On Day 14, Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii Waits at a Spanish Bay Due to Bad Weather

At around 1 a.m. (CET) on January 9 the Bulgarian naval research/survey vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (NAVAL RSV 421) dropped anchor at Roquetas de Mar, located in the Almería gulf, in order to evade the bad weather conditions in the west Mediterranean. 

The vessel is on a historic voyage to Livingston Island, where it will support the 31st Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition.

After its departure from the Cartagena Port in the morning of January 8, the ship struggled with a 25m/sec wind and waves of up to 4 metres (6 points Beaufort) for 16 hours straight. This compelled the commander, cap. II rank Nikolay Danailov and his officer personnel to contact the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) to provide an agent who would cooperate for the acquisition of an allowance to anchor in accordance with the Spanish law.

The vessel covered the distance between Cartagena and Roquetas de Mar of 90 nautical miles with an average speed of 5.5 knots.

Roquetas de Mar is a municipality in the Spanish province of Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalucía. The municipality has a population of 100,000, making Roquetas de Mar one of the two biggest summer resorts of Andalucía, the other being Mojácar.

The Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii is on its historic first voyage to Livingston Island in the South Shetlands in support of the 31st Bulgarian Antarctic Expedition. The ship is expected to reach its destination in some 40 days. It sailed off from Varna on the Black Sea on December 27, 2022.

BTA's Daily News editor Konstantin Karagyozov is the only member of the media who is travelling on the ship to Livingston Island and back, and will cover the Bulgarian expedition on site throughout their stay in Antarctica. 

All media outlets can use the Bulgaria-Antarctica BTA's Log for free.