The Palm Islands

Its concept was announced in May 2002 and the three resort islands are now expected to become the "Eighth Wonder of the World". The Palm Islands in Dubai are the three largest artificial islands in the world. They are known by the names: The Palm Jumeirah, The Palm Jebel Ali and The Palm Deira.

Each of the islands are being built in the shape of a date palm tree and consist of a trunk, with a 300-metre-long 'trunk' bridge to the land, a crown with 17 fronds and a surrounding crescent island to serve as a breakwater.

The islands will support luxury hotels, freehold residential villas, unique water homes, shoreline apartments, marinas, water theme parks, restaurants, shopping malls, sports facilities, health spas, cinemas and various diving sites.

The islands are being built in shallow waters of the wide continental shelf found off Dubai, using millions of cubic meters of sand dredged from the approach channel to the Jebel Ali port, seen here adjacent to the artificial island named after it. This approach channel is being deepened to 17 meters, and its route can be made out as darker than the water around it. Note also the sediment discoloring the water at the top of the image, possibly connected to this ongoing dredging activity.

The Palms are just part of a larger programme intended to turn Dubai into a leading global tourist destination: the plan is to quadruple visitor numbers to 15 million by 2010. Other planned attractions include an underwater hotel called Hydropolis, the 800-metre high Burj Dubai tower and another archipelago of artificial islands shaped after the global map, known as 'The World'.

For the more intrigued here is a great video presentation of the project itself.

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