Lights Go Out At Javea's Lighthouse

Thursday, 07 August 2008

Tuesday Night, 5th August, saw the lighthouse in Cabo San Antonio , which has been working for more than 150 years, go out!!! The service had been poor for the 2 hours prior to it going off and was not visable for the distance of 26 nautical miles as in normal conditions.

The problem was due to a sudden increase in electricity voltage which burnt out a large part of the internal system. This has happened before but there was a full maintenance structure and a back up system to protect it. So at 11.00pm the lights went out!

The repairs were carried out during the day yesterday putting in new lights and servicing the motors. The lighthouse was back to functioning normal last night.

Although it sends out a light signal to alert boats in the area it also sends an audio signal which can be used to navigate the waters. But due to the fact that many modern boats have a type of GPS system many do not navigate with the light and were unaware of the failure.