Boat trip to Biryuchy Island
Alina approached me again.
-Is it possible to go to Biryuchy without an excursion? I would like to stay there for a few days.
A couple of days ago, she ordered a tour from me to this island, after asking me if it was worth going there. She liked to independently explore the sights of our Arabat Spit: pink and salt lakes, hot springs, Sivash. She also visited one of our excursions.
-Just don't describe the trip as brightly and colorfully as last time. Your story made more of an impression on me than the trip itself. Working as an organizer of excursions for the second year, I was able to visit many of our excursions and enthusiastically shared my impressions. Each person perceives the world in their own way. But Biryuchiy Island is a really special place. Tourists, having visited it once, tend to go there again and again.
Biryuchiy Island is the southern extended part of the Fedotova Spit, it can be reached from Kirillovka by land. Previously, it was separated from the spit by a strait, so it received the status of an island. Now, during a strong storm, the isthmus is sometimes hidden under water, and Biryuchy again turns into an island. The island got its name from the word "biryuk" - a lone wolf. Its length is about 24 kilometers, the maximum width is 5 km. There is no unequivocal version of the origin of the island. Most likely it was washed in by natural means. The Azov-Sivash National Natural Park is located on the island. Due to the presence of fresh water, there is a variety of vegetation on the island. Steppe old-timers grow on elevated places: fescue, wheatgrass, astragalus, alfalfa, euphorbia. In the lowlands there are so-called halophytes (salt-resistant plants): soleros, solonchak aster, kermek.
In addition to wild plants, the island has a wonderful forest and a park where oaks, poplars, acacia, honey locust, and olive trees grow. Fallow deer, deer, kulans, and moufflons roam freely around the island. All these animals were brought from the Askania-Nova reserve for the acclimatization experiment.
The island always attracts and attracts tourists. It is attractive in its own way at any time of the year. Its coastline is reminiscent of tropical resorts: turquoise water and white sand. In addition to all this, a wild unequipped beach. You find yourself in a special world of untouched nature. It feels like you are on another planet or fall into a parallel dimension.
Travel agency 21st century of Ukraine offers to take a boat trip to Biryuchiy Island from early June to mid-September. I was on the island in autumn. The group gathered on the Wi-Fi bench near Ukrtelecom. The city tour was led by Oksana Grigoryevna Shatsilo, head of the tourist bureau. For hours you can listen to her fascinating emotional stories about Genichesk and the Arabat Spit. Our boat departed from the fourth berth. A magnificent panorama of the Tonkiy Strait and Utlyutsky Estuary opens from here. We put on life jackets and went on a boat to the island. There were many sightseers, it was the last trip of the season, we were joined by tourists from another travel agency. Autumn had already come, but the day was warm like in summer, a light breeze was blowing. We quickly moved away from the coast, soon we saw another coast ahead, and began to approach it. There were no dolphins this time, they sometimes appear and even accompany the boat. There was a sea around us, which all sparkled and shimmered. When we landed, we took off our life jackets. There was no one on the beach. A lighthouse was visible in the distance.
It was first built in 1878 for fishermen, at first it was a wooden building, later it was replaced by a modern lighthouse. The only building on the shore is a small gazebo where you could sit. But we didn't come here to rest. The arriving tourists were divided into two groups. One stayed on the shore to swim and sunbathe. I, as part of another group, went to explore the island. We rode on an onboard gazelle equipped with wooden benches. The guide spoke interestingly about the reserve, its history and today. In front of us was a steppe covered with dry grass, and on the dried salt marshes there were beautiful thickets of red color, consisting of salt-resistant plants. An eagle soared high in the sky, and pheasants sometimes flew up not far from us. The nature of the island was mesmerizing. There were some thickets ahead of us. When we began to approach them, they suddenly came to life and began to move, when we drove closer, we were surprised to find deer with huge branched horns, which stood up and moved away
. We also saw fallow deer, but we could not find the mouflon inhabitants of this island. After a 30-minute excursion, we stopped at the beach. The water was clean and clear, you could see every fish, every blade of grass. Even though it was quite chilly, we enjoyed swimming here a lot.
I did not want to leave. But the second group of tourists arrived from the excursion. We left with the hope of coming here more than once.
