Your weekly news catch up in Mallorca

New season, same season as it ever was. Even before the starting pistol was fired for the first of May commencement of the official tourism season, the laments had been emanating from familiar points of conflict on the island. One was the airport. The ludicrous business with cars stopping to pick up rather than use the car parks was seemingly on the back burner, as the annual confrontations between licensed taxi drivers and 'pirate' transport operators were growing more heated.

The taxis suspended service for two and a half hours on Monday after a taxi driver was given a slap by the driver of a minibus - a 'pirate'. There had been some trading of insults prior to this and more were to follow. Airport security and the National Police were needed to keep the warring factions apart, the taxi drivers criticising the complete absence of any Palma local officers. But the taxis know, as we all do now because of the arrivals parking nonsense, that there is no such thing as a permanent presence of Palma police at the airport, a general consensus being that this presence is the only thing that will stop the confrontations by moving the pirates on.

There was, however, one other thing that could mean an end. Regardless of Balearic government regulations which stipulate that all forms of transport other than the licensed taxis at the airport must have prior appointments in order to pick up, representatives of the taxis and the pirates were due to hold talks on Friday to try and hammer out their own solutions. These would involve a ticket office in arrivals for the pirates (the airports authority Aena would have to permit this) and agreement by the pirates not to take fewer than five people; the minibuses typically have room for eighteen passengers.

And in Magalluf ...

In Magalluf, a security guard at the BH Mallorca Hotel suffered a broken hand after a set-to with two British male tourists. They were with two women, who were hotel guests. The men weren't staying at the BH, so the guard told them that they couldn't go to the women's rooms. Calvia police arrested them some time later at their own hotel.

On C. Punta Ballena and in its immediate surroundings, the situation over the weekend before the first of May was as ever. Yes, there were some tourists rather worse for wear, but there were also the dealers, the thieves and the so-called prostitutes (they're muggers). Diego Belmonte of the Emytra association of employers and workers insisted that the kids should have fun, a good time and enjoy their holidays and shouldn't be "criminalised". The real problems "lie with others". And everyone is fully aware of the criminality that has existed for years. The tourism of excesses law doesn't deal with this.

Meanwhile, there was a reminder of how bad the violence can sometimes be in Magalluf. Two male British tourists who beat up a taxi driver in August last year face prison sentences of two years each plus a demand for compensation of 11,624 euros. The two stood bail of 7,000 euros and returned to the UK. The case is due to be heard shortly.

Cycling relief

The cycling season starts to wind down once the official season starts. The Mallorca 312 last weekend attracted 8,000 cyclists. It represented the peak of the season, and for residents of Puerto Andratx the end of the season can't come soon enough. Hardly for the first time, there have been complaints about cyclists who relieve themselves by bushes at a car park where coaches drop them off for cycling excursions in the Tramuntana; the coaches arrive twice a week from Can Picafort.

Even portable loos haven't stopped this antisocial behaviour, but it does rather highlight - and also hardly for the first time - a general absence of public toilets.

Lluc and Llucmajor break records

Mallorca 312 participants had to contend with some high temperatures. Of places on the island where they might not have anticipated there being a record for an April day, Lluc would have been one of them. On the cycling route into the mountains, Lluc at one point was the hottest place in Mallorca last Saturday. The temperature was finally given as 32.9C, but it was surpassed by a place not on the 312 route - Llucmajor, where the 33.7C eclipsed the previous local record for April, one of 29.6C in 2012.

The youth hostels that aren't

The cycling event was a factor that contributed to 100% occupancy at many hotels in Palma over the May Day holiday; the Palma International Boat Show was another. This occupancy was largely at the city's boutique hotels, which are a far cry from youth hostels in Palma and indeed elsewhere in Mallorca. Youth hostels aren't classified as being tourist accommodation, but the Council of Mallorca came to realise that there were twelve which were being used as tourist accommodation illegally and were therefore "ignoring current tourism regulations". Among these regulations is payment of the tourist tax; youth hostels aren't obliged to charge it.

The twelve hostels in question have been given until June to "regularise their situation" as either proper youth hostels or as regulated tourist accommodation. Inspections will start in June and proceedings will be opened if necessary.

A warm sea ... too warm

Returning to the heat, the SOCIB Coastal Observation System for the Balearics reported that at the end of last week the average temperature of the Balearic Sea was 17.8C. This was 2.07 degrees above normal for a 1982 to 2015 reference period, and it was the result of April having been exceptionally warm. Nice for taking a dip, it was a worrying temperature nevertheless, given that there were five marine heat waves in the Balearic Sea last year, the highest average in August having been 29.7C and the highest temperature of all having been at a buoy off the island of Dragonera - 33.3C.

Heat and drought

The head of the Aemet met agency in the Balearics, Maria José Guerrero, was asked about the high spring temperatures. She explained, and it was "an objective fact", that summers are now twenty days longer, while winters are getting shorter. This winter, at most, lasted six weeks. Spring is therefore now beginning earlier, and autumn later.

As to this summer, she said that it was hard to know if historical records would be set. "From May to September we believe that the temperature will be higher than normal. But whether there will be a record or not isn't known."

Mallorca isn't suffering the kind of drought conditions that exist in parts of the mainland, but the drought is starting to have an impact on the island. The president of the distributors association in the Balearics, Bartolomé Servera, says that while it had seemed as if food prices were stabilising, they are rising again because of the drought that is "ravaging" the mainland. Because of the lack of rain, he is warning, there could be a shortage of some vegetables. "In many cases, farmers aren't even planting."

Caravan living

Another familiar aspect of the Mallorcan tourism season is the proliferation of illegal holiday lets. And this is contributing to proliferation of a different sort - the numbers of caravans, motorhomes and similar that park in coastal areas, sometimes permanently.

On accommodation websites - and we can guess which one most obviously - there are offers of caravans for tourist purposes. Totally illegal of course, but people seem prepared to assume the risk of huge fines. But as these are caravans, the charges aren't especially high. One caravan with a sea view and close to amenities such as showers, supermarket and a launderette is available for 57 euros a night.

Tourists aren't the only takers for this type of accommodation. Seasonal workers, for instance, are resorting to caravan living because they can't find anywhere else at a reasonable price to rent.

For anyone living in a caravan, or anywhere else for that matter, let's hope they don't come across a horseshoe whip snake. Experts want this snake to be declared an invasive species in Mallorca and the rest of the Balearics. Its harmfulness is because it isn't indigenous; it isn't venomous.