Island in Lodeynaya Bay

The Island in Lodeynaya Bay is a small rocky island off the Barents Sea coast, in Lodeynaya Bay (Lodeynaya guba) next to the village of Teriberka, in the Kolsky municipal district of Murmansk Region. The island sits by a sandy beach and becomes reachable on foot straight from the shore at low tide, while at high tide it is cut off from the mainland by water.

The name

Lodeynaya Bay appears to be named after "lodyas" — old sailing vessels of the Pomors who had fished these Barents Sea waters for centuries. The bay had long served as a sheltered, convenient mooring place for such boats, which gave the bay, and later the island within it, its name. Teriberka itself is one of the old Pomor settlements on the Murmansk coast, and bay and island names nearby are usually tied to this same fishing and shipping past.

What to see

The island and the dirt road leading up to it offer panoramic views of the bay, the low hills along its shores, and the rocky Barents Sea coastline. A sandy beach lies next to the island — a fairly rare sight on this stretch of the Kola Peninsula coast, where rocky and pebble shores are more common. At low tide a wide strip of exposed seabed appears at the waterline, and this is the path people take on foot to the island.

The place is usually visited together with other sights of Teriberka: within two to three kilometres stand an old ship washed ashore, a graveyard of decommissioned fishing vessels — both well-known symbols of the village — and the wooden houses of old Teriberka.

Getting there

The island can be reached at any time of year. You need to turn off the 47K-050 highway, which leads toward Teriberka, onto a dirt road running along the bay. In winter the road can be covered by snow, and then it can only be driven in a convoy with other vehicles — getting out of snowdrifts alone on this stretch is difficult. A personal car or an off-road vehicle is advisable at any time of year, since the road is unpaved and can be washed out in places.

To actually reach the island, time the visit to low tide: the water in the bay recedes for a few hours, exposing the seabed, and that is when you can walk to the island without getting your feet wet. It is worth checking a tide table for Teriberka before setting out.