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ARCHIVED - Five bathing platforms installed in the Mar Menor
These are now operative in Los Urrutias, Punta Brava and Estrella de Mar
With just hours to go before the Easter holiday week begins, five new bathing platforms have been installed on the beaches of Los Urrutias, Punta Brava and Estrella de Mar on the shores of the Mar Menor.
These five structures have been financed by the regional government at a cost of 1.2 million euros and will join five further structures financed by the town hall of Cartagena, two of which will be located in Los Nietos, and one each in Islas Menores, Playa Paraíso and Cavanna beach in La Manga.
The structures serve the dual purpose of creating focal points of interest for bathers, but also help to create improved environmental conditions for marine life and permit bathing whilst causing less disturbance on the shallow fringes of the Mar Menor.
These structures are called “Balnearios” and have formed part of the landscape of the Mar Menor for over a hundred years, the original structures featuring changing rooms and ladders straight down into the water so that bathers could maintain a degree of modesty while descending into the water.
The most complete example of one of the earlier structures can be seen in Los Alcázares by the La Encarnación Hotel and is now a restaurant.
There were several more modern structures until the last severe storms hit the region, during which the older structures were badly damaged and virtually disappeared.
These new structures are designed to be wheelchair friendly, being two meters wide and with two platforms for bathing, one about 60 meters from the coast and the other 100 meters. In each of them disabled areas have been prepared with railings and access ramps to the sea for amphibious chairs.
There are also sail-shaped awnings to give shade which can be uphauled and dismantled as required.
Although the principal purpose is to create bathing areas, the aim of the platforms is also to traverse the rockier areas of the shoreline and in some areas (Los Nietos in particular) to pass over the fringe of algal deposits which have caused a certain amount of problems for the last couple of years.
The natural shoreline of the Mar Menor is fairly stoney and rocky, but the process of covering the fringe of the lagoon with sand which is laid by the truckload does cover over the original beaches with a more comfortable covering underfoot, and this is carried down into the lagoon by the rain, so most of the areas in which bathers enter the water are soft and sandy, other than the areas selected in which the entrance to the water can be harder underfoot; the creation of the new platforms means that bathers can enter the water straight into sandy areas.
Images: Ayto-Cartagena