Tag Archives: harbour

Jazz on water

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Yacht basin an the V&A Waterfront

I'm not much of a jazz fan, but I have to admit that the AquaJazz show at the V&A Waterfront's Aqua Festival was pretty good. I took this photo to the right of the stage, a little while before the show - as the light was fading. Isn't the yacht basin just beautiful? It must be awesome to own an apartment that's part of such a beautiful view... even more, it must be awesome to own that huge yacht in the middle of the photo!

The seals that you see on the jetty are interesting creatures. For each show that I've attended they've sat on the jetty talking to each other in their dog-like grunts and barks. The jetty connects to a landing that the performers use to walk to the stage, and often the stage security guys have to spray water on the seals to encourage them to move off the landing so that the performers can make their way to the stage without being pushed into the water by a huge lumbering seal.

It's really entertaining to watch the little dance between the seals and the security people. :D

Edit: I've just published an album for the AquaJazz show here.

Rubber buffer

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Rubber buffer

Imagine the size of the car! No seriously, I think these tyres are the kind used on those hugely-oversized mining vehicles (see more here).

These mammoth tyres act as a buffer between docking (or moored) boats and the harbour wall.  My car's tyres cost between R800 and R1200 depending on the brand, with some luxury 4x4's tyres costing 4 or 5 times that price. I wonder what these tyres would cost and hope that the harbour sources used tyres from mining companies instead of buying them new - it's a great way of recycling rubber!

Harbour cranes

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Harbour cranes

My dad retired from work many years ago, but back then one of the things that he use to do was inspect the harbour cranes to ensure that they were kept in a good working condition. He use to climb to the end of the jib (the part right at the end of the arm from where the cable extends downwards) in all kinds of weather. If you're familiar with Cape Town's weather you'll know that this would mean that on occasion he'd climb out there in high winds and even rainy weather - and apparently, even tough the cranes may look perfectly stable from the ground, when you're up there they bob about a bit like a rodeo bull!

We’re loving summer

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The Waterfront at night
Today was exceptionally hot; even now as the clock is about to tick over into a new day I'm absolutely baking here in my office.

Hot, quiet and windless evenings like this make Capetonians head for the outdoors. While we were at the Waterfront watching the sun slowly fade into an array of pastel colours, hundreds of people would have been meeting up with friends on various beaches around the peninsula, many would have been walking up Signal Hill, and yet others would have been catching a ride to the top of Table Mountain.

Another perfect summer's eve in Cape Town...

A view above Granger Bay Harbour

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Granger Bay Harbour

After work today Kerry-Anne and I drove through to the city to meet one of our longtime readers, Beverley, and her husband David, who are currently hiding from the chilly English weather here in sunny Cape Town. If you have a moment, take a look at Beverley's collection of Cape Town photos by clicking here.

This photo was taken from their holiday apartment, which overlooks the small harbour of Granger Bay, located between the Radisson Hotel and the V&A Waterfront. It was fantastic to meet Beverley for the first time, and we all spent a lovely evening chatting and sharing stories over drinks.

I'll cover this topic in more detail some other time, but just for interest's sake, the orange submersibles in the bottom right of the photo are used for survival training at the Survival Centre, which is part of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology.