San Agustín Beach, more than words

San Agustín Beach, in Gran Canaria, is a place full of peace, light and magic.

San Agustín Beach is a child who is building sandcastles next to the water’s edge. His parents watch over him from where they have laid out their towels and stuck their sunshade into the ground, which flaps away like a flag right at the centre of the family’s private paradise.


San Agustín beach
A child playing on the beach

San Agustín is a beach in the shape of a permanent smile, down at the southern slopes of Gran Canaria, where fine weather is just another of the region’s typical customs, as are plodding around at a leisurely pace and frequently forgetting what day and time it is.

San Agustín is a red and white fishing boat on its way back to the port, its figure cutting into the flat bluey sheet on a horizon where the sky and the Atlantic blend into one. The little vessel chugs along and looks like it has been sketched by a child, perhaps the same one who is building dreams and sandcastles right here in San Agustín.

San Agustín beach

San Agustín is to let yourself be carried away by an inner wave of peace that we breathe in on the breeze. We become marine beings that move around the beach without looking for anything in particular. Actually, we’ve got everything we were looking for here, haven’t we?

San Agustín is crystal clear water, the figure of a fleeting fish that slips off into the sea. It is the gentle ripple of the sea lapping onto our feet. For a few days at least, San Agustín places you at the centre of the universe, because the sun revolves around you.

San Agustín beach

San Agustín is a stroll along the promenade leading to the nearby and bustling Playa del Inglés. It is the stopping off at a restaurant to try a local fish with a dash of salt, while wondering if it had been caught by the same little fishing boat we saw chug by just a couple of hours previously. San Agustín has more questions than answers.

San Agustín is a loving couple who take advantage of the low tide to etch their initials into a great big heart on the damp sand. By the next day the next morning the drawing will have disappeared, erased by the high tide, but the lovebirds will continue to write their letters and hearts and will forever remember those peaceful, salty days.

San Agustín beach

San Agustín is someone who is caught by surprise as they see their silhouette reflected over the wet sand as evening falls, as it begins to unfold into a light and colourful spectacle over the fine coating of water produced by the waves. There are two nightfalls in San Agustín: one in the sky and one on the land.

San Agustín beach

San Agustín is a child (the same one, or not?) who goes along picking up shells and crabs, near to the breakwater that marks the beginning or the end of a beach, whose definition requires much more than words.