Fire, Fire !

A beach day today, interrupted only by these firefighter planes which flew low level over our heads to refuel with water out of the sea before heading back to the forest fires over the mountains to the north. They were so low at times we thought they were going to get entangled with the paragliding couples just beyond the swimming area. Evidently there were forest fires earlier in the month before we arrived but these fires kicked off yesterday when we went to the shipwreck bay. One of the other guests who cycled over that way said there were plenty of firefighters and troops around but the fire was devastating vast tracts of mountain greenery.

The suspicion is that they may have been started by arson as these lush mountain areas cannot be developed whilst they are still fertile but if they are burnt down the land suddenly rises in price immensely as they are then available for development. However, this summer's heatwave could be the culprit and would in any case provide dry vegetation that would burn easily.