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Filomena and TV Crews
Steve • 15 January 2021
How late is it when it is simply too late to wish anyone Happy New Year?
How late is it when it is simply too late to wish anyone Happy New Year?
Well hopefully it’s still not too late so…. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
We are always optimistic, but even with the current state we are all in there is real hope that we may get a normal-ish summer this year. We hope by the time summer tourists arrive the beach will be as lovely as ever.
You may remember last time we were discussing the fact that land surveyors had been on the beach with their measuring equipment, taking photos etc and that maybe at last there could be plans afoot to finally install a breakwater by Natsun. Well no sign of work as yet unfortunately and there has been a blip insofar as there has been something of a Filomena storm recently here in VP which you may already know about.
So the beach is currently in a bit of a shabby state with a sunken pirate bar, sand washed away and path broken all in the usual area between the hotel breakwater and the pirate bar. By usual winter storm standards there wasn’t much wind, there wasn’t even that much heavy rain but we did get ferociously high seas which is what usually causes the damage every winter. So the long term plan for sea defences really does need to come sooner rather than later so that we can all continue to enjoy this central stretch of the naturist beach.
In previous years sand has been transported from Puerto Rey to the Natsun area to widen the beach but it is clear that this has only given short term relief and soon gets washed away with the next storm.
A handful of us here have sent our storm damage photos to the Costas requesting the sea defences now but also one of the beach residents’ committees invited a film crew from Spanish TV down to the beach this week to report on the condition of the beach. The crew filmed the damaged sections of the beach and interviewed residents…even Chris was interviewed while he showed the crew just how far the sea comes up.
Any publicity is good publicity even if the news item kind of got lost in a news show that contained back-to-back items about weather damage and Spain’s recent ‘ola de frío’ (cold snap/cold wave, call it what you will)…at least we can say we tried and will continue trying.
The best we can hope for is that the Costas will implement the final scheme before summer. Whether this will be the large 200m defence at Garrucha which will protect the whole Vera coastline as favoured by residents or a smaller one between the Pirate Bar and Chiringuito Naturista for the naturist section – or even both – we will have to wait and see.
Either way some sand-shifting will almost certainly have to take place at the same time. We shall continue to wait and keep them peeled in the meantime.
By the time most tourists have arrived, they would never usually know much has changed after a lot of cosmetic beach fluffing is done with the bulldozers and tractors in readiness for the season.
There isn’t really so much to report at this point in January especially with restrictions still in place, but enough bars and restaurants remain open to make it feel we are still in the land of the living. As the weather begins to warm up again it is lovely to have lunch out in the sun.
In the meantime it has been splendid to have a few daytrips out as the photos show, enjoying the lovely sunshine. A few of our favourites include the Ovens at Lucainena de las Torres, the wild beaches of Cabo de Gata, but best of all in winter is to make our annual visit to the lovely white snow at The Calar Alto observatories atop the highest peak in Almeria province. Simply stunning.
It’s a shame with the tourism situation currently as we would usually be recommending visits like these to our winter guests. Never mind, there’s always next winter and perhaps those guests will be you!
We should really get out and exercise more rather than sitting around stuffing our faces with Christmas leftovers…but it’s difficult when you interpret ‘Be Kind’ as ‘pass me another sausage roll will you’.
We’re not quite ready for any self-flagellation yet…but we will have to tackle the thorny issue of how we will ever get into our swimwear this year….(and therein readers, lies the big problem with naturism, one never realises how one’s waistline is expanding)
And on that bombshell…til next time!
Steve and Chris offer two beautiful apartments to rent for the discerning naturist traveller. One is directly on the Vera Playa naturist beach, the other just a few footsteps away. See more here.
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