To me the removal of the buoys signifies the end of the season, summer has truly gone, soon the lifeguard chairs will disappear along with other seasonal beach paraphernalia. And we will have to wait til next year to get the summer vibes back.

But hold on, also as I write this it’s the start of October and it’s 27C and beautifully sunny, so in a sense summer hasn’t really gone. Sure there are less people in the resort but also there are enough people who prefer the comfortable October temperatures to keep the naturist zone going well into autumn and even later into winter.

In fact what would Vera Playa be without its naturists at this time of year…the ‘textile’ ends of the beach are now much less occupied than the naturist stretch so it is very evident how important the nude euro is to Vera.

So it seems with this popularity of the naturist beach in mind, finally the much-awaited green light has been given for the breakwater/espigon project to protect the beach from further damage and erosion.

The Costas authority who are responsible for protecting Spain’s coastline have stated that work will start within a few months, after a final environmental impact study has been completed. We’re not quite sure why this hasn’t already been done given that the project has been in the pipeline for a very long time, but nonetheless one really does hope they pull their finger out and do this sooner rather than later. The naturist beach really does need some kind of protection from storms and high tides and the current plan includes a 40m breakwater between the Pirate Bar and Chiringuito Naturista and a very large 260m one at Garrucha port.

You may have seen photos in the last month of either the exceptional high tides or the extremely heavy rain which caused damage to the beach. The town hall sent their teams out to make remedial repairs of course but everyone waits for the long-term solution.

AS EVER… we’ve been here before but we must all remain hopeful and optimistic! WATCH THIS SPACE… 

It felt like a weird season to us but in another way the most normal since Covid. After all it was the first season in 3 years where mask-wearing was no longer mandatory in so many places, and people seemed to have loosened up this year with social distancing, so it takes a while to get used to what normal looks like again after a couple of years of extreme behaviour and in most cases cautiousness and anxiety.

The resort was definitely its busiest for 3 years, it was the year a lot of people decided to return to VP post-Covid. And families with young kids were more evident than in the last few years.  

We also got the impression that not only were there many new faces but a load of older faces who had needed to cancel their 2020/2021 VP holidays and they too returned to swell the numbers yet further. At times it was tricky to get a table in a restaurant!

We had a successful season ourselves continuing to welcome an-ever eclectic mix of new international guests and some old favourites too. And it’s still not over!

Dreambeach music festival took place in July after a Covid break in 20 & 21 and although numbers were substantially down on the previous one in 2019, 110,000 ‘Dreamers’ attending is still a respectable number considering the on-going travel issues plaguing the season.

The festival organisers have just announced a return of Dreambeach in August 2023 – this is extremely strange since there was a much-cited rumour going around that it wouldn’t be held here again on account of some new houses allegedly being built in the vicinity of the festival ground.

Just goes to prove…never trust gossip!!!

Gay Pride came and went – to us it seemed a little smaller than the previous year so that was a shame. Hopefully next year will be more fun, brighter and brasher than ever!

Also Spain ‘s answer to the Tour de France (well…sort of!) the Vuelta a España, passed through Vera Playa on the last day of August and it seemed there was quite a good turn-out to cheer the cyclists on…even some naturists, although I don’t think that our small section quite made the cut to live TV…in fact the TV stations probably went into panic mode at the sight of bare flesh…no wonder they always have a delay with live broadcasts!!! 

The weather this season has been the cause of much consternation especially amongst the locals. Since the Calima/Sahara cloud of dust showered us with its mud back in March the dust has kept re-appearing intermittently and bringing a sometimes unbearable humidity with it. In fact the season has definitely been marked by being more humid than is usual. But then look at the weather events around the world, it seems we weren’t the only ones getting unusual weather. Whether the cause is climate change we can only make an educated guess but in any case let’s all hope 2023 season is a more regular one…in every respect!

We’ll certainly raise a glass of cava to that!

In the meantime, keep your VP dreams and memories alive and hope you can make it back next season.

Til then!