Isla de Benidorm

Parks and Nature

Benidorm Island is a small island located off the coast of Benidorm. It has a high ecological, landscape and environmental interest. It is located about two nautical miles from the port of Benidorm. Its surface area is 7 hectares and it has a length of around 400 m2. Due to its location and structure it is considered to be a continuation of the next Sierra Helada. In 1834 the island served as a refuge for several families in Benidorm and Villajoyosa, fleeing their populations in the face of an epidemic of cholera. Centuries before, pirates used it as a base for their attacks on coastal populations. The island has always had a great wealth of fish and an underwater fund highly coveted by divers and divers. The exploitation of its waters was always reserved to Benidorm until the year 1506, when King Fernando extended this privilege also to the town of Villajoyosa. Among the birds that nest on the island, the common paiño stands out. The fauna is also composed of the Iberian lizard, the pale swift, the Sardinian warbler, the peregrine falcon, among others. Regarding the flora of the island, it is worth mentioning the wild olive tree, the cambrón, the laughter of the virgin, the ephedra, the maritime marvavisco, the bufera, the "espi blanc", the fine soda, the sea bass, the San Josep vareta, etc. The most popular legend is that a gentleman fell in love with a beautiful lady whom he loved deeply, but did not dare to woo, so for months he passed by the village fountain to observe surreptitiously the young woman pick up the water. However, one morning the gentleman waited and waited, but the young woman did not appear, so worried, he went in search of his beloved to sadly discover that she had fallen ill. At that time, at the top of the great mountain, known as Puig Campana, lived a feared but wise Warlock, so the knight decided to risk his life to climb the great mountain and thus be able to consult the feared Warlock suffering from his beloved , using as a main weapon, the hope of the possible recovery of the young woman. After reaching the hard top of the mountain through a host of difficulties, he begged the Warlock to give him the answer of the cure for the illness of his beloved; the Warlock told him that there was nothing to do, the knight pleaded for a better answer, to which the Warlock replied with a cold and distant look, that he did not lose more time, that he assumed reality and that he took advantage of the short time that he had left to enjoy with the company of the girl, since at sundown the young woman would die irremediably, as it was written in the stars and so would be available. He watched in silence for a few seconds the old face of the distant Sorcerer and suddenly, he became aware of the harsh reality, assuming that there was little else he could do but try to share with his beloved the little time he had left. Having assumed the fateful but the girl, noticed all the hours wasted after the long day on the mountain, so consumed by despair he drew his sword and struck a blow to the mountain breaking a fragment of it, which fell to the sea, giving rise to the island of Benidorm; in this way, he managed to get the sun on that day a little later, since when the sun passed to the other side of the high mountain, it would continue to illuminate through the slit created for a few minutes more the town where his beloved was , offering a few seconds more to go down and so be able to accompany the beautiful girl before she breathed her last. As the old Brujo had prophesied, that sad day, after the last ray of light that the humble town managed to reach, the gentleman observed how the soul of the innocent girl, abandoned the beauty of her fragile body reclining on the old bed of a fishermen's house That same night, the gentleman placed the innocent body of the girl in a small boat and climbing to it, went to the island that the despair of his love had created on the beautiful shores of the bay of Benidorm. When he met the small boat in front of the island crowned by a luminous moon full of ivory, he stuck his sword and made his small boat sink allowing the calm waters of the Mediterranean to take away their souls, thus assuming their destiny and surrendering to that benevolent white moon in front of the rock that was the work of his love.