We Sailed to Isla Perdiguera: Mar Menor's Uninhabited Island

Twenty minutes out from the marina at Los Nietos, my mate Dave cut the engine and just pointed. "There she is." No jetty, no chiringuito, not another boat in sight, just a low green hump sitting in water so clear you could count the fish from the deck. That's Isla Perdiguera for you. Mar Menor's biggest island, and nobody lives on it. We'd been meaning to do this trip all summer and finally got round to it on a flat, warm Saturday in September, when the water's still like a bath but the crowds have gone home.

Why Bother Sailing Out There

If you've spent any time on this coast you'll know the Mar Menor has five islands scattered across it, leftovers from old volcanic activity, and Perdiguera is the one people actually talk about. It's uninhabited, undeveloped, and about as close as you'll get to having your own private beach without owning a private beach. There's a bit of scrub, a few old ruined buildings from when someone tried to farm it decades ago, and that's your lot. No sun loungers, no ice cream van, no queue for a paella. For anyone staying in one of the holiday rentals near Roda Golf and fancying something different from another day on the sand at Los Alcázares, this is it.

Getting There

You've got a few options and none of them are complicated. Boats leave from Los Nietos, Santiago de la Ribera and La Manga, and you can hire a small motor boat for the day without needing a licence as long as it's under a certain horsepower, which most of the rental outfits around the Mar Menor stick to. We went with a little day-skipper boat from Los Nietos, split the cost four ways, and it worked out cheaper than a decent lunch. If boats aren't your thing, some of the kayak and paddleboard hire places will take you out too, though it's a proper paddle and best left for a calm day with no wind forecast. Check the conditions before you commit, the Mar Menor can turn choppy quicker than you'd think even though it looks tame most of the year.

What to Do Once You're There

Swim in Water That Looks Photoshopped

Honestly, the water around Perdiguera is a different shade of turquoise to what you get on the mainland beaches. It's shallow for ages too, so you can wade out a fair way before it gets past your waist. Brilliant for kids if you've brought them along, though obviously keep an eye out, there are no lifeguards anywhere near the place.

Walk the Sandbank

At low tide a sandbank appears that lets you wander a fair distance from the main bit of the island, feet still in the water, land nowhere in sight behind you. It's one of those daft little things that makes a day trip feel like an adventure. Dave took about forty photos of his own feet. I didn't stop him.

Have a Nose at the Snorkelling

Bring a mask if you've got one. The rocky bits around the edges of the island have decent little fish life, nothing dramatic like you'd get on the Cabo de Palos side, but enough to keep you entertained for half an hour. Seahorses turn up in the Mar Menor from time to time too, though we didn't get lucky on this trip.

Pack a Proper Picnic

There is nothing to buy on Isla Perdiguera. Not a bottle of water, not a bag of crisps. Bring everything you need, including a bin bag to take your rubbish home with you, because there's no collection out there either. We did bread, jamón, a couple of tomatoes and a cold bottle of white wrapped in a towel, and it tasted better than most restaurant meals purely because of where we were eating it.

Best Time to Go and a Few Practical Tips

September is genuinely one of the better months for this. The water's held onto its summer warmth, the sun's not quite as brutal as July and August, and the boat traffic thins right out once the school holidays finish. You get the island practically to yourself on a weekday. Bring shade if you can, there's next to none on the island itself, and a decent pair of water shoes save your feet from the odd sharp shell. Mobile signal is patchy, which is either a feature or a bug depending on your mood.

If you're new to the area and still working out where everything sits in relation to each other, it's worth a look at our guide to the Mar Menor area before you plan a boat day, since knowing your Los Nietos from your La Manga makes booking a hire boat a lot less confusing.

Worth Combining With a Round of Golf

Given how close Roda Golf is to the coast, a lot of visitors end up making a week of it, morning on the course and afternoon on the water, or the other way round if the tee times work out. Have a look at what's on offer across the golf courses near Roda Golf if you're thinking of splitting your trip between fairways and sandbanks, autumn's a genuinely lovely time to do both. And if this sort of thing is your idea of a good day out, there's more where this came from over on the RodaGolfSpain blog, we're always poking around somewhere new along this coast.

Would we do it again? Without question. It's not a long trip, it's not expensive, and it's one of those experiences that makes you remember why you moved out here in the first place. Get yourself a boat, get yourself a picnic, and go and stand on a sandbank in the middle of the Mar Menor with nobody else around for miles.