It was meant to be an ordinary Saturday at El Ancón. Swimsuits lounging in the shallows close to Victors Beach, cold drinks at the chiringuito, and the sun overhead. This is the type of afternoon that Marbella excels at. The atmosphere completely changed when something massive moved thru the water.
On August 8, a massive tuna that witnesses estimate weighed about 300 kilograms surged toward the shore, slicing thru the shallow water with frightening speed. Suddenly, one swimmer who was in the wrong place was being pursued by it. He didn’t wait to figure out what was going on. The tuna followed him as he swam as quickly as possible toward the beach, flailing into the shallows until it completely ran out of water.
Most people reached for their phones to take that picture, which showed a huge fish beached in the sand, its tail thumping the ground, surrounded by confused tourists. The video started making the rounds in Spanish media and social media within hours. It’s the kind of scene that, until you see it twice, is difficult to believe.
It’s still unclear what brought the tuna so close to the coast. The fact that the animal was bleeding from its gills, according to multiple beachgoers, suggests that it may have been hurt by fishing gear. Sometimes, but not always without harm, tuna caught on longlines or in nets manage to escape. A 300-kilo bluefin that is simply feeding close to the surface behaves differently than one that is disoriented by pain. It makes sense that it ended up in an inappropriate location.
The conclusion of this tale is also worthwhile. Beachgoers did not scatter and abandon the tuna once it became stuck in the sand. Together, a number of people grabbed plastic chairs and sun loungers and pushed the animal back toward deeper water. Strangers on vacation improvising a rescue for a fish that none of them had intended to meet is a peculiarly poignant detail. It was successful. The tuna returned to the ocean.
It’s important to note that the swimmer who initiated the incident managed to escape unharmed. Tuna are strong creatures. Up close, most people would be genuinely shocked by the muscle and speed of a bluefin that size. This one was scared and lost, not attacking anyone, but it was probably the right instinct to quickly escape the water.
While there are many strange summertime moments along Marbella’s coastline, this one landed in a unique way. It was the sheer strangeness of it, not the danger, which proved to be negligible. A fish that should have been in the open Atlantic or the deep waters of the Strait of Gibraltar ended up on a popular beach where people were filming with their phones. There’s something that sticks with you about the difference between the animal’s actual location and its ideal location.
This might have been an isolated incident in which an injured animal fled desperately in the direction of shallow water. Encounters like this may also become somewhat less common as fishing pressure in the Mediterranean persists. No one can be certain. It’s evident that the concept of a peaceful day in the water took on a different meaning for the people on that Saturday afternoon beach.
The tuna is probably back in the water now. Presumably, the swimmer is doing well. And there are probably a few deck chairs somewhere on a Marbella beach that had a much stranger afternoon than anyone could have predicted.
