Marker buoys adorn the coastline for a reason, one of them being to isolate an area where bathers are safe from motorised craft.
Swimmers can swim in safety, snorkellers can snorkel away without individual markers in the knowledge that they can surface without being confronted by a boat or jet ski.
Well, that’s the idea. So I was a little surprised when this official ‘cleaning services’ boat appeared from the Balcón de Europa end of Torrecilla beach, cutting the corner to be within about 10 metres of the point and continuing to cut a swathe through the ‘bathers only area’.
You can tell by the wake that the boat was travelling at speed and, for the entire length of Torrecilla beach, was nearer to the shore than to the marker buoys. Even if, by some chance, it was an emergency, it was still a pretty dangerous route to take.