Prof. Pimpirev (center), Admiral Boyan Mednikarov (right) and Rear Admiral Marcelo Tarapow of the Argentinian Navy (Photo by Bulgarian Antarctic Institute)
SOFIA, Bulgaria – The Managing Board of the Bulgarian Antarctic Base and Research Ship Consortium discussed here Monday the route of the Bulgarian ship for the new Antarctic expedition due to begin in late 2023.
Details of the meeting were announced by Prof. Christo Pimpirev, who chairs the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute (BAI) and is also the head of the Bulgarian polar expeditions.
The discussion at the National Center for Polar Studies was attended by Prof. Pimpirev, Admiral Boyan Mednikarov, who heads the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy, and Captain Nikolay Danailov, who was commander of RSV 421, the first Bulgarian ship to go on an Antarctic expedition.
A special guest was Rear Admiral Marcelo Tarapow of Argentina's Navy.
Ports for loading and changing personnel were also discussed: from Varna, through Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), Mar del Plata and Ushuaia (Argentina) to Livingstone Island (Antarctica), and back through Comodoro Rivadavia (Argentina).
The ship is expected to leave the port in Varna at the beginning of November 2023 and finish its voyage at the beginning of April 2024.
RSV 421 will stay 50 days in Antarctica, where it will support the researchers working on the scientific part of the National Polar Program, as well as the construction of a new laboratory at the Bulgarian polar base.
The last Bulgarian Antarctic expedition ended on May 2, 2023, when the Bulgarian naval research ship Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (RSV 421) was welcomed back at Varna.
The ship set sail on Dec. 27, 2022 to become the first Bulgarian ship to reach Livingstone Island in Antarctica.
It was part of the 31st National Antarctic Expedition.
BTA editor Konstantin Karagyozov was the only member of the press traveling on the ship in both directions for the entire journey. (BTA)
