Nov 23, 2015· The Real Story Behind Dubai's Palm Islands. 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 17fronded palm tree. Seven million tons of mountain rock was piled around the island to form a crescentshaped breakwater seven miles long, designed to protect the newborn island from waves and storms.