Jesús moves to Cantabria, where he settles, in the 1960s. Right from the start, he is fascinated by the small beaches of golden sands, surrounded by stunning cliffs and whimsical shapes. They are the subject of his poems and thoughts, both while peacefully enjoying the beaches in summer and while sheltered from the harsh storms in winter.

At that time, he doesn’t know the name of every beach and corner. The need to identify those places leads him to inventing new names that he uses informally. As a natural consequence of this innocent reinvention, he gives a name to the whole area, and this fortuitous fact is the origin of everything, since, by giving it a name, he gave it its soul. The seed had been planted.

Jesús Mojas and Antonio Cendrero meet each other at Somocuevas beach, one of the most charming beaches of Costa Quebrada, which they both frequently visit. Cendrero’s extraordinary communicative skills spark Jesús’s curiosity even more, and his bond with the dramatic landscape of this coastline becomes stronger.

At the time, Jesús devoted his spare time to poetry, which almost inadvertently led him to give the name of Costa Quebrada (literally “Broken Coast”) to this rugged coastline.

In Mojas’s own words:

“Antonio Cendrero and I, born in Bilbao and Madrid respectively, both felt this land’s call at some point, and we shared the joy of frequenting this coastal strip, west of the city of Santander. And step by step, slowly but surely, Antonio, whose erudition is matched by his ability to make knowledge accessible, introduced me to the secrets of our coastline, and his fascination with the singularity of the area rubbed off on me. The name Costa Quebrada is already inscribed in the crevices of its magnificent coastal outcrops“

J. Mojas

Costa Quebrada looked superb at the time. The most recent constructions had not yet reached the secluded beaches and the cliffs.

That pioneering work included three sites of geological interest that belong to the current Costa Quebrada Geologic Park.

The wave-cut platform of Covachos-Arnía-Pedruquíos is listed first, mainly due to its geomorphological interest, but also for stratigraphic and paleontological reasons. It is described as “a superb example of coastal retreat”.

Furthermore, the Liencres Dune Complex is also included due to its high geomorphological interest. It is the “largest and best developed dune field on the Cantabrian coastline, also from a botanical point of view”.

Finally, the Stratigraphical sequence of playa de los Peligros-Soto de la Marina was then described as “the best series of the Cretaceous-Tertiary period on the Cantabrian strip”.

This first inventory is now integrated in the Spanish Inventory of Sites of Geological Interest currently in force, which emerges from Law 42/2007 on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity.

The extraordinary educational value of this stretch of coastline does not go unnoticed by a team of geologists and naturalists who undertake the writing of an extensive teaching guide, where the name of Costa Quebrada is captured for the first time.

Antonio Cendrero Uceda, José Ramón Díaz de Terán, Emilio Flor Pérez, Enrique Francés Arriola, José Ramón González Lastra and Luis Salas Gómez’s descriptions of routes and sites of interest are enriched with naturalist Iñaki Zorraquín’s illustrations.

This work is put on hold, awaiting publication, for several decades. After Viola M. Bruschi joins the writing team, a careful review is made and the book El Litoral entre Santander y Liencres. Costa Quebrada Parque Geológico (“The coastline between Santander and Liencres. Costa Quebrada Geologic Park”) is published in 2016.

During the first 1990’s a series of initiatives that go beyond the mere teaching of Geosciences (or Sciences in general), and that are aimed to strengthening the bonds of young students with an outstanding geological territory, thus stimulating the production of ideas on a sustainable future for the r¡area are designed and put to work.

The sustained work of teachers Marcos Caloca and Máximo Luffiego in the secondary school IES La Albericia is one of the most notorious examples. The study through systematic data collection through intensive fieldwork in the coastal area between Santander and Liencres; the synthesis of the data in a 1:25,000 scale model built by the pupils themselves; the inventory of sites of different typologies and potential uses; and the role games designed to understand the social dimension of the both local and global environmental issues, that allowed the students to play the roles of different social actors in order to try to solve them, sow the seed of what the technical staff of the park is today.

The environmental disaster is a hard blow to local inhabitants and to all the people who are closely linked with this coastal stretch. When the oil reaches the coastline, we feel utterly helpless.

Jesús Mojas transforms helplessness into music, as he breaks into song whenever the occasion requires it. He invariably sings “Lágrimas negras” (“Black tears”), in a performance full of passion. Years later, in 2015, two musicians, Luis M. Sánchez and Cueto native Chema Puente (who is the author of “Santander, la marinera”, one of the folk anthems of the city), reinterpret the piece, giving it a new melody and a bolero air. The piece includes a field recording of the original melody and a few words of tribute for his many years of dedicated work for the cause:

You can hear both versions in this recording:

Ten thousand DVD copies of “The Black Wave” film, a documentary made by Justin Wheeler during the first months after the sinking of the Prestige, are released. It tells the tragedy from well-known surfer Dani García’s point of view, which represents not only surfers, but any other group of people who have a direct relationship with the sea..

The popular national magazine 3sesenta gives away the documentary, and offers us a double page inside the publication.

Along the entire coastal stretch eight information boards were installed, which highlight the biological and geological values of Costa Quebrada and their interrelations. The idea of focusing attention on the geological heritage begins to grow.

These audioguides are translated and recorded in English and French by native speakers. This material is saved in MP4 players along with other audiovisual resources: video clips, illustrations and aerial photographs, among others. These audioguides (23 portable media players) are made available to users at the tourist information offices and kiosks of the future Geologic Park.

A smartphone application that makes use of the technological potential offered by such devices will be developed in the near future..

TFollowing two years of designing, testing and developing night tidepool safaris with organised groups, the first safaris open to the public are offered during the summer. Their philosophy is expressed by the motto “Geodiversity engenders biodiversity” and their objective is to take the public closer to the fascinating world that appears once the sea retreats and the night falls.

This pioneering interpretive activity sets the quality bar for the rest of activities offered, such as tours, workshops and interpretive materials. It has been successfully adopted by several non-profit organisations in Asturias and the Basque Country.