Palm Jumeirah

This guide to Palm Jumeirah walks through how an island shaped like a palm tree, with a trunk and sixteen fronds, got built from sand dredged off the floor of the Arabian Gulf. You'll hear about the "rainbowing" technique ships used to spray that sand into place, the five men who walked the site with GPS receivers strapped to their backs, and the Dutch dredging firms who ran the job between 2001 and 2006. It also traces the seven million tonnes of rock hauled from the Hajar Mountains to hold the whole shape together.