Tuzlinskaya spit. Chushka Spit: vacation between the Black and Azov Seas The best landscapes for beautiful photos

The Tuzla Spit is a very interesting and unusual place in the Krasnodar region. If you are planning to come on vacation to the Taman Peninsula, be sure to go to the Tuzla Spit - because here you can see two seas at once - the Azov and the Black! And not only see, but swim in two seas! Isn't it amazing?

History of the Tuzla Spit

Tuzla Spit used to be an island. To be precise, about 100 years ago it was a slant, about 11 kilometers long. But local fishermen dug a small canal at its base in 1925 to shorten their route. One day, after a storm, a small passage turned into wide strait, and the spit became the island of Tuzla.

The island existed until 2003. In 2003, the Tuzla Spit was restored. Its length is now about 4 kilometers, and its width is gradually increasing due to sand and shells deposited by the sea. Now this place has become business card Taman Peninsula.

Holidays on Tuzla Spit

Today, the waters of the Black Sea and Taman Bay have created sand deposits along almost the entire length of the spit, and beaches at the edge of the spit, which have begun to attract not only fishermen, but also vacationers.

Be careful! The current at the very end of the spit is very strong, so you should not risk yourself and go swimming in dangerous waters. Closer to the base of the spit you can also find a place for swimming and sunbathing, there are no such strong currents there and even if the water on one side of the spit is agitated , on the other side she will be calm.

The beach now has changing rooms, a toilet, a lifeguard tower, and buoys in the sea. By the way, you can often see dolphins near Tuzla Spit.

How to get to Tuzla Spit

First you need to get to the village of Taman. Then you cross Taman and after a few kilometers, at the Y-shaped fork, turn right, there should be a sign to the spit.

Spit between the Black and Azov Seas on the map

What is a geographic map

A geographic map is an image of the Earth's surface with a plotted coordinate grid and symbols, the proportions of which directly depend on the scale. A geography map is a landmark by which you can identify the location of an array, object, or place of residence of a person. These are indispensable assistants for geologists, tourists, pilots and military personnel, whose professions are directly related to travel and trips over long distances.

Types of cards

Conditionally divide geographic Maps There are 4 types:

in terms of territory coverage and these are maps of continents and countries;
by purpose and these are tourism, educational, road, navigation, scientific and reference, technical, tourist maps;
content - thematic, general geographical, general political maps;
by scale – small-scale, medium-scale and large-scale maps.

Each of the maps is dedicated to a particular topic, thematically reflecting islands, seas, vegetation, settlements, weather, soil, taking into account the coverage of the territory. A map can only represent countries, continents or individual states plotted on a certain scale. Taking into account how much a particular territory has been reduced, the scale of the map is 1x1000.1500, which means a decrease in distance by 20,000 times. Of course, it’s easy to guess that the larger the scale, the more detailed the map is drawn. And yet, individual parts of the earth's surface on the map are distorted, unlike a globe, which is capable of conveying the appearance of the surface without changes. The Earth is spherical and distortions occur, such as: area, angles, length of objects.

Tuzla Spit is located near the village of Taman in the Temryuk region Krasnodar region. This is known and popular place recreation among both tourists and locals.

Tuzla Spit on the map of the Krasnodar region

Having seen enough photos of the Tuzla Spit on the Internet, we decided to go on vacation between the two seas. To get to Tuzla Spit by car you need to drive through Temryuk to Taman. In Temryuk, by the way, you can buy a good one at the factory. When you get to Taman, look carefully at the signs. There will be signs for the spit. The road to Tuzla Spit, although unpaved, is quite flat and can be driven by any car without difficulty.
On one side of the Tuzla Spit the sea was muddy and gray, and on the other it was dark blue.

The Tuzla Scythe itself is made artificially. It projects as a narrow long strip directly into the sea. Its length is about 4 kilometers. They say that there are a lot of fish on the Tuzla Spit. I haven’t fished myself, but there are a lot of fishermen on the spit, both on one side and the other.
There are also plenty of spearfishing and diving enthusiasts on the spit. Dolphins often swim here, there are stingrays, or as they are also called sea cats, you can find shells - brine, gobies, mullet, pelengas and flounder. I’m telling this from the words of a local fisherman with whom we talked.
Opposite the Tuzla Spit Ukraine - Kerch Strait after all. Mobile phones immediately start working in roaming mode and an SMS arrives, congratulating you on coming to Ukraine.

Entry into the sea along most of the spit is not very good. Mostly near the shore there are stones, large and quite sharp. Setting up a tent is also problematic. There is a very narrow strip of land near the shore. And stopping right on the road is both inconvenient and unsafe.
But if you drive almost to the very end of the Tuzla spit, there will be an already equipped beach. Here the entry into the sea is normal and there is room for tents. But if a strong wind blows, staying on the spit is not very pleasant. We didn’t take any chances and left for the Taman Peninsula. We stopped in a wonderful place, a small lagoon, where there was almost no wind, and the sea and nature were amazing.
This is a photo of the Tuzla Spit from the sea. A long yellow stripe stretched far, far away.

Taman is the tip of the Western Caucasus, fanned by the gentle breezes of two seas - the Black and Azov. It is logical that the peninsula is a “sea gate” connecting Kuban with Crimea. Besides ferry crossing, the role of a crossing will also be played by a large bridge crossing with different branches. One of them starts from a long sandbank called Tuzlinskaya Spit. The bridge, however, was slightly bypassed so that the construction would not ruin the natural and even historical reserve that had formed here, while most of Tuzla would still end up under its piles.

Where is Tuzla Spit located?

The island and several dams with the same name are located on conditional line, connecting Pavlovsk Bay of Kerch with the lake located near the westernmost base of the former state farm "Yuzhny". Administratively, it belongs to the Taman rural settlement of the Temryuk region.

On the map of Kuban the Tuzla spit is located like this:

Historical facts

Like the rest of the sandbanks, the longest of them is the result of tides, storms and strong winds, as well as the violence of local mud volcanoes. Until a certain time geographical feature acted as an elongated peninsula, since it did not lose contact with the continent. And at the end of the last century, this corner became the subject of border claims between Russia and Ukraine.

A conversation about the Tuzlinskaya Spit should begin with an excursion into antiquity. During the existence of the Bosporus Kingdom and the Byzantine Empire, this place was not unreasonably called Akme (in Greek - “edge”). Later, when nomads appeared here, the location received a different name, because in all Turkic languages “ace” means “flat”. The fact is that from early medieval periods the ledge was an absolutely flat surface consisting of sand and silt deposits. All this attracted fishermen to him, who set up their camps on the banks of the spit. Here boats and nets were dried, and the fishermen themselves warmed themselves in front of the fires. There were large numbers of seagulls and cormorants.

Tuzla gradually separated from the Taman Peninsula during the tornadoes of the 1920s. It was not possible to restore the connection - nature has always resisted this. Since then, this isolated corner of the Russian Black Sea region has taken on a life of its own. The landscape preserves hundreds of species of flora and fauna that have already disappeared in other areas of the planet.

Rest on Tuzlinskaya Spit

The sandbar consists of fabulously colored sandy beaches. They can be called the main place for excursions starting south of Cozy. Many consider this particular coastal strip to be the watershed between the Black Sea and Azov. The part that belonged to Ukraine was called in the newspapers “the most popular beach of Kerch.”

So, the 6.5-kilometer ledge in question is, in fact, an island - even several islands. Some of them were recently connected by artificial dams - for the convenience of installing the supporting structures of the bridge crossing.

In most of the photos, the Tuzla Spit is taken from the side of the main Taman “fishing ground”. Let's talk about the lake of the same name - these are the waters of the estuary overgrown with reeds and reeds, where not only river predators, but also delicious pelengas and mullet breed at a fabulous pace. However, now the noise from the main construction site is scaring the fish. Fans of “water hunting” avoid this tract.

Today, only the areas south of Tuzla are available for swimming - both sandy beaches and comfortable rocky slopes of artificial embankments. This refers to the coastal edge not far from the remains of the indicated state farm base. By the way, the finished sections of the bridge are clearly visible from here. The Tuzla Spit itself is a strategic - that is, well-guarded - area along its entire length.

However, you can view this natural wonder from the sea - simply by paying money to the boatman. If you are planning something like a picnic here, then you need to buy food and drink in Taman. For many kilometers there is nothing around - except for grape plantations and trailers for construction workers invited here from all over the world.

How to get there (drive)?

The best route here is a small road starting at the end of Karl Marx Street. Minibuses and buses do not go here. The path from the last village farm to the water is 7 km. He goes through the vineyards. On the map the path looks like this:

Note to tourists

Address: Temryuk district, Krasnodar region, Russian Federation.
GPS coordinates: 45.237526, 36.599445.

Analyzing the above information, it is not difficult to understand that an amazing vacation is possible here, primarily associated with fishing. Tuzla Spit also appears in conversations about the best swimming places in the Temryuk region. Photos of satisfied holidaymakers simply flooded the Internet. Vacationers who come here, in addition to resort relaxation and fishing, want to get shots against the backdrop of the supporting structures of the first and only bridge connecting the resort Caucasus and Crimea. In conclusion, watch a video about the island-spit.

Tuzla Spit long before the construction of the bridge

This article was written in 2009. At that time, no one could have imagined that a super-bridge would be built on this site. Therefore, the text of the article has been left virtually unchanged, but it must be read in accordance with the time of publication.

Currently (beginning of 2009), the name “Tuzla” is officially borne by two geographical entities - Cape Tuzla and Tuzla Island, the full name of which sounds like “Tuzla Spit Island”. The word “spit” is present in the name of the island apparently because at the beginning of the last century this very island really was a spit and, just like now the Chushka Spit, was an inseparable part of the Taman Peninsula. It was on the Tuzla Spit that the Cossacks of the Black Sea Cossack Army landed in 1792, and at the beginning of the twentieth century. There were about a dozen Cossack farms on the spit. But in the 20s...

View of the dumped Tuzla spit

A little background

And in the 20s, more precisely in 1925, at the base of the spit, for the passage of fishing boats, a canal was dug, which, as was then thought, would benefit fishing and would not cause damage to nature (although about nature, as is usually the case, most likely they didn’t even think about it). Mother Nature looked at these human interventions and... In general, whether she was offended or decided to help, but in the same 1925 there was a strong southern storm, as a result of which the canal turned into a strait, and after some time the width of the strait reached several kilometers. So the spit turned into a separate island.

At the end of the forties, an attempt was made to restore the spit. Then piles were driven along the entire length, and a mesh of metal rings was stretched between them. It was assumed that this design would be sufficient for the formation of land by the forces of nature. However, either the piles were rarely installed, or it was still necessary to consult with scientists first, but the idea not only did not justify itself, but in the very first winter the entire structure was destroyed by the same forces of nature.

If an island is located separately from the mainland, this does not mean at all that a separate, independent life can be led on it. No, well, of course, the specificity of remoteness in itself is inevitable, but administratively the territory of the island must be subordinated to someone. And everything seemed to be as it should be, but in the end... Well, see for yourself.

After the formation of the island of Srednyaya Kosa (as the island was called in the forties), it, the island, was subordinate to the Temryuk region, Krasnodar region. Then the islanders did not like how the local authorities carried out their duties, namely, they did not like that they were forgotten about during the elections to the local council (as if they had no other problems) and they petitioned for the reassignment of the spit to the Kerch City Council. In January 1941, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR was issued on the transfer of the island of Srednyaya Kosa to the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Bureaucracy and Soviet times also had the opportunity to be, and therefore they did not actually have time to reassign the island - the Great Patriotic War began. There were also plenty of problems in the post-war years. Almost two decades have passed since the issuance of that decree, and now, in 1958, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Ukrainian SSR (by that time Crimea had already been transferred to Ukraine) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RSFSR established administrative boundaries between the fraternal republics precisely in accordance with the decree of 1941.

Administrative boundaries were revised again in the early seventies. And so what? Ordinary state nomenklatura activity. In general, this is how it is, but that state no longer exists. It broke up into those same socialist republics. And the fraternal Ukrainian SSR suddenly became a foreign country, and the island of Srednyaya Kosa, and now the Tuzla Spit, is now a foreign territory.

Stop. Now is the time to make a statement. The author of this text in no way intends to conduct any political campaigning or other political activities. Politics, as they say, is for politicians. What am I talking about? Moreover, in 2003, the Russian side took concrete steps to restore the Tuzla Spit. This is the purpose for which this was done, I will not discuss, so as not to get into politics and avoid the story of what this description was actually started for.

About the newly shed spit

So, the work was in full swing both day and night. Trucks with soil, stones and nearby things for a long time disturbed the sleep of those residents of the village of Taman, along whose streets the truck route passed. Well, that's the price of large construction projects. A year later, the embankment spit was tens of meters wide and 4 kilometers long...

Well, it’s not for nothing that the word “politics” was mentioned a little higher in the text. Well, in the story about the new Tuzla Spit, it is impossible to keep silent about the fact that the construction of the spit, from the very beginning of construction, acquired political overtones, and even at the interstate level. And what did you want with this geographical location. It couldn’t have been otherwise, but they didn’t dump the spit further into the sea.

In general, our spit has grown not only through the hard work of road workers, but also through the temporary hardships of the residents of Taman, and also, and this is no secret, political tension between the two states. By the way, if you look at the spit using the satellite imagery service from GOOGLE, the underwater relief of the spit is very clearly visible through the clear water.

All. Here she is. Eat. So what's next? And then the fishermen were the first to go to the dusty, not yet compacted embankment, and they liked this new spit so much that the number of people wanting to go fishing only grew. What if you want to cast a fishing rod into the Black Sea, or into the Taman Bay... Beauty!

A year or two later, during that warm summer, people, young and old, went to the spit, not only to fish, but also to swim, and for the sake of body pleasure and to soak up the southern sun. And there was a place to bask in the sun, because every year more and more sand, pebbles and shells were deposited from the sea, and the spit became wider. This is how a natural beach began to appear near the artificial embankment.

The Tuzla Spit and part of the coast at its base were becoming increasingly popular among visitors and local vacationers, and this circumstance could not go unnoticed - Tuzla became one of the attractions of the Taman Peninsula, and entry to the spit was no longer free.

During a strong storm in November 2007, in the roadstead opposite Cape Tuzla, one dry cargo ship sank and one tanker loaded with fuel oil broke up, but did not sink. There were fuel oil emissions in many places, including on the Azov coast, but most of them were on the Tuzlinsky coast. Despite the fact that large-scale, and most importantly effective, work was carried out to collect fuel oil, many predicted a disruption of the 2008 holiday season throughout the Taman Peninsula. However, already in May, traces of the disaster could rarely be found on the spit itself, and in the middle of summer the beaches of the spit were already full of vacationers, so the 2008 season, although belated, took place.

Spit as a source of beauty

Any artificial embankment made of soil eventually becomes part of nature. So the Tuzla spit, which was filled not only from stones and limestone, but also from fertile soil, gradually, although not everywhere, was still covered with herbaceous vegetation. The sea and the bay turned the rough edges of the dam into a full-fledged seashore. On the sea side there are beautiful sandy beaches, on the bay side there are small islands and small spits that have become favorite places for wild birds. Limestone stones immersed in water, in addition to their basic light yellow-brown colors, also acquired a dark blue-green color. Such a play of colors leaves few people indifferent, and everyone who had a camera with them at least once captured the reflection of the sun on wet stones.

Photos of wet stones in the water or large chipped stones near the water have almost become the hallmark of the Tuzla Spit among Russian Internet users. Most people prefer to pose against the background of stones and the sea, although Tuzla has other, no less attractive and beautiful views.

Continuing the theme of views, I would like to draw attention to the sandy formations washed up at the very end of the embankment. The strait formed here, between the spit and the island, has a strong current. Thanks to this, the islands change their positions and shapes even within one summer. In the evening, when the sun is approaching sunset and the sea is only slightly rough, photographs from these small islands are especially successful.

If your camera allows you to take high-quality pictures from a long distance and you are always happy to take new shots with our smaller brothers, in the vicinity of the spit and its base you can meet different types birds, and closer to the end of the dam, there is an opportunity to watch for a dolphin, and sometimes a whole flock.

On the sea beach there are always people who want to collect beautiful shells, fascinating with their patterns, shapes and colors. Unlike the Azov beaches, the discarded shells on Tuzla are noticeably larger and more varied.

Spit as a place for swimming

The artificial dam and the coastline in front of it added about 5 kilometers to the total length of the sand and shell Taman beaches. Thus, Tuzla Spit is the largest paid beach on the peninsula.

Speaking of paid. A checkpoint for collecting money in the summer of 2008 was installed relatively far (more than a kilometer) from the beginning of the dam itself, blocking the only access route to the shore from Cape Tuzla to the base of the embankment spit. For what, besides garbage collection, are fees charged for such large territory- it’s hard to say, since the equipped beach with everything you need is located far from the entrance and occupies a part of the coast no more than 500 meters long. However, the territory is really large and keeping it clean is a labor-intensive task with corresponding costs, and there is a lot of garbage here during the period of a large flow of vacationers.

So, the equipped beach is located almost at the end of the Tuzla spit. It is in the area of this coastal area that there are the most vacationers. Here the sea is deeper, and beach strip wider, and service is nearby. And here you can feel the edge of the earth, and not just the earth, but the Russian Land.

On the beach itself, which is called “Kerch Beach”, there is everything you need: a changing room, a toilet, a sun canopy, a tower for lifeguards, a first-aid post, a mini cafe. The coastal area is marked with stretched ropes with flags, and limiting buoys are installed in the sea. On the side of the road there are stands with information reminding about precautions when swimming.

Attention! Buoys are installed not to comply with rules and requirements, but for your safety. As mentioned above, there is a strong current between the spit and the island, which also affects the area near the beach, so it is highly NOT recommended to swim far beyond the buoys, even on an air mattress! Believe me, unpleasant cases have already been noted. It is generally prohibited to swim in the ravine itself (at the end of the spit), which is indicated by the signs there.

Well, the precautions have been taken, and now you can enjoy the delights of swimming. In principle, those who are already accustomed to spending the summer on Black Sea coast, you won’t be surprised by the waters of the Black Sea, but still the Black Sea here is a little different than, say... well, for example in Anapa. On the one hand, there are the waters of the Sea of Azov (albeit only slightly, through the Kerch Strait), on the other, the waters of the Dinsky and Taman bays. We can also say with confidence that, unlike Anapa or, say, the village of Blagoveshchenskaya, on Tuzla there are no light green algae found off the Anapa shores. By the way, despite the fact that many people don’t like them, they want to pose in front of the camera, wearing a wig made of those same light green algae... However, we digress a little.

Judging by satellite images from GOOGLE, the distance from the sea to the road in the Kerch beach area is more than twice the width of the road itself. Thus, the strip of shore near the water, where sunbathers usually sit, is located at a considerable distance from the edge of the roadway. This circumstance allows you not to worry that road dust will interfere with enjoying your vacation, since in most cases the dust settles much earlier. True, during a strong wind blowing from the bay, dust can of course reach the edge of the water, but at such moments not only dust, but also sand flies. However, such strong winds are extremely rare in summer, and the sea is usually stormy in such weather.

So, distance from the source of road dust is another positive factor that attracts people to the area where the embankment ends. Of course, if lovers of fast driving restrained their ardor and did not raise dust, then resting in narrow places would also be okay - it’s normal, but it can be very dusty there. And the main thing is that along the center line all along the road there are signs with requests, like “don’t dust, friend!” But no, you still put pressure on the gas and fly like on the asphalt, but the dust of others, just as fast, is their judge.

People usually go to Kerch Beach for a few hours, or for a day, but on the rest of the spit and in front of it, there are more often people who prefer a longer vacation with an overnight stay in a tent. As a rule, they choose places that are least susceptible to dust from the road, and also allow them to leave their car as close as possible.

In the area around the base of the spit, the sea is shallow, and in some places even very shallow. Swimming in such “shallow depth” is more suitable for children. For some reason, the water in these places warms up well and you can get special pleasure while lying on the bottom. However, do not forget that the sun has a stronger effect in water (lens effect), so you can get sunburned much faster than just on the beach.

In shallow water, another nuisance may await you - the remains of fishing gear. The fact is that at the foot of Cape Tuzla there is a fishing crew, and the water area from the cape to the spit is included in the fishing zone of fishermen. The placed nets are clearly visible from the shore, but the metal rods that may remain after them are, alas, not. Therefore, be careful, do not run into the water or dive, but first explore the area where you are going to swim. Shallow depths and clear water will help you in your explorations.

And finally

Summing up what has been written here, we can say with confidence that the artificially filled Tuzla spit is indeed one of most interesting places Taman Peninsula both from the point of view of nature, and from the point of view of history, and, of course, from the point of view of recreation. From the point of view of politics, it is also interesting, but let them write about this on other sites, but we are closer to romance.

By the way, it is the political side of the spit that is most covered on the Internet, but the other, more pleasant and interesting to vacationers, is somehow not so much. There are so many reviews about how “they” had a great trip to Tuzla and how much they liked it, but to tell you in more detail is very rare. It’s even more offensive when some who have been there still write about the spit, but they write unacceptable things. So, for example, quite often there is a story that the Tuzla Spit separates the Azov and Black Sea... This is not true! Look at the map! The Tuzla Spit separates the Black Sea and the Taman Bay, and the Black Sea and the Azov Bay are separated by the Chushka Spit, and then if the Taman and Dinskaya Bays are taken as part of the Black Sea!

What will happen to the Tuzla Spit, specifically that spit that runs under water for 11 km and includes both the island and the filled part - time will certainly tell. In the meantime, the word “Tuzla” is most often associated with the artificial embankment among guests of Taman Land, its sandy beaches and clear sea water off its shores.

This article was written in 2009. At that time no one
I couldn’t imagine that a super-bridge would be built on this site.
Therefore, the text of the article was left practically unchanged, but read
it needs to be adjusted for the time of publication. (edited 02/18/2017)

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