30 years ago … the Spanish Antarctic Base was inaugurated

Today we launch a new section of our blog to remember those events that happened in 1998, the same year in which our estate agency, Bonnin Sanso, was founded.

And the first event which we celebrate is the establishment of the Juan Carlos I Spanish Antarctic Base, managed by the CSIC, which opened in the very same year that we began to fulfil the dreams of our first customers.

To get there you would have to travel more than 12,000 kilometers from Menorca, moving in a straight line. The base is located on the Island of Livingston, in the archipelago of the South Shetland. This archipelago is south of the American continent and 120 kilometers north of the Antarctic Peninsula. On leaving Ushuaia in Argentina, for Antarctica, these are the first islands that you would reach. The closest base is Bulgaria at 2.7 kilometers.

This scientific base, which has an area of ​​346 square meters and can accommodate up to 19 people, works only during the summer in the Southern Hemisphere, that is, from November to March, although automated records are maintained all year round. Its objective is to support Spanish activities in Antarctica and in particular, the implementation of scientific research projects coordinated by the Subprogram of Research in Antarctica of the National Program of Natural Resources. About 20 miles of navigation from the base is the other Spanish base in Antarctica, Gabriel de Castilla, located on Deception Island. This second base was established in 1989 and is managed by the Army. At the moment there are only scientists living but maybe in the future, we will need to open a Bonnin Sansó office!