09 Apr 2008 12:00 AM:

We were recently on holiday in Torrox. One day we walked on the coast from Mezquitilla to Caleta, past the marina there. As we approached Caleta we spotted 5 strange craft in the water, off the coast of Torre Del Mar. They seemed very low in the water and stationary. At times they looked slightly below the water line with only a turret showing towards the rear of the centre of the craft.

As we walked on, they started moving towards Caleta, very slowly and never coming nearer to the coast and as we didn't have our camera or binoculars with us we couldn't make a record or investigate further. None of the locals seemed to notice them, but it was certainly something we have never seen before. At no point did they dive and they all moved in a slow formation. It was obvious no one was on the 'deck' and they looked too small to be  big submarines or anything.  They were all  black / very dark coloured.

Does anyone know what these might be? We wouldn't be the only ones who saw them. Maybe they're a regular feature?

Thanks in advance.
Paul & Lisa

Thread: Submarines off Torre Del Mar??

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17 Feb 2008 6:53 PM:

I know what you mean Semi - we come from West Yorks, apparently the worst place for animal cruelty in the whole of the UK.

There have been many incidents of unimaginable cruelty recently back home.

Regarding the little dog - we have decided that, as we are only visitors we will just have to grit out teeth & do nothing.
Don't wanna give the dog a false sense of hope!

If we do move over to Spain I definitely will start volunteering my services in some way to help out animals.

Lisa

Thread: Doggy Dilemma

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17 Feb 2008 6:02 PM:

Every time we come to Spain we hear more n more sad animal stories. We met one lady a few years back who rescued cats dumped in the local bins, I think she was up to around 15 cats by the time  we met her!

We met a girl another time who acquired her dog the same way & was forever finding puppies n kittens dumped in plastic bags in the hot sun. She told us that the Spanish believe that animals have no souls. So what? Soul or no soul animals deserve a decent life while they are here.

Me n my husband have been veggies for over 26 years and were involved with animal rights when younger. Yes, it is so hard to harden your heart!.

There is so much to love about Spain & the Spanish but this is a huge issue for us & it's kind of putting us off moving here as we intended to do in the future.

Sad really.

Thread: Doggy Dilemma

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17 Feb 2008 12:00 AM:


I need advice from people who know the Spanish better than I do.

My wife and I had a lovely and loving Yorkshire Terrier for 16 years until she died of old age just before Christmas. As a way to get over this loss, we took the opportunity to go to Spain for two months, as it had been many years since we could have a holiday without leaving our dog behind.

We rented a place on the beach near Nerja and have been here for two weeks. So have six weeks left.

In the only other occupied apartments in this block are a Spanish couple and their dog. The couple are in their late thirties or early forties.

Their balcony is adjacent to ours and one floor above.

They appear to have jobs as they are out from early in the morning until late at night. We've only seen them once in two weeks, in passing.

Their dog is left locked out on the balcony all the time they are out, with no apparent food, water, shelter or basket to sit in and although it goes in the apartment
overnight, it never seems to get taken for walks or go out with it's owners as it sits on the balcony constantly wailing, seemingly broken hearted.

We don't go out a lot, preferring a quiet life, so we see the dog from our garden every day and when it sees us it's tail wags and it desperately tries to get to us through the one inch gap in the balcony. It's not a guard dog of any sort, just an adorable little fluffy thing.

What should we do?

We were going to leave them a note asking if they would consider us looking after the mite while they are out or maybe take it for the occasional walk.

Then we thought :

a) Is it a good idea to give the poor creature any hope - as we do have to go home and chances are it will go back to imprisonment with a heavier heart?

b) Do the Spanish care? We could end up alienating the only other people in the block and/or have them take it out on the dog?

We could get up at dawn or stay up very late and approach the couple but our Spanish is very limited and we may come across as moaning English over sentimental idiots.

We've tried to ignore it, but it is hard to wake up to the shallow wail of what looks like a very personable and loving animal.

Any ideas, particularly if you're Spanish or know the Spanish well enough?

Thanks in advance

Mr. P








Thread: Doggy Dilemma

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13 Feb 2008 3:24 PM:

Hi All!

Yes dosjamons does cause some intrigue n confusion, especially in the UK

It is a little play on me n my husbands surname.

Amusing for us as we're also both vegetarians

Thanks for the replies - funnily enough just found a charity shop in Nerja so I'll be in there searching for bargains before long.

Lisa

Thread: Second hand clothes + charity shops

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