Snorkeling at Atlantis, The Palm

Gulf News reporter Noor Nazzal tries snorkeling and discovers a variety of marine creatures at the Ambassador Lagoon in Atlantis, The Palm in Dubai.

Transcript

00:00I'm here to snorkel for the very first time and I'm very excited, but scared from the

00:12sharks.

00:13The Ambassador Lagoon in Atlantis, Dubai is one of the largest man-made saltwater repositories

00:35in the world.

00:36The 11 million litre marvel, which has newly opened in early May, is home to 65,000 marine

00:42creatures.

00:43This includes colourful reef fish, sharks, and rays.

00:46Most of the fish available at the lagoon are species that live in the Gulf and the Indian

00:50Ocean.

00:51We're very lucky, we have a fantastic collection of sharks and rays, which we're really, really

00:54proud of.

00:55A very diverse collection of sharks and rays.

00:57This includes four different species of shark rays.

01:00The grey reef shark, bowmouth shark, giant guitar shark, and zebra shark.

01:05In total, there are 22 sharks.

01:07We offer the people the opportunity to get close to these species, because unfortunately

01:10in the rest of the world it's very difficult to get close to these species because of

01:12overfishing, a worldwide problem.

01:14So we're giving people the opportunity to come here, get close to these animals and

01:18learn something about them.

01:19Especially the sharks and rays, because sharks and rays have a really, really bad reputation.

01:22The world started recognising that these are not man-eating monsters, that they need help,

01:26they need protection, and I think this is a really good opportunity for people to come

01:29close, get close to them and suddenly realise, wow, instead of the shark coming straight

01:33at me, it's actually swimming the other way because it's scared of me, so that's what

01:36we'd like to do here.

01:37The lagoon also includes four species of stingrays.

01:40The eagle ray, the cow-nose ray, marble ray, and cow-tail ray.

01:43The cow-tail ray are particularly interesting because they have human-looking eyes and are

01:47available in the gulf in large numbers.

01:49As for colourful fish, the oriental lips are definitely worth watching out for.

01:59I just finished snorkelling, it was really awesome, it was an amazing experience.

02:02I do recommend it for everyone who likes looking at different species of fish.

02:06It was like being in another world, a little bit scary from the sharks, and yeah, I really

02:11had fun.