Blue shark closes Torreguadiaro beach for five hours

(Photo: europasur.es)

SAN ROQUE / Torreguadiaro An unexpected visitor to the beach at Torreguadiaro forced the red danger flag on the beach at Torreguadiaro yesterday, and to warn of the possibility of danger from Sotogrande to Cala Sardina. The blue shark (Prionace glauca) appeared very close to shore at about 9.30, near the Sotogrande breakwater; it was a worker at one of the beach bars who later gave the alarm. While this small, 2m shark is not considered dangerous to humans, the red flag went up at about 10, and was kept there until 3 in the afternoon with no further sightings. The Seprona unit reported seeing that the shark presented an injury close to the head, possibly caused by a fishing net, and thus causing the erratic behaviour observed at the time.

Baby dolphin dies on way to being rescued

(Photo: europasur.es)

SAN ROQUE Beach goers at Puente Mayorga saw a fin flapping in the sun yesterday, and thought it might be a shark. It turned out to be a baby dolphin that got stuck in the shallows. It was shaded, watered and taken care of as well as possible until the emergency services arrived, but the stress of being stuck was too much for it and it died on the way to the Cegma (Centro de Gestión del Medio Marino) in Algeciras. It is not unusual for dolphins and other cetaceans to be beached in the area, but local people did say they had never seen one so young.

Classical music concert this weekend

SOTOGRANDE Sponsored and organized by Sotogrande Cultural Society, the Costa del Sol Collegium Musicum and the Camerata Singers of Sotogrande are offering a great evening of Hydn's Missa Cellensis this coming Sunday, May 26 at 8.30 pm, at the Sotogrande church, Nuestra Señora de la Merced. Directed by Annemarie Phillips, a number of visiting international singers will be present: Llio Evans (Sopranos, Wales), Claire Filer (Alto, New Zealand), Ben Thapa (Tenor, UK) and Ryan Ross (Bass, USA). Entrance is free, but a donation will be requested.

Two San Roque catering students to cook at the Guggenheim's Mugaritz bistro

(europasur.es)

SAN ROQUE Alfonso Barrero and Eric Rodríguez are students at the IES Hostelería in San Roque, and they have just won a scholarship to work at the Mugaritz Restaurant Group bistro in the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Needless to say, they are as excited as the school staff is delighted. Having come through the Medium Grade in Cooking and Gastronomy, the two star students begin their adventure in June, and return in September to take up their classes. Or not. Both of them would like to stay as long as possible at the Bilbao establishment lo learn as much as possible, though they relize the employment possibilities in their chosen sphere is difficult. Which is why they intend to work as hard and as well as possible. Good, luck, lads! (The Mugaritz main restaurant was recently classed fourth in the world by Restaurant magazine.)

Update on A-405 accident: several involved were from Jimena

CASTELLAR/SAN ROQUE (Previous item) Three vehicles were involved in the fatal accident that happened on Monday evening on the A-405 almost exactly on the boundary between Castellar and San Roque, a Ford Mondeo, a Ford Transit van and a peugeot 306. The woman who died driving the Mondeo was from Estación de Jimena, and identified with the initials M.D.Z.R. The driver of the van, Elena V., also from Jimena (she runs the plant nursery in San Pablo, was seriously injured, though less seriously than at first thought. Apparently, these two vehicles ran into each other on one side of the duel carriageway, towards Castellar and the van was projected some 50m from the place of impact. The third car, the Peugeot, came onto the accident but was unable to avoid it.>>>

Polo season begins at Sotogrande this weekend

SAN ROQUE / Sotogrande The 34th José Ignacio Domecq Memorial Tournament gets under way at Los Pinos next Saturday, March 23, which puts the 2013 season onto the map. This is officially the Spring Season, but major and minor competitions organized by the Santa María Polo Club will be frequent from about now until the end of summer. The year begins with the Domecq Tournament, which is bringing together five 12-goal teams (Sapphire-Bayswater London Gin, FCT Polo, Ayala-El Rosario, Santa Quiteria and Silex) with players from Argentina, Britain, Ireland, The Phillipines and, naturally, Spain. Everything starts at 4pm on Field 3 at Los Pinos, Santa María's headquarters, with a match between Ayala-ElRosario and FTC Polo. (See the full fixtures below.) The Spring Season ends on April 7 with the 11th Conde de Guaqui Tournament, which gets under way two days before that, on the 5th.>>>

Policeman arrested for holding up a petrol station

(Illustration only)

The man gave himself up after robbing a bank in Jaén in 2010

SAN ROQUE The Guardia Civil on Sunday arrested a man accused of 'robbery with intimidation' at a petrol station near Estepona in December last year. He turned out to be a Local Police man from San Roque, who perpetrated a €600 bank robbery in Jaén in December 2010, and handed himself in at the time, according to Europa Sur. He was also suspected, but unproven, to have robbed a bank in Marbella in the same way: threatening staff with a broken bottle. The GC say that those crimes may have been related to drug usage. We wonder what excuse there may be now.

Reader's question: 'Any enduro or trail riders around?'

(Illustration only)

SAN ROQUE / Guadiaro We received this by e-mail; if you can offer an answer, please go to 'Comments' below. "Just found your site on a Google search. We are looking for enduro or trail riders to join at the weekends. Do you meet up or have dates of meetings? We are based in San Roque area, Guadiaro town. Many thanks."

Reservoirs now contain enough water for 'three years'

Guadarranque reservoir, Castellar,
on a sunny day before the rain

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR The Mancomunidad water company, ARCGISA, yesterday announced that calculations resulting from recent rainfall said that there is enough water in the aquifers and reservoirs for the next three years. A reliable private source told us yesterday that some 250 millimeters of rain had come down in San Pablo over the previous eight days. The water company declared that the reservoirs at Guadarranque (Castellar) and Charco Redondo (Los Barrios), which supply all of the Campo except Tarifa, contained a combined total of 146.71 cubic hectolitres (hL3). The Almodóvar reservoir that supplies Tarifa is at 90% of capacity with 5.17 hL3. Based on an annual consumption of between 55 and 57 hL3, says the company, this is a reserve for the next two and a half years, which, added to alternative supply from the aquifer wells of San Roque-Castellar and the Guadiaro-Guadarranque Canal diversion, would be sufficient to supply the area for approximately the next three even if it doesn't rain at all. Reservoir dams near Jerez had to be opened earlier in the week because they were in danger of overflowing.

Sotogrande loses €68 million in 2012

Losses are up by 115% over 2011

SAN ROQUE / Sotogrande NH Hotels owns over €97% of Sotogrande S.A., which is its real estate arm headquartered in San Roque. It recently reported a loss of €68 million, which is up by 115% from the previous year's €31.6 million. Income for 2012 amounted to €548,000, against costs of €4 million. All this, and more, according to the company's report to the Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV, or Stock Exchange Commission).

Five arrested in agricultural equipment robberies

(Photo: Guardia Civil)

CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR The Guardia Civil has noted a considerable increase in robberies from farms and other agricultural enterprises in the area, as well as in that of copper cables and diesel oil. This is principally in the municipalities of San Roque and Jimena, where five people were arrested when suspicions were aroused by the presence of vehicles not usually seen near farms in the area. They were followed to the entrance to a scrap yard near San Roque, where they were stopped. Uncovered in the vehicles were lengths of copper cable, pumps and tanks full of diesel oil. Further investigation linked the five to>>>

'Gibraltar and the bay' exhibition of engravings

SAN ROQUE A collection of 18th and 19th century engravings on and about the Bay of Gibraltar (or of Algeciras if you prefer)opens tonight at the Ortega Brú Art Gallery in San Roque, with its official inauguration at 8.30pm. The exhibition remains open until February 1, at the usual gallery hours.

Sotogrande porter detained for robbery

SAN ROQUE/Sotogrande The porter of an urbanization within Sotogrande was arrested recently and accused of stealing jewelry from inside a home to a value of €1,500. Having checked the alarm system of the home, the Guardia Civil discovered that it had been switched off during the time frame of the robbery, without the owner's permission. A spare key to the alarm was kept in the safe at the porter's lodge, and a log kept of its use. However, the log did not mention this incident. Furthermore, the GC from Guadiaro in cooperation with the National Police of  La Línea, checked local pawn shops, to find that one of them had indeed received jewelry of the same description, which lead back to the porter on duty on the day and during the time robbery had taken place. Details of the man's name or that of the urbanization in question have not been released.

Cádiz food bank sends eight tons to San Roque

Illustration only

SAN ROQUE Protección Civil (PC) volunteers transported a total of eight tons of foodstuffs from the Cádiz provincial Food Bank at Puerto Real, to be distributed as ordered by the municipal Social Welfare offices. Among the food brought in are olive oil, white rice, baby, tins of tuna, biscuits, tinned fruit, baby continuation milk, tinned green beans, lentils, milk, pasta, tinned tomato, juices, and other items. The procedure to obtain help from the food bank is as follows: each case must be evaluated by the social workers at the municipal Welfare and Equality office, who will establish lack of resources and/or family; PC will distribute the boxes to residents who do not live in the main part of the town - these can pick them up at the PC centre at Cuatro Vientos. Others will receive their boxes at home, having previously established time and place.

Fed up with paying for a service they don't get

One of the urbanizations involved
(Photo: europasur.es)

SAN ROQUE / Pueblo Nuevo Residents of several urbanizations in Pueblo Nuevo de Guadiaro are seeking legal advice about the fact that they are being asked to pay an increase in the rubbish collection service by Arcgisa, which they do not receive. The 'door-to-door' service they see on their bills is being charged at €71,81 every three months, or €287 per year. They have complained to the company several times, but have received no corrections on their bills and fear that they will be asked to pay the next period as well. According to the PIVG Councillor in San Roque, Jesús Mayoral, "they should not be charged for this item as they all have containers in which they place their rubbish." He is advising the residents to denounce Arcgisa and Mancomunidad.

800 kilos of melons and watermelons seized for lack of health controls

Part of the confiscated fruit to be donated to Castellar Zoo

SAN ROQUE The Local Police seized some 800 kilos of fruit that was to be sold in the streets but lacked a health licence. Most of it will be destroyed to avoid health risks, but some will be donated to Castellar Zoo. The police hold regular checks and report to the veterinary services of the Junta, which orders, or not, its destruction. In any case, fruit that does not carry the proper licences and certificates cannot enter the food chain, other than for animals. The person who was handling it, has also been denounced and will have to go to court. The authorities ask that if there is any suspicion about where any food being sold in the street comes from, consumers should call the Local Police. There are also many reports, though nothing official, of a significant increase in fruit and vegetable robberies from local orchards and plantations.

Today is St Mary the Crowned's Day -- so?

Jimena's St. Mary the Crowned

SAN ROQUE / JIMENA We are bad on saint's days - no, we're not good at knowing or remembering which saint is when. But we picked up an article to say that today, August 15, is Saint Mary the Crowned's Day, and celebrations were being held in San Roque at 8 tonight, with a procession of the saint, who will emerge from her church in one of the town's lovely squares, and yesterday saw the traditional offering of flowers to her image. The name rang a bell. Then we remembered that Jimena also had a church dedicated to Saint Mary the Crowned (Santa María la Coronada). But it no longer exists: the only remains are the bell tower (campanario) on the main square there, and some of the buildings to the West of it, which over the years have been incorporated into homes there. (An article on the history of the square is in preparation. Watch this space.)

New ways to fine traffic violations

Pinar del Rey, San Roque
(Photo: spainonline.com)

Pinar del Rey is also included

SAN ROQUE (Agencies)  The Council has changed its traffic ordinances to become adapted to the agreement it signed recently with the provincial Diputación, whereby the latter will manage all the fines related to urban traffic regulations. The project includes the provincial authority having to provide all related resources, including human, material and technological. Fines will therefore be issuedon site, via Blackberry, and unpaid fines will be recovered through the Local Police. It is expected that the rules regarding vehicle traffic -forbidden in the larger part of the forest area, with a single track exception- at Pinar del Rey will be policed more easily with these measures. The new regulations will be in force as soon as it is published in the official provincial bulletin, BOP. More changes to the traffic laws include:>>>

Police still searching for explosives missing from La Línea house

Where one alleged terrorist
worked in Gibraltar

Flat in San Roque linked to the two Chechnyan men arrested in Ciudad Real · RGP helps search of Turk's workplace

LA LÍNEA (Agencies) The National Police are still searching for explosives that were missing from the flat where one alleged Al-Qaeda terrorist was arrested yesterday. Their search of the house yesterday, with trained K-9 units, only revealed traces of the explosives, but the police are convinced that they will find a great deal more. The alert came from the dogs, who reacted very nervously even though the house was almost empty of explosives; the home had evidently been cleaned shortly before it was raided. A flat in San Roque was also raided on Thursday, believed to be where the two men from Chechnya -one of whom is a deserter from Russian special forces- had supposedly been living. In Gibraltar, the RGP, together with the Spanish National Police, searched the workplace of the other member of the Al-Qaeda cell, a Turkish national. No arms or explosives were found at either place, but documents and computer information were taken to be analysed.

New fire breaks out in San Roque

Damage at Huerta Varela
(Photo: europasur.es)

50 hectares burned yesterday · Possibility of arson investigated · 500 people from 200 homes evacuated by 10pm · 20,000 had power cut off

SAN ROQUE (Agencies) Fire broke out once again in the municipality of San Roque, wreaking havoc in the area between Miraflores and Santa Margarita. Helped by a westerly breeze, very high temperatures and very dry brush, flames spread out to very close to the main San Roque town and inland to include El Albarracín and La Solana. Several fronts were being tackled at the same time, and in the end, some 200 homes, one hotel, the petrol station and the service area at Bernardo Macías had to be evacuated. Electricity supply was cut off to some 20,000 customers, but that was restored in about an hour. The last to have their power back were practically the entire population of Castellar.>>>