Water

On fire

Published December 21, 2011

We have mountain fires in Cape Town every summer. Usually they happen when it is hot and windy, and mostly they are started by cigarette butts being thrown out of car windows.

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.

Posted in Cape Town, Current Affairs, Daily Photo, Lakeside, Muizenberg, Water |

Tagged Cape Town, fire, helicopters, Lakeside, Water |

St James Beach

Published September 21, 2011

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.

Posted in Cape Town, Daily Photo, HDR, Water |

Tagged beach, Cape Town, HDR, St James |

1 Comment

Fishing boats at V&A

Published September 15, 2011

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

Posted in Cape Town, Daily Photo, Water |

Tagged boats, Cape Town, fishing, waterfront, wcct |

1 Comment

The day before the hurricane

Published August 26, 2011

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.

Posted in Daily Photo, Delaware, Huricane Irene, Water |

Tagged delaware, hurricane, Irene |

Long Island

Published August 13, 2011

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.

Posted in Daily Photo, New York, Scenery, Water |

Tagged colours, New York, sunrise, Water |

5 Comments