Bluewaters

Bluewaters is a man-made island by Meraas, laid off the Jumeirah Beach Residence shoreline and close enough to the mainland to reach on foot. A covered pedestrian bridge crosses the channel from The Beach at JBR and lands in the middle of the island, and a road bridge brings cars in from Sheikh Zayed Road. Ain Dubai, the observation wheel, stands at the seaward end and gives the island its outline from every direction.

Housing sits in a run of residential buildings arranged around a central plaza, with apartments and penthouses above and townhouses at podium level. Ground floors are given over to restaurants, cafes and everyday retail, so the plaza works as the middle of the island rather than a service road behind it. Hotel and beach club frontage takes the outer edge, and residents have beach access on the seaward side, with views either back to the Marina skyline or straight out to the Gulf.

Because the island is small and carries no through traffic, street level stays calm, while JBR and the Marina remain a walk away over the bridge. Sheikh Zayed Road puts Media City, Downtown and the airport within a straightforward drive, and the tram and metro network is reachable without a car once you are across the channel.