On December 27, 2022, the Bulgarian research vessel “Sts. Cyril and Methodius", headed to the World Ocean on its first ever such voyage to join the 31st Bulgarian Antarctic expedition on Livingston island.The ship is currently sailing across the Atlantic and is about to embark on its second stop - Mar del Plata in Argentina. The ship is expected to arrive there in early February, and so the sailors' spirits are high, Capt. III Rank Hristo Hristov told BTA.

The Bulgarian Antarctic Base “St. Kliment Ohridski” was founded in 1988in the eastern part of Livingston Island. It islocated on the Heard Peninsula, 130m off the coast of the inner Emona Bay, which is used for the transfer of personnel and cargo by inflatable boats. In summer, the Rezovski Creekflows through the base area, providing the necessary water supply.

• Bulgaria is the only country on the Balkan Peninsula that has had a base in Antarctica for 35 years

Varna Peninsula, Kaliakra Glacier, Mt Tangra, Cape Botev and Mt Levski these are some of the many Bulgarian names of geographical features scattered around Livingstone Island.Twenty years ago today, President Georgi Parvanov issued a decree giving Bulgarian names to these sites. The same decree also named other places on the island, such as the Vidin Hills or the Melnik Ridge, the Rozhen Peninsula, the peaks of Simeon, St. Cyril, Tervel, Gabrovo, Elena and Shabla, the glaciers Peshtera, Sopot and Srebarna, the Veleka hills, Cape Samuil, the Levski ridge, etc.Bulgaria joined the Antarctic countries in 1978 when it signed the Antarctic Treaty with no right to vote. In 1998, the country became a permanent member of the organisation and, together with 26 other countries, has the right of veto on all matters concerning the fate of this tenth part of the planet.

• The protection of Antarctica, the difficult start of the Bulgarian expedition and the penguin Gosho

For the first time, geographical objects on the Ice Continent were named with Bulgarian names in 1996. At that time Mount Hemus, the former name of Stara Planina, and the Balkan Plateau also appeared on the map of Antarctica. A year later, another three objects were named: Tarnovo Glacier, Ruen Icefall and Nessebar Saddle.The latest Bulgarian geographical names on Antarctica date from 2021, when a decree of the Head of State Rumen Radev gave names to ten geographical sites on the island. Among them are the bays of Goliam (Big) and Malak (Small) Sechko, as well as Baba Marta coast. A stretch of the coastline is now named after Anka Lambreva - the first Bulgarian woman to fly in a plane over the English Channel and the first Bulgarian woman to circumnavigate the world.

See also:

• "Antarctic Cuisine" - a "tasty" story about life of polar explorers
• Theodosii Spassov about the music of Antarctica

Photos: BTA