Blues lovers on the Costa del Sol get a double helping this month. Paul Stylianou and the Blue Stompers Jump Review return to headline the Salon Varietes Theatre in Fuengirola on Friday 18 and Saturday September 19 for the fourth Blues Room, now stretched to two nights after previous year’s sell-outs. Shows start at 7.30pm. Tickets cost €20 from the box office or salonvarietestheatre.com.

Who is on the bill

Stylianou’s jump and boogie band hosts the nights. The very special guest singer will be the wonderful voice of the Costa del Sol, Suzette Moncrief, New York-born and long based in Malaga, as she brings the big voice she is famous for all along the coast.

Madrid guitarist Jonas Molina works the old West Coast and electric blues catalogue. Hot Nacho from the Marbella area mixes his own songs with 1920s-to-1960s material. Granada pianist Alex Serrano supplies the boogie keys.

Those who caught last year’s single-night Blues Room night or Stylianou’s Q&A with EWN will know the drill: harmonica up front, swing in the rhythm section, and a room that likes to dance. Expect dancing in the aisles to the irresistible tones of the best blues artists in Spain.

How not to miss out on this year’s spectacular night

This always sells out. Box office hours run Monday to Friday, 11am to 2.30pm, and one hour before curtain. Call +34 952 47 45 42. Wheelchair seats must be booked at the counter, not online. Children under five stay outside the auditorium. Venue address is Calle Emancipacion, just off Church Square.

Salon Varietes has already opened its autumn run with West End material; Mike Sterling’s recent two-nighter filled the same 1925 house. Blues Room will be in that same English-speaking season, September to May.

Seat bookings moved quickly in 2025, so book sooner rather than later if you want a pew for either night.

The Alzheimer’s and Dementia Support Group (ADSG) is preparing a charity zip-wire event this September to raise funds for its work with people affected by Alzheimer’s and dementia along the Costa del Sol and in the inland Malaga area. The condition is still far more common than many people realise.

Regular support meetings pause after the final session this Monday. Sessions have resumed after the summer break, giving carers and people living with memory concerns a short break before the group returns to full activity.

Zip-wire day: 26 September

The event takes place on 26 September at Sunview Park Adventure, just outside Alhaurin de la Torre. Organisers have booked 25 places; a few remain available. Participants will take on the long, high-speed course and raise sponsorship that goes directly to ADSG’s free meetings, advice and practical help for families across the region. For anyone yet to try it, the course is described as exhilarating and great fun. It’s perfectly safe and weight is not a problem as they take up to 110 kg.

Sponsorship still open

Participants are asked to collect as much sponsorship as they can. Official forms and full event details are available on request. Contact the team on WhatsApp 610 774 408 to book a remaining place or to support someone already registered.

Where the money goes

Funds will help keep ADSG’s regular gatherings going, volunteer network and information service, which currently reach both the coast and inland towns. Every sponsored metre helps carers share experiences, people living with dementia stay active, and families receive free guidance when memory problems first appear.

Anyone worried about memory changes, supporting a loved one, or simply wanting to help can join the effort. Places are limited, so early contact is advised. WhatsApp 610 774 408 is the direct line for forms, questions and last-minute bookings ahead of the 26 September challenge.

Divers are about to slip beneath the waves off Cabopino with a detective style mission. What lies on the sandy seabed could finally reveal the identity of a 19th-century vessel lost on its way from France to Argentina.

Underwater archaeology campaign planned for mid-September

Work on the Cabopino wreck (pecio de Cabopino) is scheduled from September 15 to 30, led by the Andalucian Historical Heritage Institute (IAPH) through its Underwater Archaeology Centre (CAS). The team will document surviving timbers, metal fastenings and cargo remains, and produce a detailed 3D model of the site. These will allow researchers to study fragile elements without physical contact and, in time, support virtual reconstructions for public engagement.

A 39-metre Mediterranean merchantman on a sandy floor

First inspected in 2022 at the request of Malaga’s culture department, the site sits at an average depth of around six metres. Initial surveys recorded a visible structure roughly 39 metres long by 15 metres wide, construction features suggest the vessel was built using shipbuilding methods common in the Mediterranean and dates to the modern era, most likely the 19th or early 20th century. Coastal movements continue to expose fresh material, so more of the hull, cargo and onboard items may still be buried under the sand.

French tiles and barrels hint at global trade routes

Part of the original cargo is still in place on the wreck, giving researchers rare insight into late 19th-century maritime commerce. Archaeologists have identified wooden barrel fragments and large quantities of building ceramics, mainly French roof tiles and floor tiles bearing Marseille commercial marks active from the 1870s into the early 1900s. Together, these finds can help map distribution networks that linked Mediterranean production centres with markets across the Atlantic.

Could this be the Italian brig-barque lost in 1887?

Historical press research has uncovered reports of an Italian brig-barque (bricbarca), named Garegliano or Gagliano, wrecked in November 1887 after leaving Marseille with construction materials bound for Buenos Aires. Identification remains unconfirmed, but the overlap between documentary records and archaeological evidence is currently the leading theory under investigation.

The Cabopino campaign begins hot on the heels of work off San Pedro de Alcantara, where specialists recently took part in a study that identified another wreck as the Spanish line-of-battle ship (navio de linea) Fernando, built in Ferrol (1750–51) and lost in 1760 near Placer de las Bovedas.