The Palm Islands are an engineering project of staggering proportion.
In 2001, there was nothing off the coast of Dubai but warm, shallow gulf water. Then Nakheel, a local real estate conglomerate, dredged 3 billion cubic feet of sand from the seafloor and used GPS precision to shape it a 17-fronded palm tree. Seven million tons of mountain rock was piled around the island to form a crescent-shaped breakwater seven miles long, designed to protect the newborn island from waves and storms.