Successful first edition of the Vuelta a sa Porrassa swimming

More than 150 people have gathered this Saturday at the beach of Magaluf to participate in the first edition of the Vuelta a Sa Porrassa swimming, an event that will be repeated next year.

The event, organized by the Mar de Fondo collaboration of many representative entities in tasks of marine environment conservation, has consisted in a route of 2 km to go around the island of Sa Porrassa, ideal to start swimming in open sea. With this encounter, swimming has helped to eliminate the negative image of Magaluf and to highlight the value of the marine and natural environment of this area, sadly famous for its uncivic and drunken tourism.

“There are three principal goals at the Vuelta a Sa Porrassa swimming: eliminate the stigma of Magaluf, make people closer to the sea through the sport and encourage marine environment conservation at Mallorca”, explains Toni Mora, co-founder of Mar de Fondo. “Above all, we want to put into value the marine and natural environment of Magaluf, which is an unknown aspect to this area, sadly famous for other unhappy reasons, especially for uncivil and drunken tourism," he says. "It was lovely to hear the comments from the participants, many of whom don't usually come here to swim, about the beauty of the seabed in these waters," he concludes.

"We have exceeded our own expectations in terms of participation, so we are very proud," says Paul Gehrig, co-founder of Mar de Fondo. "We have also taken the opportunity to raise awareness of a number of marine conservation projects that are doing very important work to care for our waters," he adds. "We have shown that people demand this type of activity, especially in stigmatized areas such as Magaluf, and that they want to contribute to changing the image of some areas of the island. Given the success of this first edition, next year we will repeat the experience and incorporate some improvements and additions," he says.

The event has served to help eliminate the negative image of Magaluf, connect people with the sea through sport and promote the conservation of the Balearic sea. Once the crossing was over, the organization set up a space in Plaça Jacques Sasson with music, fruit, snacks and refreshments, with the aim of generating community and regaining strength. In addition, the projects of the island's main marine conservation organizations, such as the Palma Aquarium Foundation and Shark Med, were presented, as well as relevant information about the Pacte Blau Balear, a manifesto promoted by the Marilles Foundation that proposes a set of measures to guarantee marine conservation in the Balearic archipelago. In addition, thanks to the company True World, carbon emissions have been calculated for this event, which will be offset by verified UN projects in order to be a carbon neutral event.