'La Chiquita', the Virgen del Carmen who lives in a cave on the seabed of the Costa del Sol

As towns along the Costa del Sol get ready to celebrate the festivities in honour of the Virgen del Carmen on 16 July, Benalmádena preceded the celebrations with an unusual event at the weekend. Unknown to many, a small image of the patron of the sea lives almost all year round at a depth of nine metres below the water in a cave on the seabed in the marina. Divers often visit her there, following a pilgrimage route that leads to this cave in Laja Bermeja.

It was members of the Virgen de los Buzos de Benalmádena cultural association who, in 2005, had the idea of having their own Virgen del Carmen at the bottom of the sea. First, they had a marble image, although a person linked to the association offered to finance a new image made of bronze. They found what they were looking for in an antique shop in Murcia, and when the image arrived in Benalmádena, the general perception was that it was very "small", so it was christened La Chiquita.

According to Miguel Requena, from the divers' association, La Chiquita is placed inside a diving capsule, which is vacuum-sealed with 20-millimetre-thick glass. This means that despite being on the seabed for years, the image itself is not damaged.

Every year, on the Sunday before the celebration of the Virgen del Carmen, divers go to the cave to retrieve the Virgin and take her to the port authority area, where a party in her honour takes place. After this, she is taken to the parish of the Virgen del Carmen in Benalmádena, an act that has been carried out since 2009.

Here, she meets with the town’s main image of the Virgin. On the feast day of the Virgen, also known as Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the divers go to the church to get their Virgin in order to prepare her for the climax that will take place in the sea later that evening, when she is returned to her cave. This moment of final meeting and farewell between the two images until the following year has become one of the most acclaimed celebrations in the municipality. Up to five thousand people gather on the night of the Virgen del Carmen in the area of Capitanía in Benalmádena.

Aware of the importance of this tradition, the town hall began the process a few months ago to have this act declared a festival of provincial tourist uniqueness by the provincial council. The proposal was made during the plenary session by the PP and received unanimous support from the entire corporation.