Mar Menor bridge plays havoc with yachts

The bridge (El Estacio) that provides access to the Mar Menor from the Mediterranean has been affected by the Spanish recession, the San Javier Council are reluctant to fund the operation of the bridge and have cut the openings to only 2 per day instead of the 2 hourly opening between 0800 - 22.00 hourse that we have always had.
The current situation is that the bridge opens at 10.00 hours and than once more at 19.00 hours, needless to say this is causing some inconvenience to nearly everyone with a yacht, powerboats are not so readily affected by the reduced operations although some of the larger craft in Tomas Maestre will not be impressed, at this stage what the outcome will be is anyones guess.
With a long tough winter coming to an end, many businesses were looking forward to and hoping for an improved summer trade in 2010 but how the San Javier decision will affect them remains to be seen.
One thing is for sure, yacht numbers entering the Mar Menor will be down and this can only result in a downturn to local business.
Will keep all boaters updated as/if the situation changes.