Commander Islands, the land of wind and fog

The Commander Islands, belonging to the Aleutian District in Kamchatka Territory, will celebrate the 270th anniversary of their discovery by Vitus Bering on September 17.

When the St. Peter packet ship found its way to these islands in order to replenish water reserves, the ship commanded by Vitus Bering, a Dane, had voyaged for five months in the Pacific between the Kamchatka Peninsula and Alaska.

The sailors failed to make their stop short. The long voyage with limited reserves caused scurvy among most sailors, including Vitus Bering. Hard conditions were taking their human toll – the sea was constantly hostile – and by late November the sea made short work of the battered vessel and disgorged it onto the shore. Commander Bering died ten days later. Later, the island which became a permanent home to the 60-year-old seafarer was named after him.

Having lost 29 of the 75-member crew, the sailors who survived until spring built from the wreckage a small two-mast ship and returned to Kamchatka by August.

The island became the burial place for 14 sailors including Bering.

The archipelago consists of 15 islands of various sizes, of which the largest are the Bering Island and the Medny Island; moreover, it is named the Commander Islands in reference to Commander Bering.

The islands are located in a rather close proximity to one another at a distance of 175 kilometers to the east of Kamchatka.

In 2002, the Commander Islands were included in the UNESCO MAB World Network of Biosphere Reserves – the archipelago is famed for beautiful tundra landscapes with rich sea polar fauna.

The coastal waters of the Commander Islands are home to 21 whale and cetacean species…

and the islands are home to 300,000 of fur seals and sea lions,…

as well as more than a half-million rare northern birds.

Coastal waters are replete with fish.

Despite the extremely fortuitous geographic position of the “land of wind and fog” – the Commander Islands are located on many cruise ships routes –, they can boast of only one populated settlement – the village of Nikolskoye, which has no maritime seasonal passenger checkpoint, thus restricting the flow of tourism.