“Over Achilles, revered on the island of White,
Son of the goddess Thetis, Peleus branch, Achilles,
This holy island of Pontus protects in its bosom"
(Aristotle)
The mysterious Snake Island is a piece of land located approximately 35 km from the mainland of the Odessa region at the latitude of the Danube Delta, and a legend that turned to stone thousands of years ago.
Many events happened during this time. And if the ancient part of the history of Snake Island is most likely unfamiliar to most of our fellow citizens, then the events associated with its already Ukrainian history caused a fairly wide resonance.
For example, in July 2008, the President of Ukraine paid an official visit here V.A. Yushchenko accompanied by the governor of Odessa region N.D. Serdyuk and civil and military officials. During the President's visit, a renovated border outpost was opened with a sauna, a mini-cinema and air-conditioned premises with modern equipment for monitoring uninvited guests.
Years later, this then significant event is perceived as a consolation prize, diverting attention from the failed process for Ukraine to protect its shelves, as a result of which three quarters of the Ukrainian shelf, including oil and gas fields explored in Soviet times, went to the Romanian side.
But let’s return to more pleasant events in the history of the island...Chronicle sources have brought down to this day a description of this sacred place, which in ancient times was called Levke Island, which translated means White, because of the color of its cliffs. Lost in the Black Sea and accessible only to brave sailors, the island changed its name along with the passage of time and the change of eras.
It was known as the island of Achilles, the island of Philoxia, the island of the Blessed, Ilan-Ada, Serpilor, Fidonisi, and from the first half of the 19th century and until now it is known as the Snake Island - the rapid current of the Danube periodically brought representatives of the fauna of the same name to these shores.
But during my stay on the island I did not meet a single snake, which I cannot say about the ringed centipedes (Scolopendra cingulata) that have chosen this place.
Undoubtedly, the most beautiful representatives of the local fauna are the birds that choose Zmeiny as a resting place during migrations. Ornithologists have described about 400 species of birds that periodically rest on these stones.
(White wagtail (Motacilla alba) on the rocks of the island, photo by D. Kivganov)
One of the Greek legends says that the island was raised from the depths of the sea to perpetuate the memory of the legendary hero of the ancient epic Achilles, who died from the arrow of Paris. And it was this legend that became the reason for the construction of a temple of the same name here in the 6th century BC. Traders and sailors from all over the world set foot on the rocky firmament of the island in the hope of gaining the favor of the ruler of the sea, Achilles. Many centuries have passed since then, but the legends of Zmeinoye, following the Greeks, Scythians, Romans and Slavs, attract enthusiasts and romantics, local historians and archaeologists.
It is quite possible that the centuries-old legend about the shield of Achilles, hidden in the depths of the caves of the island, adds a share of adrenaline to the hearts of adventurers. But Zmeiny is in no hurry to reveal his secrets - he is probably hiding in anticipation of an archaeologist with a pure heart and thoughts. Waiting for its Schliemann... In turn, thanks to the large accumulation of fragments of sunken ships, the island’s waters have become popular among professionals and diving enthusiasts. Such an accumulation of artifacts from different eras in the surrounding waters speaks of the capricious nature of the Black Sea - it was not without reason that the ancient Greeks called it Pont Aksinsky, that is, the inhospitable sea. And it became hospitable, or Euxinian, much later...
On Zmeiny you always get the feeling that the island is like a living organism - a kind of Solaris that penetrates your inner world and forever connects you with invisible threads. Almost everyone who has visited here experiences an irresistible desire to return to the island again. I was no exception - together with like-minded people, we visited the island in 2012. In addition to historians and travelers, we also had a talented photographer with us Alexander Lesik, whose photographs accompany this material. And since then, the memories of Zmeiny have not left me... But first things first.
As if sensing our desire, Zmeiny greeted us with calm weather and a warm Black Sea breeze. Our group arrived on the only, but almost regularly cruising (depending on the weather) cargo-passenger ship "Kasatka".
More than a four-hour journey - and we, full of hopes of getting another portion of emotions and having overcome the round rubber shock absorber of the pier, stepped onto the white stones of the island.
The arrival of a ship to the island is humorously called Islander's Day - he explained to us Vladimir Yasnyuk, director of the Ostrovnoye utility company, responsible for the maintenance and administration of this piece of our country, underestimated by the leadership, in the vastness of the Black Sea. It has been working on Vladimir Island since 2002, when Zmeiny began to turn into a civilian village from a closed military base, where in Soviet times an air defense radar company and a radio engineering platoon of the USSR Navy coastal surveillance system were located. Having quickly settled down in the simple buildings of the village of Beloye, so named in memory of the ancient name of the island (Levka), we went on a sightseeing walk.
The settlement is a small number of houses, comfortably located on the rocky plateau of the island. There is also Kozatskaya Street with corresponding signs on well-built houses, in one of which there is a village council, a bank branch and a law enforcement station, and in the other a scientific laboratory for biologists. There are also greenhouses where vegetables are grown on black soil brought from the mainland. There is also a bathhouse and an unfinished hotel building, reminiscent of the rapidly developing state tourism development program. Just above the lighthouse, in the building of the local post office, is the only store on the island. Telephone communication on Zmein leaves much to be desired - my phone either detected the Romanian mobile operator, or intermittently picked up the signal from the Ukrainian one.
Nowadays, workers of the Ostrovnoye utility company, lighthouse workers, two attendants in a permanent laboratory and border guards permanently live on the island. There used to be fishermen here.
People work in shifts - usually no longer than one month, because long stays on the island can cause psychological problems for some. Such facts were noted among the personnel who served on Zmeinoy during Soviet times. Living on a small island lost at sea is not easy - every day you need to communicate with the same people, which has become the reason for the frequent rotation of military personnel at the operating border post. But a calm working atmosphere reigns among the island's workers - there is no time to quarrel here and there is enough for everyone to do.
Much more worrying are the problems with water - it has to be imported from the mainland and used very sparingly. It is interesting that, in principle, there is its own water, but at a depth of 60 meters, and it is also very mineralized. If this water is purified on site, its cost will be comparable to the cost of expensive wine. By the way, the ancient Greeks, once visiting the Temple of Achilles, collected rainwater in a stone well, which now serves as one of the local attractions.
There is no electricity either. There is only a riser from a wind generator, which the islanders affectionately call “The Impotent's Dream.” The generator itself and the blades were never delivered.
Among the picturesque grottoes and rocks there are probably the cleanest beaches in Ukraine, which have romantic names - Lunny, Damsky, Zolotoy and Banditsky.
An unforgettable continuation of the program of staying on the island after the traditional swimming was the gastronomic program, including the preparation of Black Sea brine caught from the bottom of the sea - in less than an hour of diving we collected a decent amount of it. Here, on the island, its taste seems especially unique. Of course, there is a museum on the island, which we visited with pleasure at the invitation of Vladimir Yasnyuk. We were surprised that the main exhibits were modern pots based on the Trypillian culture, made right there and adjacent to only a few original antique amphorae.
Remembering the material we had read about the possible location of the Temple of Achilles at the highest point of the island, we came to the foot of the lighthouse. This building deserves special attention - it is unique.
It would be correct to call the lighthouse the main attraction of Zmeinoye.
At the same time, in the coastal zone of the island, clay fragments on the rocky bottom attract attention - these are fragments of tiles that once covered the roof of the legendary Temple of Achilles. As the story goes, this extraordinary architectural structure of an octagonal shape with a glass lantern at the top was built in 1843 from the stones of the very Temple of Achilles - according to the design of the English architect Charles Ackroyd. At the same time, a fire lit up at the lighthouse for the first time... History has not preserved exact data about the fate of the talented Briton, but his brainchild continues to delight tourists and give a glimmer of hope in the Black Sea.
Since then, since 1843, the highest point on the island has been the twelve-meter lighthouse tower, combined with a residential building. The base of the tower is elevated 40 meters above sea level. Initially, the lighthouse staff consisted of five to eight people, and construction work lasted for quite a long time - from 1843 to 1856, which was associated with the Crimean (Eastern) War.
Today several people work here, and the energy issue of powering the lighthouse has been resolved in favor of an installed solar power plant.
It is difficult to describe the full range of sensations when you climb a spiral staircase with a history of more than a century and a half. The pleasant coolness of the even more ancient stones of the lighthouse, which preserve the memory of two thousand years, transports you back in time...
And having already climbed to its very top, peering into the endless expanses of the Black Sea, you close your eyes...
And it seems that you hear the creaking of deck boards, the cries of seagulls, gusts of wind, the flapping sounds of folds of canvas and the voices of the Greek Argonauts moored at the white rocks of the island.
We get many answers to historical questions thanks to the professional work of archaeologists. And in the case of Zmein - archaeological divers. For more than ten years now, a group of Novarex divers under the command of Alexandra Tereshchenko. These enthusiasts of searching for ancient artifacts did a lot to promote the island as a center of underwater tourism.
In 2011, fortune thanked them for their efforts by discovering, at a 35-meter depth of the Black Sea, a place where an ancient Greek amphora vessel, untouched by time, rested, more than 2,500 years old from the date of construction. Without exaggeration, this find can be considered the largest archaeological discovery of the last 15 years. The approximate length of the vessel is 27 m. Judging by the nature of the cargo found, this is a merchant ship filled with countless quantities of pottery (skythos, bowls and drinking cups, as well as priceless black-glazed ceramics). It is quite possible that such a dense accumulation of cargo may also contain items made of precious metals. Divers named the sunken ship "Patroclus" - in honor of the faithful assistant of Achilles, who accepted death by wearing the armor of a comrade during the Trojan War.
Brave Novarex residents keep the coordinates of the find in the strictest confidence, without even disclosing them to the capital authorities, which allows them to preserve the object in its original form. For five years now, there has been ongoing debate in scientific circles about the fate of the amphora vessel. Some particularly active science fiction writers voice the idea of covering the ship with some kind of sarcophagus in order to give future tourists the opportunity to get acquainted with the untold riches of the Greek merchants who crashed here.
On this occasion I would like to quote the words Andrey Ganzhi, who visited the island at the same time as me:
I would very much like to end this essay on this optimistic note. But it doesn't work out very well. Because some strange dances began around the amphora vessel. The Navarex expedition, which discovered the ship, categorically refuses to reveal its coordinates. Even in the report that she was obliged to submit to the Institute of Archeology, they seem to be missing. But border guards have already driven ships from there several times, equipped with equipment for deep-sea diving. And these were not ships from Odessa or another archaeological museum... And among the islanders there are persistent rumors about “light gold coins”, seemingly lifted from an amphora ship and gone to the black market. “Light gold coins” - these can only be electrified (an alloy of gold and silver) cyzicus, staters of the Asia Minor city of Cyzicus, which played the role of international currency in the 6th-4th centuries BC. At international auctions, the starting price of the Kizikin starts at $12,000.
A good whole amphora, especially if stamped, can also fetch up to $1,000 on the black market. Strange articles appear in the Odessa press, which describe the decision taken by the authorities to cover the amphora vessel with a sarcophagus and turn it into a tourist site. Those people “in power” with whom I spoke just shrug their shoulders: they understand perfectly well that this is nonsense. What object is at 34 meters, at 4 degrees, and in deep darkness? Who will be sent down there? European grandmother tourists? And is there a sarcophagus that cannot be penetrated? And most importantly, probing the bottom shows that wooden parts of the ship could have been preserved in the silt. And this is already a world sensation! Well, there are no such preserved ships in the world! Therefore, I really want to believe that the amphorae will be raised, the seabed will be checked for the presence of Cyzikines, and the remains of the ship will still be studied. And after this, the amphorae can be laid out in their original order: either on land or in a pool. And then everyone will see it, and not just regular customers of antique sales...
Unfortunately, there are still no other ideas for preserving the archaeological treasure. The only hope left is that Novarex divers, like the sirens of the sea, will keep the sea depths of Achilles Island untouched.
This is how it is - mysterious and multifaceted, a real Ukrainian island in the vastness of the Black Sea. We left it with the desire to definitely return and, peering at the majestic outlines, we caught ourselves thinking that this legendary piece of Ukraine, like a smaller copy of our country, has everything one can only dream of - a rich history and hardworking inhabitants, sea and fresh water , land and vegetation, gold and oil. But the island has become a hostage to the stupid and blasphemous policies of the country’s leadership, which so mediocrely squandered Ukraine’s assets - the shelf and water territory - and is clearly unworthy of holding the shield of the legendary Achilles... And therefore this shield is destined to rest in the bowels of the island, waiting until a leader capable of thinking appears state.
Dmitry Voloshenkov, especially for "
Is the Black Sea coastline indented or not, what is it like, what features does it have? This question is often asked by students. Let's try together to understand the features of this reservoir and, of course, find answers to the questions posed.
Briefly about the sea
It is more than 420 thousand sq. m. km. In its outline, it is similar to an oval with a length of 580 km in width and 1,150 km in length. The depth is 2210 m in the deepest part of the occupied territory. The Black Sea is one of the inland seas. The connection with the ocean occurs thanks to the Marmara, Mediterranean, and Azov seas. The threads connecting all four water territories are the Bosphorus, Dardanelles and Kerch Straits.
The ruggedness of the Black Sea coastline is weakly expressed. The size of the area occupied by this reservoir is equal to twice the area of Great Britain. Seven countries are washed by the waters of the Black Sea: in the north - Ukraine, in the northeast - Russia and Abkhazia, in the southeast - Georgia, in the south - Turkey, in the northwest - Romania and Bulgaria.
Signs of life are present in it only at a distance of 150-200 m from the surface. Further, the water is saturated with hydrogen sulfide, because of this the development of living organisms is simply impossible. The exception is anaerobic bacteria.
What is the coastline of the Black Sea?
Most of the coastline is more or less flat. Only on the northern side is there a slight ruggedness. The length of the Black Sea coastline is 3,400 km. Crimea is the largest peninsula. On the opposite side, the coast of Anatolia protrudes strongly.
There are many bays in the north; they are somewhat less common in the south and northwest. Also, the Black Sea coastline is represented by estuaries. They are mainly found on the northern and northwestern coasts. On the side of the Crimean peninsula, mountainous terrain is observed.
Bays
The largest bays are in the north. This territory belongs to the state of Ukraine. This position is quite advantageous, and it is determined by the presence of the following bays: Yagorlytsky, Dzharylgachsky, Kalamitsky, etc. But in the southwest there are fewer of them, the largest are: Varna and Burgas (the state of Bulgaria). The Black Sea coastline in the south is also not represented by many bays. The main ones: Sinop and Samsun - belong to Turkey.
Crimea can freely be proud of Sevastopol and which are located between the rocks. The Taman Peninsula is characterized by many small bays where reeds and reeds have found a place to live. The result of this was the formation of floodplains.
Coastline relief
From the north and northwest, due to the inflow of rivers, estuaries are formed. In this part the banks are low. Sometimes you can see cliffs. But the coastline of the Black Sea near the Crimean Peninsula is mountainous. This especially applies to the southern and eastern shores. Here you can already see. Also in this part of the coast are the Caucasus Mountains, which reach right down to the water.
The Great Outcropping of Anatolia is characterized by three small islands. Bafra and Charshamba have a low-lying surface, while Injeburun is mountainous. This also includes Sinop Bay. It received its name in honor of the memory of the victory of the Russian fleet in the Crimean War in 1853. The commander then was P.S. Nakhimov.
Once upon a time, at the entry point of one of the largest rivers, Rion, there was a large bay. Over time, the Colchis Lowland appeared in its place.
On the Turkish side, the Black Sea coastline receives several rivers. These are the Yeshil-Irmak, Choroh, and Kyzyl-Irmak watercourses. On the European side of Turkey is the Thracian Peninsula. Very little time passed when a wide bridge was built to connect it with Anatolia. This allows large ships to easily navigate the Bosphorus Strait. To the west of it they come very close. There are several large ports. One of them is Burgas, the other is Varna. It is from here that the sea roads of Bulgaria originate.
Islands
The Black Sea is deprived of the opportunity to boast of a large number of islands. The largest of them is Dzharylgach with an area of 62 square meters. km. The rest are very small - no more than 1 square. km. This includes the islands of Berezan and Zmeiny. The latter is located farthest from land. The distance from the Danube Delta to the island is 40 km.
Let's sum it up
Each section of the coastal zone received its own name. In Crimea, the coast is called the Southern coast, in Russia in the Caucasus - the Black Sea coast, in Turkey - the Rumelian and Anatolian coasts.
The most convenient bay is located in Romania - the port of Constanta. On the northern side is the large Danube Delta. The Lower Danube Lowland also passes here. It contains a string of salt lakes.
So, we tried to answer whether the Black Sea coastline is indented or not, and described the features of its relief.
The Black Sea in general, and the Georgian coast in particular, really lacks islands near the coast.
It was I who finally got comfortable here and started whining about how not everything here is as wonderful as it seems at first glance. Just kidding, everything is great here.
The idea came about the islands when I was once again walking along my personal piece of the seashore and thinking about local coastal life. For example, about why marine life is completely undeveloped here. There is nothing like what exists in Greece, Italy, or even in Montenegro and Croatia - life in the sea, and not on its shore. There are no all these cute looking ships, boats, ferries, yachts. There are no countless piers, marinas, no fishing nets stretched on the shore, drying after an abundant catch. There are no coastal taverns and restaurants with fresh, barely caught fish.
The latter may be true, it’s just not the tourist season. But okay, tourists, for locals, any European port town by the sea is full of eateries. And there are no ports themselves, except for two large ones, in Batumi and Poti. And there is no life in those, just tanks, containers and used cars.
I was thinking about this topic, why is it like this? Then I remembered other Black Sea places - Abkhazia and Crimea. And there is the same picture - the shore is teeming and full of people, and the sea seems to be filled with sulfuric acid. There is not a boat in sight, not a boat, not a sail. Completely dead.
I thought and thought, and came to the conclusion that all this is because there are no islands in the Black Sea. Not a single one, as far as I remember geography. Only water to the horizon.
This has led to the fact that no one wants to move along the sea itself - there is no need. Along the coast it is much easier. It’s faster and cheaper to get there by car, not to mention transporting the cargo - throwing it into a truck and flying along the asphalt. Taking tourists around the sea requires a special effort, looking for a watercraft, parking for it, and where else to land, you need to fence off a pier or pier. You can’t put a tourist on the local ferry three times a day according to a schedule, like in Croatia, because there is no ferry, there’s nowhere for him to sail, sorry, to walk.
It's all sad. A huge, warm, lightly salted sea, and completely lifeless. It's a shame and enviable. In the same Aegean, and on the Adriatic, there are hundreds of islands, islets, small rocks sticking out of the water. Bays, straits, the surf is noisy, birds are flying around screaming. And all year round, local colorful life fusses, moves, scurries between the islands, which is in itself, and was there centuries ago, not tied to any tourist industry, real and extremely interesting - with its little things, habits, traditions, customs and habits, everything that a tourist’s eye is greedy for, for which he is ready to fly for several hours from his land lands.
And how great it would be if a small archipelago was located opposite Batumi!
About ten miles from the beach there was an island sticking out of the water, about a kilometer and a half, no more. With a fishing harbor, a village by the water, with restaurants and hotels, and a low hill in the middle, surrounded by rows of vineyards.
Behind it is another island, just as neat and green, then another and another, in a chain towards the Turkish coast, and even if it belongs to Turkey. Even if there had been battles for them a couple of hundred years ago - the Janissaries would have sailed on their three-decker one-gun galleons, shot at the stone forts from the water, and occupied them with a landing party of medieval marines. And then they would be knocked out of there by the Georgian army, in hats, cloaks and with sabers, sailing from Poti in nimble sailing boats under the cover of darkness.
By the way, have I not yet studied well, or does Georgia actually not have a glorious maritime past? So far it has not caught my eye - no models of Georgian ships, no portraits of famous naval commanders. The Batumi Mariner was opened after the war, but what happened before? Who and where were taught maritime affairs, were they taught at all? And Georgian cuisine is entirely land-based: vegetables, beef, pork, poultry. There are one or two fish dishes, and those are from the river, not the sea. Maybe this is all because there were no islands nearby, there was nowhere to swim, and since there was nowhere, then there was nothing to fish on, and nothing to fish from...
So, if you continue to fantasize - behind small islands and a whole chain of them stretching from Ureki towards Turkish Trabzon, divided in half with the Turks after, say, the truce of 1830 - behind all this pimply little thing it would be good to locate the Big Beautiful Island. Entirely Georgian, of course.
Not even that, now Georgian, but once upon a time long ago belonged to the Turks. And certainly with a high mountain in the center, with an ever-snowy peak - which is visible on the horizon from both banks, a lost Turkish shrine, revenge for the Armenians and their Mount Ararat.
So that there would be that mountain on that island at least 4000 meters high. Not just for beauty, although of course it is very beautiful. But also for the climate on the Big Island. Now I’ll explain why.
What irritates me about all the Mediterranean islands, starting with Cyprus, and in coastal countries too, in Greece, southern Italy, and other Albanias, is their dry Mediterranean climate. It would seem that here is the sea, a huge and vast wet expanse. But on land itself, alas, the situation with moisture is very deplorable.
In Cyprus, for example, there is not a single decent river. There is no lake, no reservoir, no icy forest spring anywhere. And the forest is not a forest, more and more copses, bushes, grass dried up by the sun and wind, cracked earth, not a swamp, not a barrel. The same story with Crete, Corsica, Krk, not to mention some Kirklady (“an island in the Mediterranean Sea on K, 500 points!”).
And all because there are no normal mountains of decent height anywhere there. So that with snowy slopes and glaciers. It didn’t happen to pass along the bottom of the sea tectonic fold, no high peaks were pushed out of the water, all hills and hillocks. Because of this, there is no seasonal melting of ice, due to the absence of such. No melting - no streams, mountain lakes, rushing mountain rivers and waterfalls. There is simply no water, no water at all. A rare rain out of season, and again there is great dryness in the yard.
Without water, there is no nature, no water meadows, no pine groves near the beach, no flowering foothills, not a blade of grass, not a sprout. Feather grass and tumbleweed are the friends of the Mediterranean resident.
Therefore, the first thing we will do is stick a serious mountain as high as the clouds in the middle of the Big Georgian Island.
Let its northwestern slope be steep, rocky, cold and inhospitable. All the Black Sea rain clouds will rest against it, get stuck for many days and spill their precipitation - snow closer to the top, heavy rains - at the foot. The sea on the other side, under the pressure of constant winds, will be stormy, cold, with protracted autumn storms among sharp cliffs.
On top of the rocks, to complete the picture, we’ll stick a monastery of some ancient, harsh denomination, so that the monks don’t hang around and drink cheap beer while enjoying fried red mullet, but stand watch for their Lord with dignity and dedication. Maybe the remnants of the Order of Malta, who fled from Middle-earth through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles. Just no mullahs and minarets, so that the Georgian marines in the century before last would drive them back to Turkey.
The southern and eastern side of the island is sunny, green, in groves and oak forests higher up, in palm trees and cypresses near the water itself - gently sloping, windless, sloping like a horseshoe around a bay that protrudes strongly into the coastline, with a palisade of yacht masts in the lagoon, with long faded white wooden piers, with beaches made of small, more sand-like pebbles.
Streams and rivers flow along it from the glacier at the top of the mountain. It is crossed by green corduroy stripes of vineyards and tea plantations. The villages are white with painted wooden houses - unlike mainland Georgia, there has always been plenty of wood for construction, although with the same local flavor - terraces on supports around the second floor, external wide staircases entwined with vines, and with dark red tiled roofs.
And white lambs on the green meadow slopes. There was something to fight with the Turks for, in short.
And between all these islands and islets, to the shore of the mainland and back, to Sarpi, Batumi and Makhinjauri, to Kobuleti and Ureki, Poti and Anaklia, hundreds of small ships, boats, motor boats, fast yachts and slow ferries waddling on the waves would scurry around. From island to island, in the hubbub and bustle of seagulls astern. And along the coast too, from port to port, on scows and boats. And the important coast guard on their inconspicuous gray fast boats.
This would be a completely different local life.
For her sake, it would be possible to pour a dozen or two handmade islands, I think.
Well, we’ll add more, not all at once.
Echinoderms of the Black Sea
The mirror of the Black Sea has an area 422 thousand square kilometers.
Maximum depth - 2210 m.
Bowl of the sea holds 527 cubic kilometers of water.
Shape of the Black Sea resembles an oval with the longest axis being 1150 kilometers. The greatest length from north to south is 580 kilometers, and the shortest is 265 kilometers.
Average depth of the Black Sea - 1240 m.
The Black Sea is located o in middle latitudes: 41 – 46 degrees north latitude.
In the Black Sea water salinity on average - 18, in the Azov Sea - 4, in the Mediterranean Sea - oceanic water salinity - 37 grams per 1 liter of water.
It is connected by the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits with the Sea of Marmara and the Mediterranean, the Kerch Strait with the Sea of Azov.
The only large peninsula in the Black Sea - Crimean.
Largest bays: Yagorlytsky, Tendrovsky, Dzharylgachsky, Karkinitsky, Kalamitsky, Feodosia, Varna, Burgas, Sinop, Samsun.
Total coastline length - 3400 kilometers.
Islands in the Black Sea: the largest island is Dzharylgach - an area of 62 square kilometers. Other islands are smaller, the most significant: Berezan and Zmeiny - both less than 1 square kilometer in area.
Features of the Black Sea is that at a depth of over 150-200 meters, the habitat of anaerobic bacteria begins, the result of whose vital activity is the release of hydrogen sulfide. Organisms that require oxygen cannot live there. Life develops only in the upper layer of the sea. This layer makes up 12 - 13 percent of the total volume of the sea, while containing 80 percent of the entire fauna of the Black Sea. These are marine species that entered here through the Bosphorus and brackish-water organisms common in similar bodies of water throughout the planet. And fresh species appear from rivers flowing into the Black Sea.
The Black Sea is poorer in species of living creatures than the Mediterranean. But this is due to the special conditions of this reservoir.
Inhabit:
1. species that tolerate a wide range of water salinity.
2. types of this temperature regime - moderately cold water.
3. species that do not need great depths at any period of development.
All types of living beings can be divided into two large groups:
permanent and temporary.
The Black Sea is home to 2.5 thousand species of animals:
- 500 species - unicellular.
- 160 species - vertebrates (fish and mammals).
- 500 species - crustaceans.
- 200 species - mollusks.
- other invertebrates of different groups.
In the Mediterranean Sea, for comparison, there are about 9 thousand species of animals, and in the Azov Sea there are about 600 species.
Large mobile animals enter the Black Sea from the Mediterranean of their own free will. But a large number of species are constantly introduced here, regardless of their desire, through the straits.
There are two constant currents in the Bosphorus Strait:
1. Upper- carries desalinated water from the Black Sea to the Marmara Sea and further to the Mediterranean Sea.
2. Lower- delivers saltier and warmer water to the Black Sea. With it (the flow thickness is 2-8 meters), planktonic organisms are carried into the sea. Live starfish, brittle stars, and sea urchins were found here.
The flora of the Black Sea includes:
- 270 species of green, brown, red bottom algae.
- 350 species of microscopic plankton.
- a lot of different bacteria.
Most planktonic algae build themselves from simple compounds using solar energy. Some algae, like animals, can only feed on ready-made organic substances. The noctiluca algae (nightflower) is a predator.
Material used for this article:
Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes - St. Petersburg, 1890-1907.
Agbunov M.V. Antique pilotage of the Black Sea. Academy of Sciences of the USSR. Science, Moscow, 1987.
Kuzminskaya G. Black Sea. Krasnodar 1977.
Beasts of the Black Sea. Simferopol: Tavria, 1996.
Wikipedia
Photo itogi.ru
You can get to the island, located 35 kilometers from the coast, either by private helicopter or by boat from the village of Vilkovo, Odessa region - first along the Danube bed and then by sea. The island is indeed so close to Romania that the mobile phone periodically picks up the Romanian connection and roaming is automatically activated. So you should call carefully, checking the operator's name on the screen.
The giant pier, built during the Soviet Union, is capable of accommodating a fairly large ship. The strategic position of the island is advantageous from the point of view of a patrol facility and the placement, for example, of an air defense system. Apparently, the Soviet government thought so too, placing an air defense radar company on the island in 1956, as well as a radio engineering platoon of the USSR Navy coastal surveillance system. However, they never had to fight (at least, no data about this has been preserved) until Zmeiny’s transition to independent Ukraine. It was then that a legal war began over the delimitation of territorial waters: the reason was the desire to seize the shelf rich in oil and gas, and the reason was Romania’s historical right to the island, recognized by the Russian Empire after the defeat in the Crimean War. In 2009, the UN court put an end to the dispute by dividing the maritime border. The Hague left a small territory around the island of 12 miles for Ukraine, but gave most of the shelf to Romania - almost 80% of the disputed territories. According to experts, this is 12 million tons of oil and 70 billion cubic meters of gas.
But the island itself still not only belongs to Ukraine, but also has the status of a populated area. Moreover, recently Zmeiny Island began to actively develop as a center of tourism and recreation. After all, in addition to black gold, there is also metal...
On Zmeiny there are entire cemeteries of military and construction equipment, as well as the remains of pillboxes and concrete platforms with pieces of rusted reinforcement (although this can also be called a kind of exotic). However, the island does not make an impression similar to the abandoned lunodrome in Shkolny and the underwater bunker "Alsu" in Sevastopol - it attracts with its unique landscapes and rich history.
Now, on an area of 20.5 hectares, several one-story houses have been preserved, which have been renovated to the latest “Euro” standards, decorated with gazebos, tiled alleys, benches and flower beds, and a lighthouse built in the 19th century has also been preserved, and next to it is a historical museum.
It is known that the lighthouse was built from the ruins of the Temple of Achilles (in Greek - Achilles), erected around the 4th century BC in honor of the legendary hero of the Trojan War. According to ancient Greek myth, in fact, the island itself was raised from the bottom of the sea by Achilles’ mother, the goddess Thetis, so that her son would find his final refuge here. Then this island was called Levke (White). The Greeks believed that it was here that the world of Hades, or the kingdom of the dead, was located, which indirectly confirms the riverbed found at the bottom, which once circled the island by analogy with the River Styx, along which Charon transported the souls of the dead to the next world.
Achilles and other fallen heroes, whose souls allegedly also went here after death, were brought gifts by passing sailors - gold coins, jewelry and various dishes. Off the coast and even right on the beaches of Zmeinoye, archaeologists discovered a huge number of ancient and medieval amphorae and even called these places amphora fields. And on the so-called Golden Beach, one of the expeditions of the last century found a large treasure of gold coins. However, most of the treasures, according to scientists, are still hidden in caves and grottoes of the island. Access to them has not yet been discovered.
The found amphorae, remains of anchors and other finds made in the coastal waters are housed in a museum created on the island as a branch of the Odessa Historical and Archaeological Museum. Here you can also see the remains of tiles and columns of the Temple of Achilles, as well as its artistic reconstruction.
Recently, an antique ship, approximately 4th century BC, was discovered in the northern bay of the island. This is the oldest ship that has ever been found in the Black Sea, and, moreover, the only surviving ship from ancient times. Only the skeleton is visible at the bottom, and the ship itself is in the ground. About a thousand empty antique amphorae were also found 80 meters from it.
Carlo Bossoli. Snake Island (1856)
The archaeologists who discovered the ship are reluctant to tell the details of the find - they say that this will attract the attention of black divers and the ship will be robbed. Although experts understand: without knowing the exact coordinates, you can swim next to an object and not notice it.
Sergey Grabovetsky, head of the scientific expedition:
We have been working on the island since 1988 and only now came across this unique find.Since the dating of the ship corresponds to the time of the existence of the temple of Achilles, and the ship, apparently, was anchored in the bay, it can be assumed that the sailors landed on shore to leave their gifts in the sanctuary. Although, according to the official version of the Odessa Regional Department for the Protection of Cultural Heritage Sites, this is a merchant ship that transported wine and olive oil.
Future Reminder
Gradually, Zmeiny turns from a military town into a peaceful settlement called Beloye. There is even a real street running along the northern part of the island - Kozatskaya. True, so far the only one.Vladimir Yasnyuk, director of the Odessa regional municipal enterprise “Ostrovnoye”:
In theory, the island’s issues could be dealt with by the deputies of Vilkovo, but Zmeiny is an object of state significance and therefore must report directly to the region and have its own separate budget. After all, there is no such precedent anywhere else; we have the only island like this not only in Ukraine, but in the entire Black Sea. And Tuzla, Berezan, Limba are all sand spits that may disappear.Tourists coming to the island settle in houses, above the entrance to which there are curious signs: “Village Council”, “Power Point”, “Bank”, “Weather Station”, etc. But they do not remind of the past, like this usually happens, but, on the contrary, it is a reminder of the future.
Vladimir Yasnyuk:
Everything here needs to be brought to mind. The village council must work. We are preparing an appeal to the Verkhovna Rada to legally implement our plans for the development of the island.In addition, according to the general development plan for the island developed in 2003, there should be 64 objects on it - now there are only about twenty. This includes a wind power plant (for now, locals make do with solar collectors and diesel fuel), a store, a library, an outpatient clinic, a hotel, a basketball court, a room for playing table tennis and even a cinema. And most importantly, the village leadership is going to get permission from the authorities for registration. Then the island will turn into a real residential area.