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The Magic of Fossil Rock to Faya (Convoy 2) Since it was the first day of the Ramadan holiday, it was great to see so many of you so enthusiastic to join the drives that eventually 2 convoys had to be made to accommodate all of you. I had the pleasure indeed to lead the convoy 2. Big thanks to @Lorenzo Candelpergher for planing, preparing, posting of the drive and making the drive possible. Unfortunately, we could not have the two convoys reconvene as planned but i am sure we all in both convoys had fun. We started at the Mahafiz entrance and really it was quite difficult to try to avoid as many bushes as I could. It might have felt bumpy but once we made it to the really playable dunes, I could see all of you pushing your car and enjoying those dunes. We were very lucky to have been able to enjoy quite some of them, especially the long roller coaster rides at the famous long range dunes. We then proceeded to the foot of the fossil rock and the climb felt like a piece of cake to this great bunch of fewbies. Luckily there was not much rock on the other side, so we crossed the fossil rock to get to the other side. We then embarked on our way to the great Faya through camel rock. And finally the area in the second half was less bushy so we could enjoy the dunes with slightly technical and softer dunes. Since all of us drove very well, we barely had minor refusals which was mainly due to loss of momentum but was very well managed under the amazing support of @Islam Soliman and @Ranjan Das. We were very fortunate to find Faya area empty with just few bikers, its was like the whole area was all ours which gave us the opportunity to experience it more. We then climbed from the back of Faya while enjoying the bowls and then we attempted the front side as much as we could as we were the only one around. I hope everybody enjoyed the drive. Thank you to the team for doing so well yesterday. @luis manteconyou played the important role of the second lead very well, thank you. @Ranjan Das thank you for being the centre forward. Special thanks to our flawless sweep @Islam Soliman. Enjoy your holidays and see you all soon in the sand...

Convoy 2: Thanks @Anish S @Islam Solimanand @Ranjan Das for a brilliant drive. Thanks also @Rawad Bahsas(and your wife) for recovering my flag on more than 1 occasion. oh and @Islam Solimanfor the loan of his flag ( as he was at rear of convoy) when i eventually realised there was a crack in the suction cup. Now to the driving - It was AMAZING. I was a bit sceptical when signing up as had only been to Fossil Rock / Faya area ( as a Newbie) a couple of weeks before. But as a Fewbie it was a totally different experience. Some fantastic slide sloping and then progressively climbing through the bowls at the rear of Faya was truly an experience i will not forget for a long time. Thanks again @Anish S, until the next time.

"Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious." Stephen Hawking. A massive thanks to ALL for joining us, and for the great company ! Thanks to @Mikhail Lukichev for the great support and teaching us the most important things so we could get confident in pushing the right buttons Thanks to @Gauravfor creating the gallery and sweeping the convoy 🤗 Thanks to @Niki for proposing the session at the exact right timing, and for being the funniest guy on the sabkha 😆 A small tip: after this session, try to do another small practice from your garden or terrace to try similar settings in a couple of days. It will help you to remember the settings we tried (they are also mentioned in the topic here). Don't be afraid of the manual mode, just play with ISO, Exposure, and Shutter speed settings, and learn how these are all interconnected in obtaining the perfect shot.

Thanks everybody! You all did really great! Hope that some people liked night photography and will enjoy it in the wild on their own. There are lot of places for such meditation in the UAE. Meanwhile, I just want to show you my snaps and comparison of RAW and edited photos. As I mentioned, taking the photo is only half of the process. The second half is editing. I swear, I have not drawn the stars 😃 Thanks!

Post Drive Report Seems my last radio message was not heard today, so I will set it out here. SWB does allow us to go play in areas that otherwise are a real challenge with a 'longer' convoy. There is a reason that the sands on which we drove today were so pristine. And the tolerances are small. With just a few inches more wheelbase, our MWB found the going tougher. The sand was horribly soft (as I found to my own cost more than a few times), but with the SWB vehicles, we managed to explore some amazing and extremely complex dunes. For that I am really grateful - so thanks to all of you for signing up and letting me lead through an area of Qudra that I so rarely get to see. For the rest. I guess the areas we traversed gave more opportunities for criss-crossing than ridge riding. I tried to mix it up a little between breaking over crests from the slip side and the hard side and getting onto a ridge and then coming down. Everyone did really well here. At the back of the convoy it was heavily churned so must have been a bit more difficult to get through some of them. What I felt was that it was a flowing drive punctuated by some stucks that took time to resolve: not overly time consuming, but just because we flowed so nicely when we did these stops felt to be taking up time. I'm not going to give specific driver feedback because I think that everyone did exceptionally well considering the terrain. Massive thanks to you all for the teamwork and patience. Special thanks to @Kailas and @Jeepie for keeping me almost completely sand free! See you soon in the sand.

This was the best shot I managed to get. F4.5, 15", ISO3200

Thanks @Mikhail Lukichev and @Frederic for this super informative and educating session for astro photography. Thanks for sparing your time to share the knowledge and work arounds with everyone. I can't wait to shoot more as I'm getting used to of using my camera in M mode - after 10 years same like Brette. Next stop........Moon shot......?

@Frederic @Mikhail Lukichev thank you both for such a super night! @Mikhail Lukichev massive thanks for the tutoring throughout and the patience with those of us like me! apologies all for my super bright red head light!!! I think it maybe one of those over engineered German brands… I’ll stick to dragon mart next time! Sadly most of my shots from the Nikon were out of focus!! 🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️🤦🏽‍♂️ I should have used tape! from my tiny Sony rx100 I did get some nice pics so will hit YouTube for a quick Photoshop/Lightroom tutorial and then post what I managed to shoot! was such a fun night and cannot wait for the next session - thinking we make this a monthly event and by the time we hit Milkyway season we may all get some super shots! Eid Mubarak for those celebrating tomorrow and enjoy this wonderful holiday period all!

My best 3 clicks are in gallery. https://carnity.com/gallery/category/747-lens-lovers-photography-meet-dubai-11-may-2021 Appreciate if everyone can upload pics and add details of exposure, iso and F-speed to help understand astrophotography more.

Nikon D3300 ISO 800 15 Seconds 19mm F/2.8 All of my Nikon shots facing the well were sadly out of focus ... lessons learnt ready for the next trip

iPhone 12Pro Max. Ultra wide 10second exposure (Lightroom edit) Sony RX100 (ISO 1600, 10.4mm, f/1.8, 65 seconds 5 stacked images) (Lightroom edit… will replace if I can improve via PS)

All were taken on ISO 3200, 15 or 20 seconds, with f/2.8 Samyang 14mm

Thanks a lot @Frederic for organising this evening! A very nice opportunity to take the time to enjoy the star lighted night in the desert. @Mikhail Lukichev, thank you for your clear and patient indications and advises. You have saved us many hours of try and retry. Thank to all for sharing experience and results, and helping me to dig into the camera menu ! A first sample from the jpg format, I need more time to explore the possibilities out of the raw format before putting them in the gallery! ISO3200, 18mm, f3,5, 15" for the cars ISO1250, 18mm, f3,5, 15" for the trees

@Mikhail Lukichev@Frederic Thank you for organizing the event and helping us understand how to utilize the dslr other than auto mode. Very much informative and looking forward for the next session 😷

Thanks @Anish S for the wonderful drive and your guidance. I really appreciate your advices. Thanks @Islam Soliman and @Ranjan Das for your great work at sweep and CF. This was my fist drive as a Fewbie and it was amazing. Got a chance to push further. Honestly I have improved my driving skills a lot compared to my very first newbie drive to the same location two months ago. @Rawad Bahsas great drive buddy always love to see your Nissan Beast. You are handling it beautifully. One of wheel nut is broken in my front wheel. I think I have to put a new spacer. Thanks all for the great drive. See you all again.

Convoy 2: big thanks to @Anish S for the lead today! Thoroughly enjoyed the different terrains and especially these big dunes. thanks to @Islam Soliman as well, second drive with you and always a pleasure👍🏼

Hi all, Below convoy list for tomo. Let’s use Ch 5 for communication cheers J @Michael Glavanisthere is a free spot. Are you ok to Join

Good afternoon everyone! I hope you all had a great time last night and enjoyed 😍🤩. I'm sorry I missed it and I really hope this club has more driving and shooting meets - day, night, anything! Looking forward to seeing all your photos!

@Wrangeld @Jeepie @Kailasthanks for the drive today, the area is amazing! Too bad I made some rookie mistakes a couple of times which prevented the convoy from exploring further. My skills are still not at the level to tackle such terrain but hopefully that’ll change soon. Thanks for all who helped me out of these tough situations and pop out! You guys all did amazing today👍🏼

Thanks @Anish S @Islam Solimanand @Ranjan Das for another wonderful drive, I have enjoyed the drive a lot as always, but today we have had the opportunity to ride incredible big dunes pushing our machines and ourselves, improving with each attempt thanks your teaching and also learning from other mates, what a level !! @Chris Wing @Rawad Bahsasit is alway a pleasure driving with you guys And @Alain Canivet-Abikhalilthanks a lot for lending me your spare radio, you saved my life today, it is great seeing you driving your beauty with such a technic and determination, well done, I hope to drive with you many times. Thank you all the rest to for another epic morning !!! See you on the dunes !

Convoy2- An awesome day that could have been better if only we met Convoy1, but, @Lorenzo Candelpergher, cars on Convoy2 just refused to refuse😅 No shovels, no seniors out of their cars... We've had a lucky day indeed. My wife joined me today for the first time since Newbie drives and she was surprised how we managed the whole trip with such ease. Gr8 job all Special thank you @Anish S, @Islam Soliman, and @Ranjan Dasfor the lead and support. You guided us through the annoying bushes, all the way to the playing areas, climbing and descending fossil rock, and eventually the beautiful bowls on our way to Faya big dune @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil @Darren Brooke @Chris Wing @luis manteconalways a pleasure driving with you pals.@Chinthaka Ruwanhope nothing is serious with your ride man and hell of a job on Al Faya showing the true power or Nissan beasts 🤪🤪 see you all again soon🤙🤙

Definetely in. Thanks. See you tomorrow.

Confirmed. Thanks @Janarthan

Hello All, Updated Confirm aka C/WL 1. @Ranjan Das - C 2. @Richard Franks - C 3. @Michael Glavanis - WL 1 4. @Nithin Vaidir - WL 2 @ranjan @Richard Franks have added you guys to the drive, pls confirm

Heartiest congratulations @Foxtrot Oscar Angela!

Thanks @Nithin Vaidir I remember it well. Hope to drive with you again soon .

Dear Desertnauts. One last info. Due to the addition of 2 Carnity Advisor Team members, I have restructured the convoy as follows: @Thomas Varghese #2 @imranaasghar81 #3 @N@ved #4 @GauravSoni #5 @Yousef Alimadadi at Center Forward @varunmehndiratta #7 @Mario Cornejo #8 @amir amiri #9 @Francois Germishuys #10 @marks in Sweep See you in time for a punctual departure.

Could you kindly waitlist me for this drive ??

Hello Majan & Richard @Jeepie @Wrangeld i would like to be in if slots are available and assisting the drive would be my great pleasure. cheers 🌷

Thanks @Mikhail Lukichev@Fredericfor organising this session and sharing some key tips with all of us. This was my first shot at using the camera in manual mode after having it for almost 10 years.

Thank you @Anish S @Islam Soliman @Ranjan Das for the beautiful track and the advices and support. Fossil Rock is an amazing place and the dunes you took us to today were a lot of fun. As a new fewbie, i got to push myself (and my car) a bit further and i found this challenge pretty satisfying. I enjoyed seeing everyone expressing their own style of driving it's a good way to learn. And as usual, the company was great... see you soon !

Guess was adequately caffeinated and awake to land at the correct location and tune to the correct channel 😀; last thing I noticed before turning off the lights yesterday was that I had been earmarked as CF for the convoy 2. Was mentally prepared to lot of shoveling (think I even dreamt of it 😉) and if luck could have it would get a chance to inaugurate my rope and shackles. But alas, the august company I had today, led by @Anish S, made sure that I wasn’t lucky today☺️…..we stopped more for fixing flags than for refusals, I counted only two minor ones and no stucks. Thank you @Anish Sfor the drive, it was indeed a pleasure. Thanks @Islam Soliman for the support and rest of the gang for driving and having fun the way we did today. what a wonderful way to drive into the holidays…

Hi @Foxtrot Oscar FYI and in case it matters for your convoy list, I will be taking the LC200 for the Friday afternoon drive as the Wrangler is getting HOT🤒 ... Thanks and see you then! 😃

Thank you @Vanessa8580, looking forward to the drive tomorrow.. Just to inform you that my family (wife +2 kids) will be joining me ..hope thats fine

Drive RSVP is closed now Below you can find the convoy numbering for tomorrow's drive Newbie drive Almost Lisaili to Hathmah 13 may 2021 Attendees Level Car Pos # Vanessa8580 Marshal Mitsubishi Pajero LWB Blue 1 Gauravsoni Intermediate Mitsubishi Pajero LWB Grey 2 Gregory Newbie Mitsubishi Pajero LWB 2011 White 3 Zixuan Huang Newbie Nissan Pathfinder 2010 White 4 jodha singh shekhawat Intermediate Nissan Patrol Y62 5 Sunil Mathew Newbie Jeep Wrangler 4door Yellow 2015 6 Anoop Raj Newbie Toyota FJ Cruiser 7 Brette Marshal Jeep Grand Cherokee Black 8 Topgear Fewbie Toyota FJ Cruiser 9 Adhir Saxena Fewbie Mitsubishi Pajero SWB 10 TT_Dubai Newbie Jeep Wrangler JK 2014 11 Simon Hope Newbie Jeep Wrangler JK SWB 2018 Silver 12 Gordon Reid Newbie GMC Sierra 4door AT4 Black 13 Trent Newbie Ford F150 14 Varunmehndiratta Intermediate Jeep Wrangler Unlimited Grey 15 We will be using radio channel 1 (446 00625) I hope to see you all tomorrow morning at 5.30 am sharp ....

No other plans boss. I am in

@FredericThanks for adding me. Will definitely attend on Friday.

For those who are coming from other Emirates, it seems that DPI test done at the border isn’t an option anymore (or at least during Eid) and that PCR is required.

Hi @Miguel Codes I have added you to the drive. Do let me know if you have other plans.

@Jeepie you guys fully booked? :) can you waitlist me please. Thanks!

@Anoop Nair as a spot became available, i have added you to the drive. Please confirm if you can make it.

Sorry for being late, sincere apologies for the same. Thank you all for waiting. As rightly quoted by @Wrangeld we were challenging technical area and some were technically challenging, difference learned retrospectively. Also there was no adrenaline rush which covered by the very need of dopamine for the brain. Thank you for the drive.

Good Morning Gang, unfortunately I need to drop out of this drive please donate my spot to someone else and have a great drive ☺️

Thanks Marjan!! @Jeepie looking forward!

@Goutam and @Gaurav Soni you are both in if you want

@Janarthan Please add me to the waiting list. Thanks.

Many thanks @Lorenzo Candelpergher for the drive this morning! Beautiful selection of dunes, bowls and play areas, always carefully explained. Thanks @Dodi Syahdarand @GauravSoni for the support. Convoy 1, check the gallery for some action pictures, and a view from the top of Faya Big Dune

DRIVE REPORT - Convoy 1 Dear Desert Wanderers, There is nothing better than driving across completely virgin dunes and today was certainly one of those occasions where the sand couldn't get any better. Everyone made it to the meeting point by 5 am, with no misunderstandings about which of the two Carnity Convoys to join. A missing bolt held @Russ from fixing his flag, which took a bit of time to sort out, so we could finally hit the sand by 5.30am. As we started our move into Mahafiz Desert, heading East, we could enjoy the sun slowly rising from behind the skyline of Fossil Rock, always an inspiring view. The terrain was very tricky due to the multiple bushes scattered all over the place. We nevertheless made our way in, reaching the first two playgrounds in no time: the two nice and tall bowls offered the convoy a great opportunity to safely practice some serious side sloping. We then continued to move east and, after I got suck on a crest in a moment of hesitation (thanks to @GauravSoni, @Dodi Syahdarand @Lawrence_Chehimi for the shoveling), just before reaching the 3rd big playground bowl, we had the first serious setback for the day, an unexpected and unfortunate pop-out by @GauravSoni, which however turned out to be a nice learning experience for all those who had never seen one and even less witnessed how to repair it. This little delay accumulated with this pop-out unfortunately made it impossible to respect the plan hatched with @Anish S which was supposed to have the two convoys reconvening at designated meeting points / times during the drive. Convoy 2 ended up always being ahead of us, very often in visual distance, but never close enough to be reached. As soon as we could move again after fixing the pop-out, we made our way to the 3rd playground bowl of the day and then to the Long Dune, which the convoy exploited sidesloping from North East to South West with great fun and then admired in its majestic beauty while driving by in the opposite direction. From there we quickly found our way to the Pylon Track and immediately started the epic ascent to Fossil Rock. Unlike most of the other times, the sand on the way up on the West side was not too badly churned up and the sand cover on the East side was thick enough to allow us to attempt a breath-taking descent, brilliantly executed in 4LO 1st gear by the whole convoy. As we made our move again from the bottom of the rock, the second half of the drive, the most exciting and challenging one, in Faya, started. Progressing on our way to the massive dunes of Faya, we drove along a spine of rocks emerging from the sand and perfectly aligned, connecting Fossil Rock to Camel Rock and The Sphynx. The terrain was just fantastic compact sand with no tracks: we couldn't have asked for anything better. As we got closer to Faya, refusals became a bit more frequent, and we decided to move @Antoz in 2nd position so he could benefit from following directly my line across the most demanding stint of the drive. Unfortunately, both my son Michelangelo and @Antoz's passenger started to feel some motion sickness at this point, so we took a short break to allow them to get some fresh air. As we happened to be, at that point, right in the middle of Faya's complex dunes, we had no immediate easy exit, so we proceeded south to reach the famous Faya bowls and, eventually Faya Big Dune, close to the exit point. When we reached the top of the big dune from the back, we could see once more Convoy 2 playing around with @Ranjan Das and @Darren Brooke in the middle of their attempts to make it to the top, under the vigilant eyes of @Anish Sand @Islam Soliman. As we descended to the bottom of the dune, Convoy 2 was making its exit, so we had the whole place for us: the convoy spent some good 20 mins climbing Faya Big Dune from all sides, with many successful attempts (I can remember those by @Lawrence_Chehimi, @Dodi Syahdar, @Kenneth Bollhardt, @JeromeFJ, @Batuhan Kulac, the others who made it to the top will forgive me if I won't mention them). In the end we exited by 9:30, after driving for 45.6km in 4h 03', at an average moving speed of 16.9km. We covered an overall ascent of +476/-430m, which means we really climbed and descended a lot. Everyone did very well today: @Lawrence_Chehimi@Russ, @Antoz, @Magellan, @Dodi Syahdar, @Kenneth Bollhardt, @JeromeFJ, @Batuhan Kulac,@topgear@GauravSoni, congratulations for a very good drive and special thanks to @Dodi Syahdar and @GauravSoni for their precious support. See you next time in the sand!

Dear Desertnauts. Last info for tomorrow's PM drive. Meeting point: the actual meeting and deflation point is, strangely, marked wrongly on Google Maps. That's why you should follow Google Map's directions to reach the first link posted, which is just off the first roundabout after Qudra's Last Exit, on the road to Bab al Shams. Only after exiting the roundabout you can reach the actual meeting point (second map's link), through a dirt track just to the right of the track leading to the "villa"'s guarded gate. Deflation: please deflate between 10 and 11 PSI's, or as much as your tires will allow, as the hot PM's temperatures will make the sand quite soft and shifty, especially early on in the drive. Convoy order: @Thomas Varghese in SL @imranaasghar81 at #3 @Arda Yagcioglu will be #4 @N@ved #5 @Yousef Alimadadi will be Center Forward @GauravSoni at #7 @amir amiri in place #8 @varunmehndiratta at #9, and @Mario Cornejo will Sweep. As mentioned, at this IM and above level, I'd like each driver to be responsible for assisting in recoveries the car either immediately in front or behind (depending on which driver will be better positioned). This will ensure that everybody is exposed to recovery techniques. Bring a full tank, water to drink, snacks to enjoy, and your determination to safely practice criss-crossing. See you tomorrow, and Eid Mubarak to all.