Costa del Sol port management suggests boat owner leave after he complains about festival-turned drinking party

A DJ set, an influencer, overcrowding, a massive open-air drinking party, vomit, urine, a letter of complaint and a full town hall meeting. These were the main ingredients of the Fiesta de la Primavera festival that Benalmádena town hall organised on 18 April, as part of a revitalisation plan for the Puerto Marina recreational port.

According to the town hall, the event took place "without security issues" and major consequences, but boat owners in the area do not agree.

"I arrived at the port at around 8.30pm with some elderly people who enjoy sailing. When they went to the car park to retrieve a wheelchair for one of them, they found people urinating nearby. It didn't escalate, but they almost came to a fight. It was like a massive open-air drinking party, with car music blasting, drunk people urinating, vomiting, a concert with deafening music that I doubt complied with regulations," one of the boat owners said.

The festival began at 5pm, with DJs providing the music. An influencer had promoted the event and was behind the big crowd at Puerto Marina. During the last town hall meeting, councillor José Luis Bergillos described this as an "unpleasant and unexpected situation".

The event continued the next day with different DJs, though the turnout wasn't as high. "There was still broken glass on the ground. We went to the boat owners' restroom and couldn't use it. A piece of pavement or something had blocked the door. It was all wet, with glasses and bottles," the same boat owner, who pays around 6,000 euros annually to the Port of Benalmádena, said.

Given that the town hall "had promised last year that things like this wouldn't happen again", he decided to write a letter of complaint to Mayor Juan Antonio Lara.

The response came from the Director of Operations at Puerto Marina. "If you find the conditions of this facility so insulting and 'scatological', we remind you that you are perfectly free to move your vessel to any other port that better suits your demands for exclusivity. As you well know, there is no contractual clause obligating you to remain here. The coastline is vast and we are certain that other ports will enthusiastically welcome your particular understanding of coexistence between users/shipowners and public management."

Bergillos did offer his "most sincere apologies" to the boat owner in a letter in which he acknowledged that the influx "far exceeded expectations".