Kerch Strait

The Kerch Strait connects the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.

The Sea of Azov is really beautiful and has a lot of interesting features. We will revisit the Sea of Azov soon but today we will continue to focus on the question of where the water comes from to fill the Black Sea

In this image you can see the Crimean Peninsula sticking out into the Black Sea. The Kerch Strait lies between Crimea and the Russian mainland to the East.

Crimea looks sort of triangular with it's three prominent sections.

The city of Kerch is located on the far eastern point of Crimea on a cool bay on the Black Sea side.

The water from the Don river comes into the Sea of Azov on the top right and exits through the Kerch Strait.

In this close up of Crimea you can see the Kerch Strait at the bottom of the Sea of Azov.

There are some incredibly beautiful beaches on the inside of the Kerch Strait on the Sea of Azov on the Crimea side to the west of the strait. This is on the Ukraine side.

On the other side, the Russian Side, there are some neat marshes with lots of wildlife.

In this last image you can see the yellow border line between Ukraine on the left and Russia on the right.

Notice the interesting bays including the one on the left where the city of Kerch lies.

You can click on the image to get a closer view.

You can see the patterns of the fields under cultivation.

The Kerch Strait is some tricky water. Lots of swirling currents and cross-winds.

There were a few serious maritime incidents in the Kerch Strait this last winter including an oil spill and several ships that sank in a big storm. More on that later.

There are quite a few shipwrecks in this area.

From here the water swirls around in the Black Sea and eventually empties into the Mediterranean through the Bosporus Strait at the bottom left part of the Black Sea.

Next time we will explore more about the many interesting rivers that fill up the Black Sea.