South of South Africa.

This morning a old buddy of mine ask me to come visit him at his vacation house. I know him for years but somehow forgot about that place. He fixed it nicely and from now on it will be put to 'good use'.

Another amazing Paramotor flight.

This morning the wind was a bit erratic and I was late too. Usually I don't bother with flying if I am not up 1hour after sunrise at the latest. This time of the year (summer), thermals are bothering fairly early in the morning. For paragliding is a 'wish come true' but for a paramotor thermals are just another issue to deal with. Another issue was the fairly wet grass onto which I had to takeoff. The wing I am using is a pretty heavy/oversize one and the extra water just makes things worse. After a so and so takeoff I had to fight the wing a bit. After a few minutes it must have dried up because it did not hang back that much anymore and was more responsive. I set course for St.Francis Bay and after reaching 500ft/150m, I ate my BarOne. Did not finish though. There was a bit of unnerving turbulence and I hate it when the wing is not sitting nicely over my head. The 15Km/h wind was coming from the East and I was flying dead South. After about 25 minutes I reached my first turning point and took the picture below :-)

St.Francis Bay as seen from North looking South.

After St.Francis I set course 040deg and flew along the beach towards Jeffrey's Bay. The laminated sea breeze made the flight a pleasure and now I took some 'time off' and played a bit with my cell phone's camera. Not much to see down below (just bush field) - so below is a picture of myself having a good time.

Mario flying between St.Francis and Jeffrey's Bay.

After 20 or so minutes I reached Astonbay, a suburb of Jeffrey's Bay, my destination. Astonbay has e relatively new housing development called Marina Martenique, and a renown starshaped low-rise building with a million dollar view.

The building above is the only one with more then 3 levels in the entire area!

Another 7-8 minutes and I was looking at the Jeffrey's Bay police station, a place where I worked for exactly 12 years. Thanks God, now I have been transferred closer to home (Today I work at the Humansdorp Police Station)

Jeffrey's Bay main beach and town center.

Here is a friend's house, just before my landing place at the Kabeljous lagoon.

Final destination :-) With my petrol tank almost empty I descended to 30-40feet (10-15m) and had a good time scaring the fishes in the lagoon below.

Kabeljous Lagoon north of Jeffrey's Bay.

This was a very nice flight. A bit bumpy at first but very exciting. A pity I only started with a bit more the 4L fuel, otherwise I should have flown back to Humansdorp. With the 10-15Km/h wind from behind, I should have covered the 15Km in 20-25minutes to complete the triangle. At least I have a challenge now :-)

Michael and his friend.

Michael with his friend Willem from Jeffreys Bay,watching tv.

How many of you use Windows Live Writer ?

A few days ago I have installed Windows Home and Student 2010 on my PC. I was surprised to see it comes with a blog writer application. They call it “Windows Live Writer”. It is rather nice but really, how many people actually use it to publish on their blogs?

Nokia N8 in action.

A few more pics from Buffel's-Bay

Buffel's Bay - Main beach and parking area.

 Daddy and Emi canoeing on Buffel's River.

Our last day was rained out. Yet the N8's camera did a rather good job at taking this final pic.

Another Buffels Bay pic.

Just have a look at Google earth and at my picture. Technology is wonderfull. One can sit all his life at home yet still see the whole world !