Uncovering A Sunken City: The Lost Chambers of Atlantis (The Palm)

One of the first things I did when I arrived in Dubai was to take the Hop-on Hop-off tour bus.

It was a great way to take in the city’s sights and sounds in a matter of hours.

After a quick photo stop outside the only 7-star hotel in the world, the Burj Al Arab, our bus headed to The Palm, a man-made island that gave other man-made islands a run for their money.

Enjoying the sunset breeze on top of the double-decker bus brought back memories of high school sophomore year when I first learned about The Palm.

The year was 2008, and The Palm, as per my classmate’s Asian History class report, was then one of Dubai’s most ambitious ongoing projects.

I joined my classmates’ “oohs” and “ahhs” as images of The Palm lit up the small TV screen in the Audio-Visual room.

Unlike most of them whose parents could afford family summer trips abroad, my parents could barely afford my full year’s tuition fee, so leisure traveling was out of the question.

So what were the odds of finding myself cruising along The Palm 10 years later?

Little to none.

But that was exactly what happened.

The island seemed to stretch for miles, at the tip of which was a pink Arabesque archway: Atlantis.

Not the Atlantis, but its 5-star hotel namesake, complete with an indoor aquarium, underwater-themed fine dining restaurants, and a sprawling water park.

Obviously, these were excluded from my 65-dirham tour bus package deal, but the façade alone was still a staggering sight to behold.

The tour bus coast to a stop beneath the famous arch, giving us ample time to snap selfies.

I thought, “Wow, I wonder how many internal organs I’d have to sell just to walk through those Atlantean doors.”

Turns out, not much.

I didn’t even have to sell a single internal organ.

Last Eid holiday, I finally fulfilled my 14-year-old dream to explore the Lost Chambers of Atlantis, The Palm.

Off-season, UAE residents can avail of their exclusive 75-dirham entrance fee by simply presenting their Emirates ID.

That’s over 40 dirhams worth of savings.

Unfortunately, the resident discounted rate was bumped up to 105 dirhams for the holidays.

Fortunately, I booked online with my Mastercard, availed of their 25% discount and paid only 90 dirhams.

Valid until mid-October 2018

Next, I planned my entire journey by means of public transportation, taking the red metro line and hailing a cab from Nakheel metro station.

The rest of the taxi journey cost about 25 dirhams, the same rate as a monorail ticket.

But since I went with a friend, it was cheaper for us to split the cab fare.

Inside, there were coffee shops and ice cream parlors and luxury brand outlets left and right.

We simply followed the traffic of Chinese tourists and found ourselves at the entrance to The Lost Chambers.

Which by the way, was just opposite the entrance of Aquaventure Water Park (another box waiting to be ticked off my Dubai bucket list but best saved for the non-summer months).

We were on queue for about 15 minutes, which kind of sucked considering I had already booked online.

Meanwhile, loads of tourist groups skipped the line for some reason I didn’t bother asking the usherette (who was their countrywoman).

The whole Lost Chambers tour was completed in far less time than I’d spent on queue.

I had downloaded the app with the sincere effort to learn more about Atlantean mythology, but quickly gave up when I found out they had taken their own creative liberty far away from Plato’s canon.

Ah, the curse of the history buff.

I couldn’t even suspend my disbelief to enjoy how Atlanteans supposedly dressed to the nines to mine beneath the surface of the Earth.

Or how their superior technology allowed them to travel by teleportation.

If I were remotely interested in marine biodiversity, I would have better enjoyed the 65,000 different species that could be viewed in the galleries (or “Chambers,” as they called them).

But really I was more interested on how to best enjoy the variety of seafood—grilled, fried or baked.

Are those monster lobsters?

Points of interest include the Seven Sage Chamber, where a stingray-shaped throne is surrounded by a crystal clear view of the underwater residents.

The glow-in-the-dark jellyfish aquarium along the corridor towards The Abyss.

And a salt water aquarium housing the all-star cast of Finding Nemo: Clownfishes, Blue Tangs, Yellow Tangs and Moorish Idols.

All in all, I had a pretty good time exploring The Lost Chambers.

I don’t see myself returning anytime soon (unless I need to give some visiting friends a tour of the city).

But The Lost Chambers still comes highly recommended on my Must-See Places in Dubai, if you ever want to visit Atlantis without actually staying in Atlantis.