Putyatin Island is located in the northern part of Peter the Great Bay Sea of ​​Japan. It is located southeast of Vladivostok, approximately 50 kilometers away. The shortest distance between Cape Startsev of Putyatin Island and Cape Strelok on the mainland is approximately 1.5 kilometers. Administratively belongs to the city of Fokino, Primorsky Krai Far East.

Putyatin Island is named after Admiral and statesman of Russia E. V. Putyatin, who led the first expedition from Kronstadt to Japan in October 1852 to establish diplomatic and trade relations between Russia and Japan.

The area of ​​Putyatin Island is 2790 hectares with a length of 14 km. and a maximum width of 5 km. Coastline indented by 13 bays, bays and lagoons. The banks are steep, composed of reddish granite with interlayers of quartz.

On Putyatin Island there is a large fresh lake"Goose", which is famous for several lotus plantations. Lotus is one of the sacred symbols of the East, it strikes the imagination with its beauty.

Not far from Putyatina Island towards Askold, there are Unkovsky stones in the sea, which are the only nesting place for the slaty-backed gull in this area. Also here are located: the rock of Iretsky, an underwater grotto near Cape Shulepnikov, a cave, rocks Rooster and Elephant.

On the shore of the Nazimov Bay of Putyatin Island there is the only settlement here, with the same name, founded by the former owner of the island, Alexei Dmitrievich Startsev, more than two centuries ago. Through his efforts, brick and porcelain factories were created on the island in seven years. Luxurious orchards have been planted, and trade relations have been established.

In memory of the man who did a lot for Putyatina Island, in the autumn of 1989 a monument was erected there. It was installed at the expense of the Putyatinsky fur farm, through the efforts of the employees of the V. Arseniev Museum and the famous local historian Boris Dyachenko. The monument-bust to Alexei Dmitrievich Startsev, the authors: the artist O. Kulesh and the sculptor Z. Pipekin, is installed near the village on a hill.

Where is the best place to relax on the seashore in Primorsky Krai? What place on the coast is definitely worth a visit in Primorye?

Today I want to tell a little story about this, which may encourage some to give up at least once a vacation on the Black Sea and visit this place.

A few years ago, while relaxing in one of picturesque places Primorye, we had a short conversation with an engineer from Novosibirsk. Walking along the emerald coast, exploring bay after bay, we came across a campground. At first glance, about 40 people rested in it. We wondered where they came from, and even immediately in such numbers. It was then that we began a conversation with this Novosibirsk engineer.

When asked why they decided to rest here, and not on the Black Sea coast, because it is closer to Novosibirsk than this place, the guy replied: “Whoever has been here once, he no longer rests on the Black Sea.”

What is this place? And why did this Siberian guy speak about him like that? Let me tell you a little story about this.

For me, a native of Primorye, Putyatin Island is one of the most beautiful islands Gulf of Peter the Great. It is located 50 km southeast of Vladivostok, in Strelok Bay. The remoteness from civilization has preserved the island almost in its original form - with amazing landscapes, clean bays and two lakes where the lotus grows.

History of Putyatin Island

The island is not only beautiful for its nature, but also has an amazing history. The name of the island was in honor of the admiral, diplomat and statesman Efimy Vasilyevich Putyatin. In 1852-1855, an expedition led by Putyatin, in which the frigates Diana and Pallada took part, made an inventory east coast Primorye.

Putyatin Island was uninhabited at the time of discovery. In 1891 he was visited by Alexei Startsev, one of the first industrialists of the Far East, the son of the Decembrist Nikolai Bestuzhev. Startsev bought part of the land on the island, and leased part from the state for 99 years.

Startsev built brick and porcelain factories on the island. Moreover, the bricks had their own brand. Also, a deer farm was opened on the island and horses were brought in. Through the efforts of Startsev, the wild island turned into a flourishing oasis. But such an idyll, unfortunately, did not last long. In 1900, Startsev died, and after the revolution, all property was nationalized.

How to get to Putyatin Island

Previously, a passenger boat went to the island directly from Vladivostok. But in modern times, this route has been canceled and the fastest way to get to the island is by ferry, which runs between the Danube village on the Mainland and Putyatin Island. Travel time is 20 minutes.

If you get to Putyatin Island by car, then, passing small town Fokino, you need to turn off the road onto the road leading to the Danube seaside village. The road is quite familiar to Russia: in some places good asphalt, in some places concrete, in some places gravel.

If you get to Putyatin Island public transport, then from Vladivostok there is a regular bus 506. In summer, this route runs between Vladivostok and Nakhodka every half an hour. Travel time from the Vladivostok bus station to the city of Fokino is about 3 hours. You need to get off at the bus station in the city of Fokino and transfer to local bus, next to the village of Danube.

ADVICE: View current bus timetable to Fokino and you can buy tickets at a low price at. Prices for Busfor are sometimes lower than buying tickets, standing in line at the box office.

The bus between Fokino and the Danube makes about 10 trips a day (during the summer months). Most flights depart before lunch and in the evening. So it is better to plan your arrival in Fokino early in the morning so that you can safely reach the pier on the Danube. Travel time from the Fokino bus station to the Danube village is approximately 40 minutes.

The way to the crossing to Putyatina Island

Arriving at the ferry crossing in the Danube village, we find that a whole line of people who want to cross to the island with their car has already lined up. There are only 4 places for cars on the ferry, and this transport runs between the island and the mainland only a few times a day. Therefore, we decide to leave our cars at the parking lot in the Danube village and cross with backpacks on the nearest ferry.

In 2019, the ferry to Putyatina Island departs only twice a day.
Departure time from the Danube: 8:00 and 18:00.
Departure time from Putyatin Island: 8:30 and 18:30.
Fare: for local residents 10 rubles, for the rest - 100 rubles.
ADVICE: If you will large group, you can charter a speedboat near the ferry crossing. The boat will take you not just to the island, but immediately to the bay you need. Boat capacity: up to 20 people. Rental price: 5000 rubles.

Waiting for the ferry to Putyatin Island

Map of Putyatin Island with the designation of the main bays

For convenience, I put in the article a map of Putyatin Island with the main bays and beaches indicated on it. You can download a map to explore the location of the main bays of Putyatin Island.

Map about. Putyatina with marked bays

Now we are temporary islanders

Having landed on the island, we already know that we have to cross to the opposite side. It is there that there are beautiful bays overlooking the open Sea of ​​​​Japan. But walking in the heat with backpacks on your shoulders is somehow not very inspiring. Therefore, we slow down a local rocker on a motorcycle with a cradle and arrange for him to transport our things, along with two passengers, to the bay we need. Having agreed on a price, we see off our burdens and set out lightly on foot across the island.

The way from the ferry to the Bay of the Cock takes us about 1 hour. Where are we in a hurry? We're walking light. It is better to take the opportunity to go along the way to the lake with Komarov lotuses, which are listed in the Red Book of Russia.

Along the way, we pass by high peak islands - hills of Startsev. On one of the days of rest, we still have time to climb to a height of 353 meters above sea level. By the way, from this peak there is a magnificent view of the surroundings and the waters of Peter the Great Bay.

The road to the bay of the Rooster

On the way, I notice that the path from the lake, along which we passed a year earlier, is somehow fairly overgrown and few people walk along it. There is, of course, a road a little lower down the slope of the hill, but the path is shorter. Along the way, I tell my friends that last year we saw snakes basking during the day on the rocky slope of the hill, and falcons that hunt them. Before I had time to tell about it, I heard a girlish squeal: “Ah! Snake!". After these screams, I don’t even remember how we all instantly found ourselves no longer on the path, but on the very road that we didn’t want to go at first, because it took longer to go. After recent events, we all agree that the road is safer to go and now it no longer seems to us so long.

Bonsai on Putyatin Island

Having reached the bay we need, we meet with two of our friends who have already been waiting for us with our backpacks. We choose a place for our campground. Fortunately, we arrived at the very beginning of the week and there were not so many vacationers yet. Therefore, we did not have to look for a place for tents for a long time. We began to set up tents, and some of us were very impatient to first swim in the crystal clear sea water.

Japanese Sea

Fight against the elements

Toward evening, the cloudy sky suddenly began to darken. A strong wind picked up. And the wind blew not from the sea, but from the side big land. Climbing up one of the hills, we saw that unusual clouds were moving from the side of the mainland. Clouds were rushing in our direction in a continuous long wall. But this whole wall was more like a huge sail. Warm air, rising from the ground, began to wrap the cloud mass in an arc, as if inflating a huge sail. And now this air armada was now rushing on all inflated sails directly to our island!

It began to rain heavily, although the sun was still shining from the sea. The gusty wind began to demolish all the tents. Unable to fight this element, we laid down our tents so that they would not be carried away with us into the sea. We hid behind one of the hills, which covered us from the heavy wind. There was nothing left to do but sing songs in the rain and wait for all this element to end.

Surprisingly, after a couple of hours, the wind completely died down, and the rain stopped watering our things. Suddenly there was complete silence, and the sky became clear again. We set up our tents again and started preparing dinner.

Amazing night on Putyatina Island

From everything that we had to endure during the day, adrenaline walked through the blood for a long time. Therefore, many of us did not want to sleep at all. And it turned out to be very helpful. When it got dark, the sky was just strewn with diamonds from bright stars. The sky was as crystal clear as I have ever seen it before. No light noise from the city.

We began to remember the names of the constellations, trying to find them on the star carpet. Someone even remembered the assumption that Orion's Belt served as the basis for the construction Egyptian pyramids. And then we began to talk about the purpose of these majestic structures on the Giza plateau. Who, and most importantly, why built them? In the stories of the traditional story about the simple graves of the tough guys-pharaohs, many of us did not believe it. There are too many questions left unanswered by these Egyptian monuments.

For talking about the eternal, we did not notice how it was already well after midnight. Someone went to bed, and four of us turned out to be the most persistent, or rather the most diligent behind the fire. And it's not in vain! An amazing spectacle began in the sky. Fireballs began to fall directly from the abyss of heaven, drawing bright lines, after which, burning down, again plunging into this night abyss without a trace. Yes, what kind of beauty we are deprived of, living in the stone jungle of big cities!

In the morning, however, we had to take a little nap. Fortunately, we woke up just in time for breakfast, which was warmly prepared for us by those who slept sweetly at night.

“Whoever has been here at least once, no longer rests on the Black Sea”

After a day's swimming, we went on a short hike. Moving from bay to bay, we found a large tent city, which I wrote about at the beginning of the article. We asked where they came from at once in such numbers to Putyatin Island. When we found out that they had come from Novosibirsk, we asked them a completely logical question: “Why did you come here and not, for example, go to the coast of the Azov or Black Sea? After all, you are even closer there than on the coast of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bJapan. To this, the same engineer answered us: “Those who have been here at least once, no longer rest on the Black Sea! You have the cleanest open, not inland sea. Here, nature is almost untouched by man. Yes, and prices are much lower than on the Black Sea coast. So we have been spending our holidays here for more than a year.” Well, you can't argue with such arguments.

The distance from Novosibirsk to the Danube village is 5786 km.

The distance from Novosibirsk to Anapa is 4124 km.

By the way, these Novosibirsk guys turned out to be quite creative guys. Some even took canvases for painting with them on the trip. One girl beautifully wrote the landmark of the bay, on the shore of which we stopped.

Rooster bay on canvas

But the "Rooster" and in reality

Everyone's favorite rock "Rooster"

After spending almost a week on the island, we traveled a lot on it. But we never managed to completely bypass all the bays along the perimeter of the island. But the relaxation was just great. Impressions accumulated for years to come.

Marine life Putyatin Islands

Sea urchin - another inhabitant of the Sea of ​​​​Japan

Putyatin Island, we will meet again

The days of rest on the island flew by and now we had to say goodbye to all this indescribable beauty and return to city everyday life. But now we take with us a piece of this beauty within ourselves. Putyatin Island, we will meet again!

Our departure from Putyatin Island was accompanied by fog.

Did you manage to visit Putyatina Island? What impressed you the most about it? Do you agree that relaxing on the coast of the Sea of ​​Japan is much better than on the Black Sea? They say that feral deer still roam on Putyatina Island, left after the fur farm collapsed. Have you seen these deer? Or have they already been eaten by vacationers?

Write about your impressions about the rest on Putyatina Island. Ask questions and share personal experience independent travel.

P.S.: Many years ago, Yuri Vizbor, the famous bard and Russian actor, dedicated one of his poems to Putyatin Island. It is called “Putyatin Island”. The poem contains these lines:

We will all return, of course.
Trains will enter the sunset,
Girls we swear
Never leave.
Just for what reason
Do we dream of all the ships?
Little Putyatin Island,
Near the great land.

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Putyatin Island is one of the most visited islands in Peter the Great Bay. Rocks resembling animals, clear sea, amazing undersea world, sandy beaches, lotus lakes and historical heritage - all this annually attracts a huge number of tourists to Putyatin Island. IA PrimaMedia talks about the amazing island, which has become a favorite place in recent years summer holiday for residents of Primorye and other regions of the Far East.

About the island

Infographics. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Putyatin Island is located at a distance of about 50 km southeast of Vladivostok, in Strelok Bay near the Danube village. Administratively belongs to ZATO Fokino. The minimum distance between the island from Cape Startsev to the mainland (Cape Strelok) is about 1.5 km. The territory of the island is stretched from north to south for 24 km, the southern part of the island ends with kekurs "Five Fingers", from here a view of Askold Island opens. The area of ​​the island is 27.9 sq. kilometers or 2790 ha.

The island is mountainous, the highest elevation is Mount Startseva, quite steep, located in the northern part of the island, its height is 353 meters. The shores of the island are indented, bordered by reefs, highlands cross valleys and ravines. The island has several fresh lakes, the largest and most famous of which is Lake Gusinoe. It is a natural monument of regional significance.

Lake Gusinoe from a bird's eye view. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Lake Gusinoe from a bird's eye view. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Lake Gusinoe from a bird's eye view. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Thickets of Komarov's lotus in Gusinoye Lake. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Lake Gusinoe from a bird's eye view. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Lake Gusinoe from a bird's eye view. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Thickets of Komarov's lotus in Gusinoye Lake. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

The island was first described and mapped by the crew of the clipper ship Strelok in 1858. The sailors named the island in honor of Efimy Putyatin, a Russian admiral, diplomat and statesman, leader of the expedition of 1852-1855, in which the frigates "Diana" and "Pallada" participated. Putyatin's expedition dug up the Posyet and St. Olga bays in Primorye, as well as the islands of the Rimsky-Korsakov archipelago.

By the time of discovery, the island was uninhabited, but in the warm season it was visited by the mainland population of Primorye for the purpose of hunting and fishing. uninhabited island remained until 1891, when in the summer the son of the Decembrist Nikolai Bestuzhev, one of the first industrialists of the Far East, a merchant of the 1st guild, Alexei Startsev, visited the island - a talented and educated person. After visiting the island, Startsev bought part of the island's territory from the state, and leased the other part for 99 years. From that moment, the era of the heyday of Putyatin Island began.

Coast of Putyatin Island from the sea. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Coast of Putyatin Island from the sea. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Coast of Putyatin Island from the sea. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Coast of Putyatin Island from the sea. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Coast of Putyatin Island from the sea. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Alexey Startsev founded his own estate "Rodnoe" on the island, moved his family to Putyatin and, with his characteristic enthusiasm, began to build a new life. He built the famous Startsevsky brick factory, a porcelain factory, and a silk workshop. The owner also bred horses, Kholmogory cows, pigs, geese, and ducks. He organized a deer farm, a snake nursery, an apiary, vineyards and orchards. The estate prospered until the death of Startsev in 1900. After that, it gradually fell into disrepair and was nationalized after the revolution. In Soviet times, a fish factory was located on the island, next to which an island village was formed, which still exists today. Now the population of the village of Putyatin is about 600 people.

How to get there

Getting to Putyatin Island on your own is quite simple both by private car and public transport.

In the first case, you need to go from Vladivostok along the highway to Nakhodka to ZATO Fokino. Arriving at Fokino and driving to the center of the village, you need to turn right at the sign towards the Danube village, and then go all the time along the main one, without turning anywhere. The road is mostly of good quality, 22 km can be easily overcome in half an hour. In the Danube, you need to get to the ferry crossing, which is located on the coast at the very end of the village. From here, a ferry to the island runs daily all year round.

On it you can cross to the island both on foot and together with a car, on which you can later travel around the island. In the first case, the cost of a two-way ticket will be from 20 to 150 rubles (depending on which flight you get on - municipal or commercial). Ferrying a car in two directions will cost 2,720 rubles (as of August 2018). Travel time will be about 20 minutes.

You can get to Putyatin by public transport. Regular buses run from Vladivostok to Nakhodka regularly (twice an hour in summer). On one of them you need to get to Fokino, there change to municipal bus to the Danube. Arriving in the village, you need to walk to the ferry crossing and take the nearest ferry. The return journey must be done in the same way.

Settlement on Putyatina Island. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Settlement on Putyatina Island. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Settlement on Putyatina Island. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Forest on the island. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Things to do and see

Putyatin Island is very picturesque, especially in its part farthest from the mainland. A series of chic bays with magnificent sandy beaches and the cleanest sea annually attract many wild tourists to the island. lovers beach holiday prefer long trips to the island - from 5 days to two weeks. Most often, vacationers arrive on the island with private cars, on which they get to places of rest and explore other attractions of the island. There are many of them on Putyatin.

The most famous of them is Gusinoye Lake in the central part of the island, which, moreover, is a natural monument of regional importance. Komarov's lotus grows here - a relic plant listed in the Red Book of Russia. In Asian countries, the lotus is considered a sacred plant, they believe that Buddha was born in the lotus bud. Lotus bloom falls on the last week of July and lasts until mid-August - it is at this time that the island rushes the largest number tourists.

Lotus Komarov. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Thickets of Komarov's lotus in Gusinoye Lake. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Thickets of Komarov's lotus in Gusinoye Lake. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

Lotus Komarov. Photo: IA PrimaMedia

The underwater world of the coast of Putyatin Island is very rich. In addition to underwater rocks and stones, ruffs and greenlings, mussels and scallops, here you can find octopus and stingray. Incredibly picturesque coastline: the island is known for its bizarre rock formations: Five fingers kekurs, Rooster, Elephant, Dragon rocks. From the coast you can see the stones of Unkovsky sticking out of the sea and the island-rock of Iretsky, in good weather Askold Island is visible in the distance.

To fully enjoy the scenery of the island, tourists often climb to its highest point - Mount Startseva, located in the northern part of Putyatin. From a height of more than 350 meters, gorgeous views of the island, the mainland coast, neighboring island Askold and even to Vladivostok.

History buffs can visit the monument to the pioneer Putyatin Alexei Startsev, which is located on a low hill not far from the road that leads from the village to southern part islands. It was opened in 1989 in recognition of the Merchant's merits in the development of the island by the people of Putyatin. From historical heritage on the island you can also find the ruins of Startsev's house, which once stood near the pier.

The material was prepared within the framework of the PrimaMedia IA project . The goals of the project are to unlock the potential of Primorsky Krai for domestic tourism, summarizing the diverse experience of amateur travelers, introducing readers to the most attractive places for tourism in the region and major exhibitions of the tourism industry in Primorye.

Putyatin Island will forever remain in my heart. Here I became a man, here passed the most memorable period of my life. And if in previous stories I spoke of romance as a dream, here I fully felt it in real life. I am grateful to fate that, by the will of fate, I ended up on this island. I am grateful to people who lived, and maybe still live in a small fishing village located on the shores of a wide bay. I first set foot on its shore back in 1965. The month of November is on the calendar, I escaped from the Komsomol construction site in the city of Bolshekamensk and came here to get a job as a sailor of a fishing seiner. And I did it! Thanks fate.
The island is located in Peter the Great Bay, approximately between Vladivostok and Nakhodka. The coastline in Primorye is replete with bays and bays. So Putyatin is located in the small Strelok Bay, the patrimony of military sailors. In bays with eloquent names: Robber, Abrek and others, they "lodge" with their formidable ships and submarines. Putyatin, together with Askold Island, are located in the center of the bay and serve as a screen from American spies, hiding our naval power. The island got its name in memory of the famous Russian admiral E.V. Putyatin. It was this navigator who first mapped and explored the island, the adjacent coasts and the sea. Another surname is closely connected with the history of the island: Alexey Startsev, a Vladivostok magnate and millionaire. He turned the island into a "paradise on earth", planted gardens, raised spotted deer, produced unique porcelain, high-quality bricks and even silk here. But the revolution came and the commissars stopped all this "disgrace" so that the bourgeois would not drink the precious, proletarian blood of the hegemons. By the time I arrived, the memory of this man and his "arts" had safely disappeared. True, some people still knew that the most high mountain the island is called the hill of that same Startsev. In Soviet times, the island had a fish factory and a fishing fleet attached to it. Nearby there was a fur farm with deer, which the Bolsheviks apparently could not kill, and at the other end the warriors built a base for themselves, where they kept some of their property. That's all, if not to mention the lake on the territory of the island, in which lotuses grew, a rarity for the Far Eastern flora.
From the mainland, the island is separated by a strait through which a small, old ferry runs. Do I need to say that for the first time I stepped on its deck with bated breath, realizing that I was entering into new period of my life, that my Odessa dream about the sea is partially coming true. And here, on the ferry, I began to make new discoveries for myself. In a small wardroom, open to passengers, the crew sat at the table and dined. To my surprise, they ate flounder fish soup with gusto. Now, when almost fifty years have passed, not everyone will understand the reasons for my surprise. To do this, you need to know the everyday little things of our lives in those years. I was a resident of the Volga region and in our Tatastan, sea fish was then sold in a very limited assortment and people preferred to eat river fish. The flounder, by the way, was sold, but it was contemptuously called: “one-eyed” and the stress was placed on the last syllable - flounder A-A. All the rich variety of sea fish that the Soviet people then consumed was reduced to sprat, sprat and herring. For the most part, people knew nothing about seafood and, of course, about sea delicacies, although some of them were sold in stores. I still remember the slogan of Soviet trade in the fifties: "It's time to try how tasty and tender crabs are." It took years for people who lived on the banks of the Volga to pay attention to the products of the seas. I believe that the fact of overlapping our main river cascade of hydroelectric power plants. Since then, sturgeons and beluga have ceased to be caught in the Kazan region. True, one individual, or rather its stuffed animal, is now being demonstrated in historical museum and the survivors are gone. By 1965, this slogan, of course, disappeared along with the delicacies. But the flounder continued to remain on the shelves, but in my mind it was a kind of, as it were, fake fish. Hence my surprise, how is the sea overboard, but they eat some kind of flounder.
Another circumstance that I immediately drew attention to was the nature of the relationship between the crew and passengers. An almost homely atmosphere reigned on the ferry, a few passengers and crew members, everyone knew each other and behaved exactly at home. View of the sea and sailors passenger ships, which was formed during my life in Yalta, did not at all coincide with what I saw here. In Yalta, the sea was part of the resort surroundings, just a large swimming pool, a sea for admiring and lightly tickling the nervous system during a storm. I well remember the oily eyes of sailors on pleasure boats plying along south coast Crimea. Giving their hand to another passenger to help her step onto the slightly swaying deck, they looked at her like a well-fed cat on sour cream. The sailors here, the ferrymen were just your friends, carrying passengers from the mainland to the island, their regular job. For these guys, the sea smelled not of cocotte spirits, but of labor sweat. Here the sea is the source of life, the sea is a worker, hard worker and breadwinner. And the autumn fresh wind only emphasized this circumstance, as if saying: here your friend is not a resort and not relaxing, but real man's work.
Half an hour of travel and our "liner" moored to one of the berths on Putyatin Island. Directly in front of us are the shops of the fish factory, on the left is the passage to the village. I go to the office of the fish factory, in the personnel department I present my documents. And literally in a few minutes, let me introduce myself: Shmelev Yuri - a sailor of the fishing seiner "Argoda". But the seiner is at sea and will be at the pier only in the evening, but for now, go young man to settle in a hostel, it is nearby here. It turns out that there is such a procedure here: you work and live on a ship, but in the hostel a place is assigned to you, and you are registered there. Later I realized that this is a very reasonable rule. The village itself was located on the shore of a wide bay, facing, so to speak, to the mainland. The entire village consisted mainly of private buildings. He was surrounded by hills, and the houses went along the lowland between them deep into the island. Here, near the berths of the fish factory, next to the office there was, as it were, a center. A post office, a savings bank, a store and a two-story barracks, a small square, at the far end of which a community center flaunted in a public garden, made up the central part of the village. A hundred meters behind him, on a hill in a two-story building was a hostel. Also not far from the club, closer to private houses, there was a dining room and a buffet with it. That's the whole village. There was also a fur farm on the island, located not far from ours, the fisherman's one, right behind the highest hill. Even further away, on the other side of the island in Shirokaya Bay, there was a Morflot base. But I learned all this later, but for now I came to the hostel, where they quickly assigned me my room and bed. Until the evening I walked around the village and, when it began to get dark, I met my seiner at the pier. It did not look like a cruising ocean, multi-deck giant, looking at which is breathtaking, no, it was, to put it mildly, slightly shabby, gray, more like a boat, a motor ship. But he went to mooring very confidently and even beautifully, it was clear that the sea was his element, he looked so natural and simple on the water surface. He seemed handsome to me. When approaching the pier, two people appeared on the deck, without fussing, deftly threw the ropes on the metal mooring bollards, the seiner, purring busily, stood at the pier. More people appeared on the deck, opened the lid of the hold, the deck boom lowered a large, metal tub down, and a minute later they heard: Vira! The unloading of the caught fish began. The fish was sent directly to the shop for processing. After waiting for the end of the unloading, I stepped onto the deck of the seiner, said hello and asked: “Where can I find the captain? The man who took me to the captain turned out to be the boatswain, the most important head of the sailors. The captain looked at the documents and placed me at the disposal of the boatswain who had brought me to him. He gave me a fishing uniform, rubber boots, white cotton gloves, bed linen and took me to the sailor's quarters, where he also showed me my bed. It was a cozy couch, similar to the one that happens in a train compartment. Having got acquainted with the team, I went with everyone to the cabins - the company had dinner. For dinner, they “served” pasta with stew a la navy, fried fish and compote. Ate with pleasure, very tasty. After dinner, some went home to the village, single and homeless people, like me, remained on the ship. Watchmen were appointed for the night: a sailor and a mechanic, as well as a navigator, the rest went to bed. In the morning I woke up already at sea, it turns out the ship leaves early, the watch team and the captain manage it. It is two or three hours to the fishing area, that is, we start fishing at about seven in the morning. The boatswain explained the duties that I have to perform at different stages of fishing. I was put on the so-called rear board, which is located at the stern. The board is purely conditional, in fact it is a whole glider made of metal, weighing seven hundred kilograms. She hangs on steel bridles, something like kite. Only instead of a tail, one wing of the trawl is attached to the back. A second board is lowered from the nose of the seiner. Gliding in the water, they open the trawl to its entire width, the opening height is determined: up - by floats (kukhtyl), down - by weights. That's all. A seiner armed with such a trawl as a tractor plows the seabed, raking up everything living and non-living in its path. Trawling depth up to two hundred meters, travel time with a trawl up to two hours, depending on the mass of the fish school. There is an echo sounder in the wheelhouse and, focusing on its readings, the captain determines the time of trawling.
Finally we came to the fishing area, now we will cast the trawl. As the boatswain taught, I stood at my workplace. Despite the excitement, I still managed to properly fulfill my duties and the trawl went into the depths of the sea. We took off our clothes and went to have breakfast. We had breakfast in the cabins - the company. No more than eight people could fit at the table, that is, our entire deck crew, including the boatswain and the trawlmaster. The rest of the team had breakfast earlier. For breakfast there was porridge, cold fried fish, coffee with milk and butter, all very tasty and satisfying. Later, I learned that this is a traditional food system, the state allocated 91 kopecks per person per day for this purpose. In the merchant fleet, by the way, allowances amounted to just over one ruble for these purposes. We were given less, because we ate state-owned fish, which we caught ourselves. After breakfast, all the sailors began to do business, some on behalf of the boatswain - the management of the ship, some under the guidance of the trawlmaster - fishing gear. The crew of the seiner was 16 people. Six sailors are the deck crew, the main physical tax of the ship. The boatswain and the trawlmaster are their immediate superiors. The Estonian Habergras, by the way, a wonderful person and an excellent specialist in his field, worked as a trawlmaster for us. How he got to these parts from cozy Estonia, I don’t know, there were many incomprehensible things in our mighty state. The cook and the radio operator kept apart in the crew of the seiner. By the way, we all called radio operators in our navy: “marcons”, and not priests or priests. They, these two were the "white bone" of the team, even for chopping in a winter storm, they went out only after a personal order from the captain. The engine team consisted of two mechanics led by a starmekh (grandfather). Two navigators with a captain completed the pyramid of our team. I spent almost two years in fishing and I am deeply grateful to fate that I had a chance to go through this school of life.
We return to the process of fishing. It took about two hours after sweeping our trawl, it was time to rise. Everyone stood in their places, the seiner stalled, the main winch, which was controlled by the boatswain, started working. We began to wait for the appearance of the trawl on the surface. Here the spacer boards appeared from the water, swinging on cables, they approached their places. Catching my board by the bridle, I fixed it as it should be and went to the platform in the center of the deck space to help other sailors. The trawl to the deck rises over the side with the help of a cargo boom with interceptions of about three meters each. To do this, the most experienced sailor with an assistant presses the net to the bulwark and grabs the neck of the trawl with a noose. Then they hook this noose to the hook of the arrow. After several such interceptions, the end of the trawl appeared, in which there was a fish. The cargo boom of the seiner had a carrying capacity of up to five tons, so we took the entire catch on board in one go. I was torn apart by curiosity about what we had caught in the sea. The fish fluttered on the deck, the eyes simply ran from its diversity. But I had to work further, so only after making a new note, I was able to calmly examine what I caught. The fish lying on the deck were of various sizes and breeds. I saw a lot for the first time and didn't even know what it was. A variety of crabs, some kind of mollusks, shells and several octopuses were stirring in a large pile of fish. All this stuff had to be sorted, it turns out. The fact is that, as they explained to me, we catch the so-called partial fish, from which the cheapest canned food is made: meatballs and cutlets in tomato sauce. At the same time, any fish was used, but not seafood, they need to be thrown into the sea. Since our catch was small, we sorted out rather quickly and went to rest.
Immediately, the guys taught me how to cook crabs. It's very simple, you take the claws with both hands, step on his torso with your foot, pulling the claws up, pull them out and put them in a bucket of sea water. Having asked the consent of the cook, you put it on the stove and in half an hour it is already ready. The crab is so huge that one cannot do it alone, two or three people are just right. The attitude towards the crab delicacy in the team was indifferent, whoever wanted it ate it, no one paid attention to it. Over time, I got used to eating a wide variety of seafood, but never in the team there was any special attitude towards the exotic of this kind. You like it, well, eat well. But there were also common preferences, for example: when a large cod came across in the trawl. Our cook ripped open the bellies of several fish, and the whole company ate fresh, fried cod liver. True, when this happened for the first time, I was immediately warned not to get carried away, not to eat a lot. There is a lot of fat and vitamins in cod liver, too much can affect health, the vitamin balance in the body can be disturbed. Over time, I got used to it and ate without fear. I also got used to the fact that every day there is fish on the table. They didn’t do culinary delights, they didn’t know how, and they didn’t know what they were. But fish fried or boiled is always fresh and very tasty. Loved the fish cakes too. But they were not done often, but only if there were cod and greenling perch in the catch at the same time. Minced meat was made in half from both varieties of fish. It seems that there is nothing tastier than such cutlets. There were other passions associated primarily with the range of catches. But all this was ahead, now, for me, the most important thing was not to lose face. I discarded the very idea that I would not be able to do everything on the seiner as required. I was delighted that I was on a fishing boat among such wonderful people that I was at sea and I had a chance to become a real sailor.
Since our catches were small this time, and there was a slight frost on the street, the caught fish did not spoil, we did not come to our base for three days, we caught round the clock. By the evening of the third day, we were safely moored at our native pier. Like a real sailor, I jumped over the side to the pier to take the mooring line and immediately got into an incident, which consisted of the following: during our fishing, I lost the habit of the earth's firmament. And now, stepping on the pier, I felt with horror that it was swaying. Instinctively, he squatted down and put his hands on the floor. I don't think I've ever experienced anything more stupid in my life. Quickly realizing that these were the consequences of sea rolling, he got up from all fours and tried to do what was required. Thanks to the boatswain, he did not show that I had made such a mistake. After that, he only said: “You, Yura, don’t be upset, this is nothing, it can be worse with others, but you will make a sailor.” All my life I was lucky to meet good people! Unfortunately, I remember only his name, Nikolai. His support, kind participation in my development as a sailor, can hardly be overestimated. Thanks to him.

Continuation of the topic.

Putyatin in my heart.

I left Putyatin in 1967, after the pollock season. I said goodbye to my seiner, friends, last time looked at the island and set off. 45 years have passed since then, the year is 2012, and here I am again on the shore of the strait, in the village of Temp, waiting for the ferry to the island. There is no former pier, its remains stick out of the water - piles. I can't say that my heart is beating wildly in my chest. There is curiosity and I look for familiar features of the landscape. I can't remember anything other than the pier. The coast of Tempa is inhospitable and empty, the weather is cloudy. True, in fifty meters I see an unsightly building with the inscription "Cafe".
I went in, found out that the ferry was running, and had a bite to eat at the same time. Two pretty girls offered some kind of meat dish for little money. It turned out to be quite tasty. Again he went ashore, and here passengers already appeared. One woman asked me about the purpose of my trip to the island. I told. She shook her head and called a friend on the island, saying that a tourist was coming and needed an overnight stay. It turns out that there is a hostel on the island. So the problem of housing on the island was easily solved. Half an hour later, our ferry hit the shore. Three cars, with a dozen passengers, that's the whole expedition to the island. This is locals returning home from the mainland where they traveled on business. There are no tourists yet, except for me. Lotuses on the island will bloom only in ten days, and then they will tumble down in a crowd. Everything will be mangled and dirtied, and then they will dreamily roll their eyes and talk about the beauties of the island and lotuses. But I'll be gone by then.
Half an hour of travel and we are already bumping into the shore of the island. And immediately the first disappointment. Previously, the ferry moored at one of the factory berths. Now he is “mooring”, that is, poking his muzzle into the shore far from the village, there used to be a fur farm. It was a fur farm, yes, apparently, it swam away. A young man meets me on the shore, he was sent for me by the owner of the hostel, his father.
What did I expect and what did I hope for when I was going to come here? I found out on the Internet that the island ekes out a miserable existence. Of course, I read about lotuses. I had never seen them before. During their flowering period, we caught saury on Shikotan. But I didn’t care much about flowers, even such unique ones in Primorye as the lotus. I was interested in the life of the village and the people. I waited and hoped that at least some kind of life was glimmering here. After all, the island remembers not only the Soviet era, when life was seething here, but also the time and pre-revolutionary time of Startsev, when there was a paradise on earth here. All in vain. I saw not a flowering land, but a living corpse. The people who live here simply exist, dreaming of breaking out someday into the normal world. For all my readiness to see the devastation, I could not suppress the pain in my heart.
For seventy years we have been building communism throughout the country. They spared no effort, studied, worked, and everything went to dust, there was zilch and a completely broken country. And the people... Nobody cares about the fate of the inhabitants who remained here. It is bitter to see the truth, when you seemed to know that it was bad there, but in your heart you did not want to believe, you hoped for something.
I'm walking down a familiar path from central square, where the palace of culture still stands and is located in the former store of my current hostel, towards the hostel. Here I had a bed in one of the rooms. There, our youth once boiled and seethed after returning from a months-long distant seas. There we loved and hated, there we made friends and quarreled, there was the epicenter of a typhoon named: youth, romance. What now? Now it's just a mess. In these ruins are buried the voices of beautiful young maidens, our girlfriends, the hugs and kisses of lovers, the stormy and noisy parties of young Moremans and old sea wolves. The memory of us, barely audible to a sensitive ear, still lives here. But the wind of the next cyclone inexorably blows these barely audible sounds through the empty eye sockets of the former windows, doors and corridors. And very soon they will freeze, only the voice of the wind will be heard, and the noise from the fall of plaster and stones. Everything, our youth finally sunk into oblivion.
Will have beautiful island new life? Will he remember the past heavenly times of the Startsevo era, will he remember our such a fun time, or will he come up with, create his own, unforgettable? Don't know. There is no answer, but I do not agree with the sentence passed on the island. He has a future. The island will be reborn, so that the current timelessness, our inhuman power and hopeless residents do not work with it. I believe in the revival of my island. Love and youth, dignity and pride for their homeland will live here again.

Putyatin Island is the third island in Primorye that I managed to visit, after Popov and Russky (for those who are interested, look for last year's reports on the relevant tags), so I was no longer surprised by anything, but nevertheless local beauties cannot get bored. Getting here is many times more difficult than getting to Russky and Popov: you have to go from Vladivostok to Fokino by bus going to Nakhodka, then take a bus to the Danube village, and already in the Danube take a ferry. This cup passed me, because they brought me by car =) They even wanted to cross to the island with the car, but it turned out that it costs under 2 thousand, and they decided to leave it in the Danube. A ticket for one adult is about a hundred, while for the inhabitants of the island - 10 rubles =)

The ferry is absolutely terrible, as is the pier. I have never seen anything like this, yet in Vladivostok everything is much more decent. One consolation was that it took only 15 minutes to drive it. Well, the fact that I swim normally too. But this rusty broken pier is something.

Fur seal. More specifically, a cat.

We swam. It's a pity the weather was unlucky - if it were sunny, everything would look more positive.

Outskirts of the village. I don't know how people live there. Wikipedia says that the population of the Danube grew last year. Wonders. It is shrinking everywhere, but here, at the end of the world, it has grown.

And this is a village on Putyatin. Such an ordinary village is no better and no worse than anywhere else. There are a couple of shops. We passed through the village and went further across the island in search of beautiful views.

And the views are what you need.

Lotus thickets on the lake are the main attraction of this island, even organized groups come here to look at them. Unfortunately, they bloom a month later. But I was not at all upset about this, because I had already somehow seen lotuses on Taman. Although they are some exclusively East Asian here, but I, not being connected with botany, would still hardly be able to appreciate them =)

Passed through the island through and through, and here is such a beauty. The island has several very beautiful bays, we went down to one of them, and quite unexpectedly it turned out to be very dirty = (The beaches here are free, and there are not that many people, but, apparently, it is not customary to clean up after yourself.

Now on Putyatina there is such a sluggish village life. And once Alexei Startsev, the son of the Decembrist Nikolai Bestuzhev, built a brick and porcelain factory here, bred horses, bred cows, pigs, geese and ducks, set up a deer farm and a snake nursery, built on the island good roads, laid a large orchard and vineyards, was engaged in beekeeping ... After the death of Startsev and before civil war his sons ran his business, and then they sold the island. The new owner soon died and Putyatin passed to Soviet power. Read more about this

In general, I do not even know what else to tell. We just walked, walked, then went down to one of the bays, swam and drove back. By the way, the ferry does not run very often. There is nothing to tell here - you need to look here =) So look, and I will be silent =)