El Cotillo

[balkwill.anne@sky.com]

Hi All.
Was on "The Rock" last week and on Monday visited El Cotillo only to find it very quiet. There were no naturists on the main beach, even at the northern end and very few at the smaller lagoons. It seemed to me that the textiles were making a determined effort to take over. Anybody with any thoughts on this?
The stage for the music festival was being set up and a few hippy types had set up camp further out. Perhaps this had a bearing on it?
The beach bar had gone and the one to the South of the town was closed. Am I missing something?
Cheers.
Ron.

[woe10]

The Beach Bar was there last week when they were building the concert tent.

[woe10]

I think you need to go to Specsavers. The Beach Bar is still there by the Big Tent that you saw. Mel who works there just called me from there.

[balkwill.anne@sky.com]

I think you might be right about new glasses as I certainly didn`t see it.
Another point that just came to mind. How long before the lagoon area is safe to use after the hippies have left? Bearing in mind they are not fussy about where they go to the loo!
Cheers.
Ron.

[waggy]

Don't worry Balkwill.anne, I'm guessing it's probably some time since you were in El Cotillo, in which case I'm sorry to say that Taurino's (Torino's) has migrated 100 metres up the beach to a council designated patch and is now called La Concha (after the beach it's on), there are toilets there now and the ugly scarring of patchy over-development in Northern Cotillo has crept up overnight.
As for Naturism -Although I'm not a committed Naturist I do love to get my kit off (factor 30 needed in parts at first) but I don't feel comfortable nowadays unless I'm round the corner from the Faro on one of the points.
The failed attempt to turn the place into a sort of Gay Naturist lido probably didn't help either. I don't say that with any sense of prejudice but recall what I've heard from others to that effect.
Naturism probably never was a phenomenon that the locals ever felt comfortable with so I guess it's just a return to the more modest, former status quo.

[suendrob]

Lagoon should be clean after the first tide  you'll still have to watch out in the bushes  near the campervans tho

[Voldermort]

Nothing new, the true naturists tend to avoid this time of year, especially in the run up to the School holidays, and increasing holiday prices. By September they will have returned and the status returned to Quo...You have just visited at the wrong time of the year 

[skinny]

Lagoon should be clean after the first tide  you'll still have to watch out in the bushes  near the campervans tho

don't tar us all with the same brush !!! I have a loo in my camper and use it !! I take ALL waste home with me, any excess was only I guess because of the music festival and only 2 loos .............

[Blueboy7]

There was a guy living on the beach in one of the El Cotillo lagoons for about five years (he might still be there). I twice came across him squatting over the rocks directly into the sea, he never batted an eye when he spotted me, just carried on crapping, at least he had toilet paper in his hand. As for the camper vans, the occupants were always well behaved and I never saw any piles of rubbish or mad rabid dogs, just a very friendly bunch of people. The naturists seem to be seasonal, around October to March.

PS. I never swim at El Cotillo. 

[woe10]

FLOATERS 

[HannahW]

Corrections:  Fuerteventura en Musica festival was last weekend July 5 & 6.  The stage takes a week to erect and then another week to dismantle.  I counted 16 portable toilets on the beach on Saturday morning.   There was very little rubbish, except at the bins, when the campers left on Sunday evening All of this rubbish was removed by the council on Monday. 

The lagoons are perfectly safe to swim in all year round - they do have a Blue Flag.

[Blueboy7]

Hi Hannah, I am certain they are perfectly safe to swim in, would hate to think I have put people off such a beautiful place.

If that guy still lives on the beach maybe someone should have a word with him about getting a portable loo.
He seems to be of Scandinavian origin, he used to thumb a lift everyday from Cottillo down to Corralejo,
then back again around tea time.

[Charlie dont surf]

Didn't see many people using the portable loo's at 3 o'clock in the morning! Most, mainly women, just dropping their kacks and doing it where ever. To be fair, the cleaners seemed to be doing a good clear up job the following days but i'd be weary of walking barefoot in that proximity for a few weeks!

[duncolm]

The lagoons are perfectly safe to swim in all year round - they do have a Blue Flag.

I'm not concerned about swimming in the lagoons either, but it appears that the Blue Flag has been lost. There's nothing at El Cotillo on the 2013 list.
On the plus side, seven Fuerteventura beaches have a Blue Flag now, one more than last year.

http://www.blueflag.org/menu/awarded-sites/2013/northern-hemisphere/spain/canarias

[falkirkdan]

The guy living on stone circle up from Ela Caleton has been ther now about 5 years.   He German and is a chef.   Says he has no problem getting work when he needs it.   Never gets hassle from the fuzz.   I have given him a lift and chatted a few times.  Always keeps his stone cirlce neat.

[Blueboy7]

I have often giving him a lift, nice guy,always clean, and his little Casa is always neat and tidy, just needs a portable loo. He seems to sit on the front at Corralejo from early morning until late afternoon then thumbs back. Could think of worse ways to spend my life.