"We're not fooling ourselves; the water is cold": first day of packed beaches

BarcelonaIt's not even 12 noon, and the thermometer is already reading 25 degrees in many parts of Barcelona. "It feels like August 15th," says an elderly woman, sitting on the terrace of one of the first beach bars. from the Barceloneta promenade. She says this while looking at the beach, which, even though it's the end of May, is packed to the rafters. However, the difference with any August day is that today the vast majority of those who wanted to inaugurate the first beach day of the year are Barcelona residents, rather than tourists, who also lie on the sand, some with reddish skin, revealing that today has not been their first day of wallowing on Barcelona's beaches.

Their red shoulders stand out amidst a sea of ​​rather pale bodies, many of whom have taken shorts or summer dresses out of the closet for the first time this year. Although the sand is crowded, trips to the water are constant but also brief. "We're not fooling ourselves; the water is cold," one girl says to a friend, who is listening from her towel.

All this means that most of the brave people who decide to stay soaking longer do so with water only up to their waist. In fact, the scene of a woman in the water, but wearing a shirt, hat and a bag in her hand, is evidence that some who had not planned much more than soaking their feet, have reconsidered due to the midday heat. This is also revealed by a Dutch girl who uses the shorts to cover your face while sunbathing or a man who wets the edge of his pants in the water trying to cool as much of his leg as he can.

The fact that it's not peak season has also led to less frequent situations. While the main customers of beach services are usually tourists,, This Saturday, masseurs, street vendors selling bracelets and sarongs, and also those shouting "beer, beer, mojito" they try to convince the Barcelonans to earn today's salary. They try to do it with a certain discretion - and rather with little success - while the PA system repeats in Catalan, Spanish, and English that it is forbidden to "offer services" to the beaches.

At one point two women equipped with an umbrella and a lounger leave everything and stretch out on the sand, and after a while everyone returns to continue doing business.

Reinforced security on the beaches

This week, the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan Police) and the Guardia Urbana (Urban Guard) reinforced the beaches of the Catalan capital. The unit responsible for the city's coastline is made up of approximately 80 officers patrolling the 10 beaches along Barcelona's waterfront and will be deployed until the end of September. Officers patrol on foot, on scooters, four-wheeled vehicles, bicycles, and quads adapted for use on the sand. There will also be police reinforcements from the water with two semi-rigid boats that allow surveillance of both the beach and the breakwaters.

Beyond security, Barcelona City Council is also increasing cleaning services to keep the beaches in good condition. This will be done with manual beach cleaning and mechanical sand sifting—the machine that separates sand from debris—during the night shift. In addition, seawater will be used to increase the efficiency and quality of cleaning, while also preventing the generation of suspended dust during maintenance work.

Record temperatures

The rising temperatures we've experienced this week have kicked off the beach season, with highs in some cases exceeding 28 or 30°C along the coastline itself, although the salty weather and a relatively cool sea have meant the temperature wasn't as warm as inland. This Saturday at noon, for example, the 24°C temperature in the port of Barcelona contrasted sharply with the 29°C recorded in El Prat de Llobregat, just a few kilometers away. A similar situation was experienced in Sant Pere Pescador (Alt Empordà), where temperatures were four degrees lower than in the adjacent municipality of Torroella de Fluvià.

This difference between the thermal values of the coast and areas with less maritime influence is due to the sea temperature, which at a depth of one meter is around 20 °C in the central sector of the coast, slightly above average and well above the temperature the water had just a week ago (17 °C). In the case of Estartit, oceanographic observer Ramon Pascual has measured a temperature of 21 °C, three degrees above average for the time of year and setting a new record for a month of May in the more than fifty years he has been recording data.