United Arab Emirates
Snoopy Island
A rock shaped like a sleeping beagle, ringed by coral where reef sharks patrol.
From the sand at Al Aqah the islet lies on the water exactly like its cartoon namesake, snout down, ears back. Kick out across the clear strip between beach and rock and the seabed turns to coral, fish thickening around you within the first few metres.
Snoopy Island sits just off Al Aqah on Fujairah's Gulf of Oman coast, and its silhouette named it: a rounded back and drooping snout that reads unmistakably as a sleeping beagle. The reef around it is the reason to get wet. These are some of the clearest waters in the Emirates, home to turtles, blacktip reef sharks, stingrays and even seahorses, and the islet is close enough to reach by kayak or paddleboard from the beach. A PADI dive academy operates from the shore opposite, running guided dives and training on a house reef that suits first-timers as well as logged divers; Dibba Rock and the Inchcape wrecks lie minutes up the coast. Conditions are best from October to May, when visibility peaks and the water sits at 24 to 28 degrees; summer turns it bath-warm and hazier. Sightings are the sea's to give, but few UAE reefs give them more readily.
Couple
Paddle a kayak out to the islet in the flat early water, snorkel the coral rim, then take the beachfront lounge's shade with the beagle profile framed offshore.
Family
Children can snorkel the near edge of the reef from the beach under lifeguarded arrangements, and the shape-spotting alone keeps the day playful.
Friends
Book a guided dive on the house reef or a trip to the wrecks up the coast, then compare shark and turtle tallies over a private barbecue on the sand.
- Fujairah's east coast waters are among the clearest in the Emirates, home to turtles, blacktip reef sharks, stingrays and seahorses.
- The islet lies close enough to reach by kayak or paddleboard straight from the beach.
- A PADI dive academy on the facing shore runs guided dives and training on the house reef.
- Dibba Rock and the Inchcape wrecks sit minutes away, making Al Aqah the UAE's densest little diving coast.
The beach resort's kitchens run on fresh seafood and Mediterranean plates, eaten with the islet in view.
Book a private barbecue at a beachfront chalet and let the coals work while the tide goes slack.
Archipiélago de las Perlas
Panama
The pearl that dazzled a Tudor queen and Elizabeth Taylor was pulled from these waters.
Ras Mohammed
Egypt
The Sinai desert drops into the Red Sea here, mangroves clinging to the last ledge.
Marsa Alam
Egypt
Dugongs grazing on seagrass in shallows so clear you watch from the surface, desert silent behind.
Great Barrier Reef
Australia
Turtles thread through a coral world stretching 2,300 kilometres along Queensland.
Hatta
United Arab Emirates
A turquoise reservoir pooled between rust-red peaks, in the emirate everyone thinks is all sand.
Al Marmoom Desert Conservation Reserve
United Arab Emirates
Flamingos wade through a mirage-like lake in the middle of the Arabian desert.
Jebel Hafeet
United Arab Emirates
A road of sixty corners spirals up a bare limestone fang above 5,000-year-old tombs.
Jebel Jais
United Arab Emirates
Ice sheets the UAE's highest ridge on the coldest winter dawns, desert haze far below.