A two-hour sunset charter, minute by minute

Minutes 0 to 12 — the channel

The boat leaves the berth and idles out through the Marina channel between the towers. Speed is low because the channel is busy and because there is nothing to hurry towards yet. Cayan Tower, Princess Tower and the whole wall of glass pass close on both banks.

This is where the photographs get taken and it is worth knowing that in advance, because people often spend it stowing bags below. Get everyone on deck before the lines come off.

Minutes 12 to 40 — out past Bluewaters

Past the breakwater the boat opens up and the motion and noise both increase. Ain Dubai and Bluewaters go by to starboard, then the JBR shoreline. The sun is still high enough to be hot on the aft deck at this point, which is why the flybridge fills up first.

The crew will ask roughly where you want to be when the sun goes. On a clear evening the answer is off the Palm with the boat turned so the light falls on the open side; on a hazy one it is closer in, where the towers hold the colour better than the horizon does.

Minutes 40 to 70 — the light

The useful window is roughly twenty minutes either side of the actual sunset. The sun drops fast at this latitude — noticeably faster than in Europe — so the good light does not linger, and a boat that left half an hour late spends the whole window repositioning.

The best few minutes are usually just after the sun has gone, when the towers behind you catch the last of it and the sky goes through orange to deep blue. That is the shot, not the sun itself.

• Sit on the seaward side for the sun, the landward side for the skyline
• The twenty minutes after sunset beat the twenty before it
• November to February gives the clearest air of the year
• Bring a layer between December and February — the deck is cold once the sun is down

Minutes 70 to 120 — home through the lit channel

The run back along JBR takes about twenty-five minutes, and then the boat re-enters the Marina channel with every tower lit. This is the part people do not expect and remember most, and it is the reason a sunset charter beats an afternoon one even though it costs the same.

You are alongside at the two-hour mark. Charter time is berth to berth, so the crew build the return into the plan rather than turning for home when the clock runs out.