What you can see on the Cabo de Gata webcam
From the lighthouse the camera looks along the coast over the Arrecife de las Sirenas, a cluster of sharp volcanic pinnacles standing in shallow, clear water, with the bare cliffs of the cape running away on the left and the open Mediterranean filling the rest of the frame. It shows the colour of the sea, the swell on the reef and how clear the air is over the water.
The Arrecife de las Sirenas from the Cabo de Gata lighthouse
The port authority of Almería, which looks after the lighthouses on this coast, keeps this camera at the Cabo de Gata lighthouse. It looks along the shore from above: in the foreground the bare, crumbling cliffs of the cape, then the dark volcanic pinnacles of the Arrecife de las Sirenas rising from water so clear that the rocks on the bottom show through, and beyond them the open sea to the horizon. On the left, the coast runs away to a rocky point and the hills of the natural park.
It is the camera to check for the state of the sea before a swim or a boat trip: glassy and turquoise on calm days, streaked with white when the wind gets up. It is a still image, not a video; the refresh button brings the latest one.
Volcanoes, a lighthouse and the sirens
The cliffs, coves and reefs of Cabo de Gata were built by volcanoes that died out long ago, and their lava and ash give this coast its dark, sculpted look, so unlike the long sandy beaches further west. The lighthouse was built in 1863 on the site of an 18th-century coastal fort, the castle of San Francisco de Paula. The reef owes its name, it is said, to the monk seals that once lay on its rocks and that sailors took for sirens. The natural park, created in 1987, was the first in Andalusia to protect both the land and the sea, and UNESCO has recognised it as a biosphere reserve since 1997.
When to watch Cabo de Gata
Spain is one hour ahead of the UK and Ireland. Cabo de Gata is the driest place on the Iberian Peninsula, with only about 150 to 170 mm (6 to 7 in) of rain in an average year, so the camera usually shows sunshine, and the sea looks its bluest when the sun is high. On windy days the swell runs white over the reef and against the foot of the cliffs.
Around Cabo de Gata
On the way to the lighthouse the road runs beside the salt pans of Cabo de Gata, a bird reserve where flamingos are often seen feeding in the shallow lagoons, and past the hamlet of La Almadraba de Monteleva and its church. East of the cape, the village of San José is the base for the wild beaches of Los Genoveses and Mónsul, two of the best known in the natural park.
Getting to Cabo de Gata
Almería airport, which has flights from the UK, is about 13 miles (21 km) from the lighthouse as the crow flies. From the city the road heads east to the village of San Miguel de Cabo de Gata, on the shore of the wide bay of Almería, and then follows the salt pans south to the cape.
