The Campoamor Marina in Orihuela Costa was the venue for the ceremony of lowering the Spanish flag, a solemn military act that was carried out last Tuesday on the deck of the Patrol Boat “Isla Pinto”, of the Spanish Navy. It was an event organized jointly by the Campoamor Nautical Club and the Alicante Naval Command.
Among those attending was the subdelegate of the Government in Alicante, Juan Antonio Nieves, the colonel chief of the Alicante Civil Guard Command, José Hernández Mosquera, as well as the deputy mayor of Orihuela, Lt General Manuel Mestre and two councillors.
The commander of the vessel, one of the latest additions to the navy, is Lieutenant Juan Chicharro Sánchez-Agustino. Built at the Rodman Polyships SA shipyard in Moaña (Pontevedra), it is 21 meters long and 5 meters wide, with a crew of 10 sailors.
The boat is still in its testing phase and in recent months it has been carrying out Maritime Surveillance tasks in the waters of the Levante peninsula and the Balearic Islands. At the completion of tests it will be based in Melilla but last week it was docked in the waters of Campoamor as the crew stopped their work routine, and as the sun began to fall the stage was set for the national anthem and the lowering of the flag.
