Commander Islands: interesting facts and places for recreation

Russia is amazing not only world-famous beauty and monuments. The main property of our country is its vast expanses, the ability to travel in places where there is no congestion of tourists. One of these remote corners is the Commander Islands. On the map at once they are rather difficult to find, and you can get here only from Kamchatka, flying a small plane a few times a week, and even then only in case of good weather, which is rare here. And yet, despite all the difficulties, this land is worth seeing!

Commander Islands: geographical location

Commanders are located on the eastern coast of Kamchatka in the Bering Sea, in the geological sense they are the continuation of the Aleutian Islands. The archipelago consists formally of a large number of land sections surrounded by water, but only four of them can be called islands: Copper, Bering, Ariy Kamen and Toporkov. In the rest, the Commander Islands are the rocks sticking out of the water (they are also called stones), unsuitable for human life. There are ten such stones, but these are only those that have their names, because there are dozens of nameless cliffs in the adjoining waters. The relief of the Commanders is mostly mountainous, with insignificant plain zones and very poor vegetation characteristic of tundra areas. But there are also small fresh rivers and lakes, berries and cereals grow.

Climatic features

As the archipelago is in the cold Bering Sea, the weather here is very capricious and harsh. No wonder that the edge of the winds and fogs is called the Commander Islands! The climate in the region is rainy and windy, with the weather changing several times a day and differing from the island to the island. The summer is usually cool, up to 15 degrees Celsius (the maximum temperature value is 24 degrees for the entire observation period), the winter is cold, with a temperature of -24 degrees, which, in combination with the piercing wind blowing from the Pacific, creates very difficult conditions for local residents . Despite this weather, the ocean does not freeze in winter.

Commander Islands: attractions

Commanders are not at all a place to go to see the city life. On the archipelago there is only one settlement - the village of Nikolskoe, and the population of all the islands does not reach a thousand people. But with confidence we can say that these places are a natural pantry. There are no big centers, industry is not developed, and people peacefully coexist with nature. Back in 1993, the archipelago opened a biosphere reserve, and today it has about four hundred species and forty subspecies of vascular plants. There are also unique endemic species of fish, birds and animals.

Ethnographic objects

The Commander Islands have a number of historical sights. It was here, at Cape Komandor, that the ship "Saint Peter" of the Kamchatka Expedition, anchored by the famous associate of Emperor Peter the Great, Vitus Bering, anchored. According to the idea of the ruler, he had to find an isthmus or strait, which is the natural boundary of the two continents. The crew of the ship was forced to stay here for a long nine months and all this time to fight for survival. The adversity itself could not withstand Vitus Bering himself - on one of the islands he was buried. Later the grave was found by a subsequent expedition, a memorial cross was erected on it, and a land lot was named after a famous traveler and captain. It is worthwhile to warn those who are going to come to the Commander Islands and wish to personally see the grave of the Dane who served the Russian sovereign, that the memorial can be easily confused with a nearby ordinary commemorative cross.

What else interesting in terms of history conceal the Commander Islands? Vacationers are invited to survey the houses, which were built in the early 20th century by American sailors. They, like Russian navigators, came to these places for fish and sea animals, because every year there are paths of sea otters, seals, whales, so there is more to profit.

Flora and fauna

Every year the Commander Islands become the object of ornithological expeditions. The matter is that dozens of species of seabirds nest on the archipelago, and also arrange rookeries and breed offspring certain species of marine mammals. A variety of representatives of birds fly to the islands, and their hubbub spreads across the ocean hundreds of meters around. There are unique animals listed in the Red Book. This is the commander's fox, the Aleutian tern, the pulmonary lobarium, the Canadian goose, and others. The most vivid (in all senses of the word) representatives of the local fauna are by right the axes, also called the Commander's parrots. Against the background of dull, gray island landscapes, their coloring is especially bright. In honor of these birds, one of the largest islands in the archipelago was named Toporkov.

Types of tourism

The village of Nikolskoe is the "capital" of the Commanders and, as already noted, the only settlement on the archipelago. This is the place where the Aleuts live compactly - the people, before the arrival of the Russians settled the Commander Islands. Tourism here is aimed specifically at studying indigenous traditions and life of indigenous people, although they have long (at the beginning of the 19th century) adopted Russian culture and Orthodoxy. For arrivals in Nikolsky, performances are arranged: the Aleuts dress in national clothes made of animal skins and play musical instruments made from parts of the body of animals. All comers can try on beads from shells, look at hunting tools and objects of life of islanders.

Disappearing culture

Modern commanders live exactly the same as their ancestors - fur and sea craft. But, unfortunately, recently there has been a sad tendency: the number of speakers of the Aleut language decreases every year in a natural way, traditions are lost and replaced by modern ones, the local population ceases to pass on the folklore treasures of its people to young generations. Therefore, it is worthwhile to hurry to visit the Commander Islands, in order to catch a real native island culture.

Aleut Museum of Local Lore

This is the main center of the scientific life of the archipelago. There is one of the eleven remaining sea skeletons of the sea cow that lived on the Commander before they became a fishing place: the animals were exterminated literally in forty years. Funds for the struggle for the existence of sea cows were not, and therefore could not survive. According to various expeditions, they weighed up to two hundred poods, and the length of their torso reached nine meters.

S. Pasenyuk Art Museum

In Nikolskoye there is a private museum of the famous traveler on the islands of the Pacific Ocean and the Far East - Sergei Pasenyuk. Here are collected all kinds of artifacts from the places where he visited. On all the souvenirs and printing products devoted to the Commander, you can see sketches and photos of Pasenyuk showing the index column with a seal skull above - a symbol of the islands; Then the statue "Running on the waves," depicting an angel who carries light to the floating ships.

Difficult Commanders

What else can you do while traveling through the archipelago, except by contemplating the enchanting beauty of the ocean and wildlife? This question is difficult to find the answer. There are no other recreation options on the Commander Islands. Here you can hardly get acquainted with the exotic and colorful cuisine, because all the products are imported from Kamchatka. The maximum you can count on is to buy a few kilograms of red caviar or some kind of meat of a pinnate animal at a relatively low price. Elementary tourist infrastructure on the archipelago is also absent, so visitors do not stay here more than one or two days. Travelers live either in self-brought tents, or in dilapidated houses. Commander Islands - border zone, this should not be forgotten. There is a fairly strict transmission mode. In addition, it is mostly a nature reserve, so you can not go without permission on boats and ships. So do diving, too, will not work. And the weather, I must say, does not have.

Finally

Commanders are a place for those who are really attracted by this wild nature without any civilization around. This is a small and hard-to-reach island, but still they are beautiful! Boiling ocean, rolling on the rocks with its mighty waves; Thousands of birds and sea animals - all this allows desperate pilgrims to feel like robinsons, real pioneers. Undoubtedly, a trip to the Commander Islands for life will remain in the memory of everyone who has been here for at least a few hours.