Compiled with the help of artificial intelligence, based on Spanish-language information. Source below the article.
One of Garachico’s most iconic bathing spots will remain open to swimmers for longer this year. The Villa y Puerto council is extending lifeguard cover at the natural pools of El Caletón until 24 December – three months longer than usual, marking the first time since the service was introduced in 2013 that lifeguards have stayed on beyond the summer months. Previously, they worked only from June to September.
Extended season with summer hours
The natural pools will remain open, with some of the facilities still in place, weather and sea conditions permitting. For the first time, this stretch of the Garachico coastline will be operational and under surveillance during the same hours as in summer: seven days a week, from 11:00 to 19:00.
El Caletón will be the only point on the coastline benefiting from this extended service. Other spots that have lifeguards during the summer, such as Playa de El Muelle, will not be covered by the measure.
Safety concerns drive the decision
Andrés Hernández (CC), the council’s beaches councillor, says El Caletón was chosen as the only zone where lifeguard cover would continue because of safety concerns. “It’s the highest-risk area. What’s more, for economic reasons we can’t maintain the service in all bathing areas,” he maintains. “In October the weather is often still good, but in November the sea gets tricky. El Caletón, with a wave of a metre and a half, becomes a dangerous zone. That’s why we decided it should be watched over for longer.”
He describes the measure as “something exceptional” and also points to comments and complaints from local residents. “After 23 September we used to leave El Caletón open, unattended, although with the red flag flying and with the facilities in place until around the end of October,” he recalls. “Now, the lifeguard will stay there for the three autumn months, provided we don’t have a major scare like a heavy swell that reaches the avenue.”
Thirteen years in the making
It has been 13 years since the Garachico council first introduced the lifeguard service at this bathing spot. Hernández believes the delay in implementing this safety measure comes down to “purely economic reasons. This change doesn’t cost us anything extra now, because what we’ve done is modify the contract,” he explains.
The agreement with the lifeguard company has been in force since 2024 and stipulates that the team must include two lifeguards at Playa de El Muelle and two at El Caletón during the summer. “That was because having Blue Flag status in these areas obliged us to have two people at each site. Since we stopped going for this recognition, we saw the opportunity for just one lifeguard to remain at El Muelle on weekdays this summer, with two at weekends,” the councillor explains. He says the obligation to provide a second lifeguard at the beach because of the Blue Flag “is now the opportunity to extend the service through autumn at El Caletón.”
Giving up the Blue Flag is what has made the service extension possible. Hernández justifies the decision to abandon this recognition of bathing area quality as being due to “a series of demands, particularly at El Caletón. They were asking for parameters that, given the very nature of the natural pools, were impossible to meet,” he says. “Universal accessibility will never exist at El Caletón,” he offers as the reason for not applying in 2025 and 2026.
Mixed reactions expected
The beaches councillor hopes local residents will welcome the decision. “There will probably be people, especially young people, who are used to the lifeguards leaving on 23 September and that gave them more freedom at El Caletón to swim in areas where it’s not allowed,” he notes. As a result, the extended service will mainly benefit “those who are completely unaware of the dangers of the natural pools – tourists and visitors. There will be someone watching behaviour and making sure the rules are followed,” he adds.
Looking ahead to a new contract
The contract with the company providing the lifeguard service ends at the end of 2026. Hernández announces that a new tender is being prepared, which will also cover the months outside summer at El Caletón. “We need to see how far we can go financially to maintain surveillance in the months before and after summer at the natural pools,” he warns, describing the pools as “Garachico’s biggest tourist attraction, the most dangerous area and where all efforts must be concentrated.”
He estimates the new tender will be more expensive due to the signing of the first collective labour agreement for lifeguards in the Canary Islands. Salary increases of between 40 and 65 per cent are expected, along with a reduction in working hours of almost 100 hours a year. “This will push up the cost of rescue and lifeguard services like ours, so we’ll have to assess what it will cost us in 2027. It’s something we’ll address in the coming months,” he concludes.
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