airshow in croatia

I saw an amazing sight today. When I was finished at the conference centre this afternoon I walked back to my hotel and slid into the cool but peaceful sea for a dip, lying back in the water and watching a couple of small yellow planes dipping and swooping in the brilliant sky above me.

I returned to the beach, ostensibly to read my book, but found myself, possibly aided by the tiring swim and the beer I'd swiftly consumed, drifting into a bit of a reverie, idly watching the lone cloud in the sky, which had drifted in from the horizon and cloaked itself around an overlooking hill.

I'm not sure how long I sat there looking at it before I realised that I was watching a forest fire. Nor how long it subsequently took to realise that the little airshow I was admiring was serving a far more important purpose. The little planes, like swift wasps, were looping the bay, dipping down to the sea to guzzle up tons of water, before looping wide and dropping their cargo explosively over the flames. I sat watching, amazed, until all that remained of the inferno was the dead steam of the doused embers. Remarkable.