Break of day

There's a lot to be said for going to bed early and waking up with the sun! The best part of the day is just before the dawn (hmm, I've heard that before - no, the darkest hour is just before the dawn (Long time coming CS&N!)). This is the time when the birds have started to hop in the hedgerows and twitter in the twigs. It's the time when the wind hasn't started to blow and the white horses are not yet charging across the surface of the sea.

At this time of year, the sun is far enough south to light up the back table of Table Mountain and the buttresses of the Twelve Apostles with a pink glow and perhaps a few feathery clouds starting to form the famous tablecloth that sweeps down the sheer cliffs of 'our' mountain into the City Bowl in November. I can enjoy this view from my bed, but I prefer to go out onto the balcony where I can surprise a sunbird as it hovers nearby, startled to find another moving creature so early in the morning, and breathe in the fresh drift of sea air as it transitions from inshore to offshore with the sunrise.

A shorebreak provides a dramatic background to the fly-past of the flock of swift terns which live on the island and fill the skies with their random, wheeling flight at dawn and dusk, although silently. If I weren't so lazy, I would go down to the rocks and enjoy the solitariness, but work calls and breakfasts must be made. But maybe on Sunday...

Sunset

Early morning