About us

ITSAS  GELA is an non profit association  dedicated to the retrieval and divulgation of maritime heritage.

The association was born in 2001. A friendly group of San Juan that was familiarly related to the sea, decided to do something for the conservation of the heritage of this legendary and typically coastal town. Fishermen, ship builders, members of traditional rowing clubs wanted to safe the historical Basque sea heritage mainly developed at this bay. A project born in Pasaia and for Pasaia.

It would be sad to see how something that has been vitally important for a typical fishermen’s town like Pasaia, loses over the years. One of the objectives of ITSAS GELA is to avoid that this happens, facilitating the necessary technical and human infrastructure. This way, on one hand, the interested people could enjoy it and the initiated people could approach and discover this incredible sea culture with well prepared guides in a dynamic and didactic way.

We asked ourselves, why generally one tends to see this world like a separate sphere and a strange thing separated to the population. We think that it is simply product of an innocent ignorance that will go on, while the chance to get to know the sea world doesn’t exist.

For this reason, the initiatives and activities of ITSAS GELA want to offer alternatives of leisure, training and investigation in relation to our sea. We try to encourage therefore the respect, the protection, the study and mainly, the benefits of the marine mean.

ITSAS GELA is a big marine family. Here you can find sailors, scientists, sportsmen, fishermen and all kind of people who loves the sea culture, the sports, the marine sciences and the sea world in general. If you like the sea, sure that you can join it!