site.btaSmooth Sailing on Day 8

In the late hours of 3 January, on the eighth day of her voyage to the Antarctic island of Livingstone, the military research vessel Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii (NAVAL RSV 421) was sailing in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Algeria. NAVAL RSV 421 is steering a course due west, passing through the southernmost part of the so-called small Biscay towards the first stop on its way, the port city of Cartagena in Spain.

"We are currently sailing in the southernmost part of the so-called small Biscay. The weather is with us. At the moment the sea elements are favourable. We are following the weather forecast where the prevailing wind is from the south-southeast, it is tailwind and its direction is conducive to such calm weather and calm waters in the Mediterranean. The heavy winds in the Mediterranean are from the north-northeast," the ship's Commanding officer, Nikolai Danailov, told BTA.

Danailov also said that today he had assigned the cadets of one of the ship's watches the task of determining the capabilities of Sv. Sv. Kiril i Metodii to enter Cartagena. There are 23 cadets from the Nikola Vaptsarov Naval Academy in Varna on board, who are practicing sailing from Varna to the Spanish city.

"Today I gave a task to the cadets on one of the ship's watches - to determine the ship's capabilities to enter the port of Cartagena. In the logs we have on board, there are specific ways to enter a port and Cartagena is no exception. I have given them the task, which I have previously studied, to see if they can read the nautical logs in which there are rendered directions of entry, where to watch out for shallow water, ship wrecks, points of protruding underwater rocks. They, in their role as future navigators, must suggest to me a course for the ship to safely enter the harbor. That's about four or five courses they have to read, make sense of, plot on the chart and show me. Around 04:30 tonight I will check to see if they have performed this task," explained Danailov.

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.