This year is no exception. On Saturday the mountain just above Boyes Drive was on fire, and the fire-crews were using two helicopters to dump water onto the fire. Because it was so close to my house and I live right next to the vlei, I watched the choppers collecting the water out of the lake before dumping it onto the fire.

It was pretty amazing watching the choppers, incredible skill in dropping down to grab the water, and then dumping it right on the hot-spots. This is in the cross-winds and flying through all the smoke. These are amazing pilots.

Thankfully, they managed to put this one out quite quickly, and there didn’t seem to be any major damage. We have had some pretty major fires in the past.

Here are the rest of the pics.

Here is one more shot of St James Beach on a lovely Saturday morning, before the awful weather this week. At least Summer is starting to make appearances. This section is a little rocky, but still a lovely spot where you can stop for a few minutes to watch and listen to the waves.

By the way, I took with my Canon S95 point and shoot, which I am loving. Small, light and easy to take with you. A perfect companion while my 50D is in hospital.

I just got back from speaking that the Wordcamp Cape Town conference, and it was an awesome experience. There is so much technical talent in South Africa, and some amazing work being done. It was invigorating and exciting to meet so many amazing WordPess evangelists. I have also never seen so many iPads and Mac’s in one place in my life. I did feel a little strange using my PC laptop for my presentation :-)

The conference was the Atlantic Imbizo, V&A Waterfront, which is on the top floor of the shopping centre, offering amazing views of the waterfront and the harbour. Of course I managed to get in a shot or two, so I hope you enjoy these two of the fishing boats, taken from the roof of the building.

Fishing boats in Cape Town Harbour

It is such an amazing day today, the sky is clear, the sun is out, and the weather is wonderful. It is difficult to believe that Hurricane Irene is on her way (she has already hit the East Coast), and will hit Wilmington tomorrow evening, and New York shortly after.

We should  not have major problems here in Wilmington, but we are still stocking up with bottled water and preparing for power outages. Virginia is in a state of emergency, and Delaware on a warning level. Several areas have mandatory evacuations, but we are fine here and should not need to worry. Mandatory evaculations in New York for the first time ever.

The good news is that this has extended my holiday by two days since I will not be able to fly out of JFK on Sunday.

I caught this shot coming into JFK airport at about 5:30 in the morning, just before we landed. The view is looking up towards Long Island, in the general Boston Direction.

This was taken with the point and click, but considering the circumstances, I think that it came out ok.

Table Mountain with Lion’s Head on the right, the harbour in the front.

Cape Town Stadium, with Lion’s Head and Table Mountain in the background.

Cape Town Stadium with the city bowl in the background.

The Camps Bay and Clifton beaches, with Hout Bay in the distance.

You can do a flip for less that R600, and while that is a lot of money, it is an amazing and unforgettable experience. Highly recommended. Cape Town Helicopters have a 100% safety record, so I am sure you are in good hands.

Disclosure: my flight was free, but the opinions and photos are mine.

The winter rain has arrived today, but it was not here on Tuesday. I caught this shot while driving home to Muizenberg. The mountains in the distance are the Hottentots-Holland mountains, and if you look carefully, you can see the hotels of the Strand on the edge of the water across the bay. This is one of the most peaceful and clean beaches in the world (at least I think so).

Most of the coast of False Bay all the way from Simonstown to Cape Point consists of these stoney beaches. While you can’t really swin here, it provides a wonderful view when out walking or cycling. Further out are excellent fishing and diving spots.

I love this shot; the father on the large windsurfer was surfing next to his son who was on on the smaller board. He was giving advice to his son from across the water. Judging on how the son was doing, he is not going to need advise for much longer. He is already far better that I ever was.

I saw this boat on Zandvlei at the weekend. It has a fiberglass hull, and you sit in front of the mast and steer with your feet (much as you would with a Kayak). That tiny little homemade sail was not at all effective, but I am sure that with a bigger sail it could be quite a fun experience.

I asked the person that helped to launch the boat, and he told me that the original mast had been stolen so this was a trial of a newhomemade sail. Perhaps a little more time in the workshop is in order…