Sotogrande News

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News from Sotogrande

Sotogrande News

A round up of news items of interest to visitors and residents of Sotogrande. Latest itms added to the top, older items archived for future interest. Page last updated 14-03-2024.

Galleon Andalucía will visit Sotogrande Marina in April

The Galleon Andalucía will visit Sotogrande Marina on the 12th, 13th and 14th of April 2024. It will be open to visit five of its decks from 10.00 to 20.30. Tickets cost 8€ for adults and 4€ for children and under 5s are free. Tickets are available online at Vela Cuadra

The Galeón Andalucía is a replica of the ships used by the Spaniards between the 16th and 18th centuries in their voyages of discovery and inter-oceanic trade between Spain, the Americas and the Philippines. The galleon was an armed merchant vessel of 60 metres in length. 

The galleon was built in Punta Umbria in 2010, financed by the Junta Andalucia and private companies. Its maiden voyage was from Seville via Cadiz, Malaga, Malta, Hiefa to Shanghai, where it was moored next to the Spanish pavilion at Shanghai Expo 2010. It returned to Spain via Taiwan, Hong Kong and the Philippines. In 2022, it will visit Spanish ports to celebrate the bicentenary of La Pepa (Spain's first constitution).   This replica galleon, now managed by the Fundación Nao Victoria, is a 500-ton vessel, 49 metres long and 10 metres wide, with 4 masts and 6 sails covering almost a thousand square metres. Its average speed is 7 knots. Since its launch, the galleon has sailed around the world with a crew of between 15 and 35 people.   Applications are welcome for volunteer crew positions. 

The Galeón Andalucía will leave La Sayne-sur-Mer, Toulon, France, on 24 March 2024 and will sail from Sotogrande to Great Yarmouth, UK, arriving on 28 May 2024.  

Sotogrande Music Festval - Seven Concerts announced

The third edition of the Sotogrande Music Festival summer concert series takes place in the grounds of the Santa Maria Polo Club, Los Pinos fields in July and August 2024. Antoñito Molina opens the festival on 6th July 2024 with the Sotogrande date on his 2024 Adventure tour. Film Simfony Orchestra Henko perform on the 13th July 2024, Loquillo performs on the 19th July 2024, Isabel Pantoja is celebrating her “50 Years” Aniversary as one of Spains's prolific and renoun singers with a 15 night Spanish Tour which was inaugurated on 23 September 2023 with a concert in the La Catuja stadium in her home town Seville. Her Sotogrande concert on 20th July 2024 is perhaps a surprising choice, make the most of it as Almeria Bullring on 8th June 2024 is the only other Andalucia tour date. Perita Fest takes place on the 26th July 2024, Sergio Dalma takes to the stage on the 27th July 2024, Raule performs on the 2nd August 2024. More Info >

Collect Corner now offers a secure key holding service.

Collect Corner in Sotogrande now also offers a secure key holding service. Emergencies happen at any time; locked out of your house or car, left the keys behind. Collect Corner make the keys available 24/7. Lodge an unmarked set of keys with at Collect Corner and upon digital code request we make them available to any persons designated.

Collect Corner Sotogrande is principally a parcel collection pick-up point - clients have their package sent to the address, knowing that someone will receive and safely store it; they can then pick it up when it is convenient. Unreliable deliveries mean we often stay in unnecessarily waiting for a package, which can disrupt our plans. With this service, the client decides when to collect their parcel. Collect Corner is located at Centro Comercial Mar y Sol, local 3.9. More info at collectcorner.es

LIV Golf and Andalucia Masters return to Sotogrande in 2024

Dates for the diary. LIV Golf and Andalucia Masters return to Sotogrande in 2024. The LIV Golf returns to Valderrama Golf Club from the 12th to 14th July 2024. The Andalucia Masters returns to Real Club de Golf Sotogrande from the 17th to 20th October 2024. About the LIV Golf Valdreama 2023 and the Andalucia Masters 2023

Travesía sin límites by the Navega Foundation

Puerto Sotogrande presented its Navega Foundation project at the International Tourism Fair (Fitur). The main objective of this initiative is to promote inclusive sailing and nautical tourism. The Navega Foundation has just been created to bring sailing closer to people of all abilities. The foundation's main project is called "Travesía sin límites" (Crossing without limits), which aims to support a crew made up of people with and without disabilities to cross the Atlantic. The initiative will start in 2019 with the Adapted Sailing School, a pillar in the promotion of inclusive nautical tourism.

The Water Shortage

Andalusia has been facing water shortages for several years. This is particularly acute in the Campo de Gibraltar and Costa del Sol, where historically lower rainfall since 2018, combined with high demand from residents, tourism and agriculture, has led to a year-on-year decline in reservoir levels. Agriculture consumes more water than is piped to households and this has contributed to lower levels of natural underground water storage.

Sotogrande is located in the Campo de Gibraltar region of the province of Cadiz, but its water management falls under the 'Demarcación Hidrográfica de las Cuencas Mediterráneas Andaluzas'. In other words, the area of Andalusia where rainwater flows into the Mediterranean (as opposed to the Atlantic). At the beginning of the 2013 water year (1 October to 30 September), all the reservoirs in this area contained 8,675 cubic hectometres (hm3), or 73% of their capacity. By 2022, when the first precautionary measures were taken, this water had already been reduced to 2,783 hm3 or 23% of capacity. By 2023, when the first consumer measures were taken, it had fallen to 2,283 hm3, or 20% of capacity.

The Campo de Gibraltar is made up of two of the 14 subsystems of the Cuencas Mediterráneas Andaluzas, known as the Rio Guadaranque and Rio Palmones and the Rio Guadiaro. In the first subsystem there are two large reservoirs that supply the Campo de Gibraltar. One is the Charco Redondo reservoir on the upper reaches of the River Palmones (as seen from the A-381 Ruta del Toro) and the other is the Guadarranque reservoir on the river of the same name near Castellar. Charco Redondo currently holds 13.6 hm3 and Guadaranque 24.18 hm3, well below the 41.5 hm3 that experts consider to be the minimum. The Guadiaro basin is mainly used for agriculture. The villages are supplied by springs and boreholes fed by underwater reservoirs, and the outflow and boreholes supply the agricultural sector.

The Campo de Gibraltar is made up of two of the 14 subsystems of the Cuencas Mediterráneas Andaluzas and they are called the Rio Guadaranque and Rio Palmones and the Rio Guadiaro. In the first subsystem there are two large reservoirs that supply the Campo de Gibraltar. One is the Charco Redondo reservoir on the upper reaches of the River Palmones (as seen from the A-381 Ruta del Toro) and the other is the Guadarranque reservoir on the river of the same name near Castellar. Charco Redondo currently holds 13.6 hm3 and Guadaranque 24.18 hm3, well below the 41.5 hm3 that experts consider to be the minimum. The Guadiaro basin is mainly used for agriculture. Villages are supplied by springs and boreholes fed from underwater reservoirs, and the outflow and boreholes supply agriculture. In times of drought, the minimum flow of the river is reset. Many residents of Sotogrande point to the low flow of the Guadiaro River and its estuary. Environmentalists blame the citrus growers for the illegal boreholes. However, 34 hm3 a year is transferred from the Rio Guadiaro through the Guadalete-Majaceite aquaduct for industry in Cadiz, under an agreement that allows up to 110 hm3.

How much water is a hm3?
Well one hm3 is a cubic hectometre, which is one million cubic metres, and a cubic metre is 1,000 litres. Spain is one of the five countries in the European Union with the highest water consumption per inhabitant, along with Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and Italy. The average consumption is 142 litres per person per day in Spain and 129 litres per person per day in Andalusia. The average household water consumption is about 10 cubic metres per month; check your water bill. The whole of Andalusia consumes about 1 hm3 per day.

Sotogrande News Archive - 2023

Sotogrande News Archive - 2022

Sotogrande News Archive - 2021

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