feeding our eyes and taking pictures. I will talk about this mall in another blog. However by 5:30pm I was already tired but the fountain show was a must see so we decided to take a rest from our walking around. We actually entered the Mall at about 1pm so you can understand my tiredness at this time. Good enough the mall on all floors had designated points where you could sit down and rest with free WiFi. So we sat down and I actually went to sleep for almost an hour.
No, Madam didn’t sleep she just sat and watched over me whilst watching people go by.

Eventually after my much needed nap we started exploring this inexhaustible Mall again with a target of going to the Ice-skating rink which we didn’t eventually get to because there was still more than enough other things to see. Eventually we decided it was dark enough for us to go out and watch the fountain show which comes up every 30 minutes.

On getting there we met a large crowd watching the show already so we had to wait for the on going show to finish for us to be able to go in and watch the next round.
Note we were going to watch the show from the Dubai Mall floor which for me gave us a better view. Others were watching from various points/buildings around the Mall including I am sure those who were inside Burj Khalifa. After about 15 minutes of waiting, our turn came to go out on the terrace. At this time, my back was already killing me. This was due to the weight of the backpack I had been lugging around since morning but the pull of the beautiful display I was about to witness kept me going.

I stood on the terrace surveyed the sea of heads waiting to watch the fountains dance.

Crowd waiting for the Dubai Marina Fountain show to start

Yes, our waiting was worth it. Once we were on that terrace, I forgot my backache and started enjoying the beautiful light displays coming from the Burj Khalifa building and other buildings around. Beautiful lights everywhere, displaying names etc.

I got caught up in the joy of this appreciative crowd. People were laughing, talking, taking selfies, videos were being shot. The show had not started but the excitement of the crowd was infectious. Its was a carnival atmosphere. It was a joyous event. This is too beautiful to describe or forget.

Dubai Marina

My wife was in her own world. She had made a new friend. A pleasant Russian lady (I guess) and both busied themselves taking each other in front of Burj Khalifa though they couldn’t speak each others language). I don’t know how she makes friends that quickly. (Story for another day). Any way she finally dragged me into helping them out with the Burj Khalifa shots with her new friend.

Burj Khalifa at night

That said and done we heard a loud boom sound. They show was on. Distinct music came on. The crowd at this time doubled their frenzy. More phones/cameras came out, raised up ready and shooting footages. The waters on the fountain area lit up like a ballet dancer weaving from side to side then suddenly shooting up into the heavens over 400 feet plus into the air in a well choreographed dance fashion. Lights, colors, boom sounds, excited people, great music mixed together.

Boy, this show is lit. The waters kept dancing rhythmically to the sound of the music. Women and children were screaming all over with delight. This was not a time to pretend. It’s manly to be happy. So I let myself go. I joined the crusade of the happy screamers. My camera couldn’t dance but could take shots. Shot after shot. Screams, laughters, happy people and after a while, the show ended. Not abruptly, just to a satisfactory end.

Dubai Marina Fountain show

I stood transfixed at what I had just witnessed. Whoa, this Dubai, the Land of liquid beautiful colored buildings and dancing fountains. I was in dream land. A little tear of joy streamed down my right cheek. I am happy. All burdens and stress in Nigeria were momentarily forgotten. I was lost in my sweet thoughts till I heard the voice of my beloved saying, “Its time for us to go. Everyone is leaving”.

Dubai Marina Fountain show

I snapped back to reality and looked lovingly at her. Her eyes told me everything I needed to know. She too enjoyed what she had just seen. Her new friend came over to us to say good bye in her language and to thank me for the shots. I waved her bye. The language of a smile from this gorgeous lady spoke volumes to me. She too was satisfied with the show. Everyone left the place happy. Waters, fountains, colors, music, loud booms, beautiful people, pleasant night. This is Dubai. They know how to dish out joy here. They know how to make a man forget his sorrows.

Take aways from watching the show –
I am surprised that they charged nothing for one to watch the show.
Crowd was much and like in most places in Dubai, orderly and safe to be in.
I saw a great show. I shot footages too. Burj Khalifa and those colors at night is like paradise on earth.
I am happy, my wife is happy.
Why do we have to go home ???
Why.?
SELAH.

To read another travel story on Dubai, follow this link DUBAI MARINA -THE PHOTOGRAPHERS HEAVEN

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I remain Ovyay, your Traveling Poet.