The Arabian/ Persian Gulf

With family and friends we visited a beach resort. Of course, it is against the law here to only wear bathers in public, so the only place you are allowed is at private and crowded hotel beaches (usually for a high fee!). We had a great time together though and particularly enjoyed the swimming in the sea where the salt level is so high it makes you very bouyant and it is usually exceptionally warm. We were fortunate on this day to find the resort empty - perhaps everyone else had read the weather forcast. We had chatted over lunch with our family visiting from Melbourne and friends visiting from Kentucky that we never need to pay attention to the weather here as it is always fine and sunny (although now in November the weather is pleasantly and notably warm). We were all a little surprised when in an instant the sky turned charcoal and we couldn't see far in front of us because of the sand storm. Unfortunately, we were all too frantically packing up to indulge in photography. It was a slow drive home in the sand storm and a slow drive through traffic in Doha as people clumsily adapted to the wet roads. The first rainfall since April. It depends on which side of the Gulf you are on what it is named - Iran obviously prefers the Persian Gulf whereas on this side it is referred to as the Arabian Gulf! I have been reprimanded for calling it the formentioned.