Cape Lopatka

Cape Lopatka is the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula, in the Elizovsky District of Kamchatka Krai. Two seas meet here: the Sea of Okhotsk washes the cape from the west, the Pacific Ocean from the east. It is one of the most remote and harshest corners of Kamchatka.

Nature

The surface of the cape is low-lying tundra with an almost flat, saucer-like relief. Cape Lopatka is part of the Yuzhno-Kamchatsky state nature reserve, making it part of a specially protected natural area. The coastal shallows are covered with extensive fields of brown algae, a natural feeding ground and shelter for sea otters, which still live here today. The cape lies on one of the major bird migration routes: at peak times up to 110,000 land birds pass through. The weather here is known as a "forge of foul weather" — the wind almost never stops, and conditions change very quickly.

11 kilometers to the southwest, across the First Kuril Strait, lies Shumshu Island, the first in the chain of the Kuril Islands.

History

Cape Lopatka marks the southern boundary of the lands once inhabited by the Itelmens. Archaeologists have found traces of numerous seasonal camps of ancient Itelmens here, and possibly of the Ainu as well. In the early 20th century, Japanese and American schooners hunted sea otters predatorily off the cape, nearly wiping out the population. Later, the villages of Andrianovka and Semyonovka existed on the cape; both are now abandoned.

Today only a weather station and a border guard post operate permanently on the cape, along with a lighthouse.

Getting there

Reaching Cape Lopatka is not easy: it lies off the roads, in a border zone. The main way to get there is by helicopter, but flights are often cancelled at the last moment due to unpredictable weather. An alternative is a sea route on small boats or specially equipped fishing vessels, such as small fishing seiners.