Enjoying the sun and beach in Sitges is increasingly difficult. In the coves of fine, golden sand of the tourist town of Garraf it is not easy to live, as the American musician Dennis Wilson said. Last week, the force of the waves caused by Storm Nelson worsened the already poor situation on local beaches. Some of them, like the one in Bassa Rodona, had practically already disappeared before the storm. At 11 in the morning yesterday, Saturday, the sun was half shining on the central beach of Sant Sebastià. It was partly cloudy and the thermometer read 19 degrees. But the haze and the 18 km/h wind made the day not very peaceful. It was a weekend in which seafront restaurants expected to fill up at noon. The boardwalk without top manta was quite busy. There were those who painted, those who walked, those who played sports…
Sant Sebastià has been the beach hardest hit by the storm. It has been reduced to a minimum. Some fences prevent passage in most of the entrances. Very few people are seen sunbathing on the scarce sandy beach. Few go into the sea. Chef Valentí Mongay, co-owner of the La Salseta restaurant and user of this beach, hopes that part of the sand that has disappeared will return naturally for the high season, but recognizes that if it were not the case it would be “a serious problem.” What he regrets most is that some water leaks from some construction work have left the sand wet and he can’t “even put down a towel.” He also criticizes the constant presence of masseuses and illegal vendors.
The terrace of the Amanit restaurant is full. Arianna Varela and Eliseo Cordewa, who work at this establishment, regret the situation and that the City Council has used “the excuse of the environment” for not providing dredging sand. They remember that “Sitges lives off tourism.” Hotel occupancy this weekend stands at 55%. The head of the municipal opposition, Mònica Gallardo (Junts per Sitges), like the Sitges Hospitality Gremi, regret that there have already been five years of “inaction” on the part of the local government and that the agreement has remained a dead letter. plenary session on September 7 of last year to authorize the dumping of sand from the dredging of the municipality’s ports onto urban beaches. The mayor, Aurora Carbonell (ERC), does not oppose the contribution of sand, but defends a stable solution. “We do not want to make public expenditure that does not last due to the storms that usually occur in May and June.” Carbonell recognizes that “it is becoming more and more difficult for beaches to regenerate naturally.”
The president of the Gremi d’Hostaleria, Oskar Stöber, remembers that the storms have hit the entire coast and not just Sitges, although he does not forget that “the evil of many, the consolations of fools.” He wishes that the heat will arrive and that Sitges will be filled while he criticizes that the municipal government does not act and “only does a lot of studies and says that it does it very well.” Joan Anton Matas, co-owner of the local Matas Arnalot hotel and restaurant group, has no doubt that the lack of sand will affect the local economy “very negatively.” He assures that “there is not enough sand even for the residents of Sitges.” He does not understand that while in other parts of the Catalan coast sand is provided from the dredging of port mouths and actions are carried out to stabilize the sandbanks, “in Sitges nothing has been done.” And he says that “there are permanent solutions to stabilize beaches that are ecological and sustainable.” For her part, the president of the Sitges Merchants Association, Noemi Jiménez, assures that the lack of sand will affect them “in the long run.” “One of the main attractions to come to Sitges are our beaches,” she laments.
