Gabriel de Castilla Base, a small piece of Spain in Antarctica

A century after Columbus conquered America, there was still a huge undiscovered part of the world. A place bigger than Europe and twice the size of Oceania. The coldest place on Earth, where minimum temperatures reach around 80ºC below zero. This large white continent was named Antarctica and is the last region of the planet to be discovered by humans. Curiously, and according to Spanish historiography, it was done by a Spaniard: Gabriel de Castilla, the name given to the Spanish base on Deception Island.

A volcano that looks like an island

In the northern part of the continent, separated from Argentina by a good stretch of the Antarctic Ocean, there is an island that, from a bird’s eye view, looks like a horseshoe. It is shaped like a horseshoe because its interior is flooded by water, forming what is known as Whaler’s Cove. This curious appearance is not fortuitous: the island is a flooded volcano with a caldera so large that you can navigate. An active volcano, by the way.

Hunter Nathan Palmer was the one who christened this Antarctic enclave as Deception. Palmer wanted to refer to the illusory appearance of the place, which looked like an island, but actually it wasn’t. Due to a bad translation, in Spain it is known as ‘Isla Decepción‘ (which means disappointment).

Deception Island ‘is like Lanzarote, but colder,’ says José Luis García Bueno. This Ministry of Defense official went to this remote corner of Antarctica in early 2022 as a collaborator on a project of the Royal Navy Observatory. The island ‘has that black volcanic ash, although the highest areas are snowy,’ says García.

From seal slaughter to mass tourism

The history of this enclave has, unfortunately, much to do with the slaughter of seals and whales. The first sighting of Deception Island came, in fact, from the sealers William Smith and Edward Bransfield in 1820. That same year, Nathaniel Palmer also arrived there. Since then, this place became the epicenter of the South Shetland seal hunting. In just five years, the volume of the hunt was such that the sealers almost extinguished the seal population on the island. Fortunately, they abandoned it in 1825.

But in the 20th century the seal hunting was replaced by whaling. During those years the island was inhabited, every Antarctic summer, by hundreds of men dedicated to this industry. The explorer and physician Jean-Babtiste Charcot wrote a report when he visited the island saying: ‘There are three whaling companies here, in Deception Island: one Chilean and two Norwegian’. The fall in the price of whale oil in 1931 caused the island to remain uninhabited for 10 years.

After the ravages of hunting and several territorial disputes, especially between Argentina and England, this island has become one of the most popular tourist sites in Antarctica, although it is also a frequent place for scientific research. ‘Every day, not only cruise ships, but relatively small sailboats were arriving,’ says Garcia, who was in Deception Island for two weeks. ‘Mostly, they arrive in the area of whalers in zodiacs. They go down, walk around a bit, take pictures and go back,’ adds the official.

Gabriel de Castilla Base: a very well-organized family

From an eagle’s eye view, you can see the horseshoe shape of the island, and also make out a long Spanish flag that paints the roof of the main modules of the Gabriel de Castilla Base. This military settlement was installed on Deception Island between late 1989 and early 1990 with the intention of supporting a series of research and topographic surveys. Since then, the base has been opened every austral summer to host scientific research. José Luis García notes that ‘after 35 years they have everything very organized’.

The camp, managed by the Operations Division of the Army’s General Staff and coordinated in its scientific area by the Spanish Polar Committee, consists of different modules, where the military and researchers develop their routine. ‘At 8 a.m. the crew wakes up, at 08:20 a.m. breakfast is served, at 09:00 a.m. everything is picked up and everyone goes to do the activities they have to do. At 3:00 p.m. lunch is eaten,’ says García. According to the official, the afternoon shift begins at 16:00. Just as in the morning, the staff is busy with their own activities until 7:30 p.m. Then, at 8:00 p.m. ‘there is a meeting to discuss what has been done and schedule the next day’s activities,’ says García.

In the meantime, depending on the day and the activities, the military are organized to provide support to the researchers, especially in terms of travel. García points out that ‘moving around the island is not easy‘. Being shaped like a horseshoe, getting from one side to the other is easier by sea than by land. ‘At 9 o’clock the zodiac is ready, you put on your suits and it takes about 30-40 minutes. If you need support they stay and, if not, they go back to base to move other people or whatever and at the time you tell them they pick you up. They leave you a radio and if you need help you call, and they come,’ says the researcher.

At the Gabriel de Castilla base there are no holidays or weekends, but José Luis García was able to be on one of the few special days celebrated at the Spanish base: Three Kings Day. ‘They had a parade, they dressed up, they gave us a gift and something exceptional was done,’ he relates. At Decepción, the researcher continues, the Spaniards live together as if they were a family: ‘There are personnel who have been there for 15 years because they are doing research on long series of data and they are like a family. The military personnel do rotate, but there is always someone who repeats so that they have experience from the previous year’.

An almost unspoiled nature

Another of the island’s characteristics and attractions is its fauna. ‘Near the base there were like two or three penguins always hanging around. And then when we crossed to the other side of the island there were quite a few seals. In another area we saw a sea lion. And in the outer area there are large penguin colonies,’ recalls García. And there are indeed penguin colonies. Deception is home to one of the world’s largest colonies, if not the largest, of chinstrap penguins. About 100,000 pairs.

For the researcher, the beauty of this volcanic island, which is still active, lies precisely in its nature: ‘It is beautiful to be able to go in a zodiac, get to the beach, see the seals or penguins and, especially, that there are very few people because we have the privilege of going to areas where you know you are alone and you can enjoy this nature that is practically untouched’.