Bering Strait: the corridor to the New World

Bering Strait connects the Arctic Ocean with the Bering Sea and divides the two continents: Asia and North America. Through it passes the Russian-American border. It is named in honor of Vitus Bering, the Danish captain, who swam across it in 1728. However, there are still disputes about who discovered the Bering Strait. The Anadyr River Delta , which could be reached only through this strait, was investigated by the Cossack Semyon Dezhnev in 1649. But later his discovery was not noticed.

The depth of the strait is on average 30-50 meters, and the width at the narrowest point reaches 85 kilometers. In the strait there are numerous islands, including the island of Diomida and the island of St. Lawrence. Some waters of the Bering Sea pass through the strait into the Arctic Ocean, but most of them flow into the Pacific Ocean. In the winter, the Bering Strait is prone to severe storms, the sea is covered with ice up to 1.5 meters thick. Drifting ice remains here even in the middle of summer.

Approximately 20-25 thousand years ago, during the glacial period, the monumental continental glaciers formed in the northern hemisphere of the Earth contained so much water that the world ocean level was more than 90 meters lower than now. In the Bering Strait area, the drop in sea level revealed a massive, uncovered tract known as the Bering Bridge or Beringia. He connected Modern Alaska with north-east Asia. Many scientists suggest that Beringia had tundra vegetation, and there were even reindeer on it. The isthmus opened people's entrance to the North American continent. 10-11 thousand years ago due to the melting of glaciers the sea level rose, and the bridge across the Bering Strait was completely flooded.

In theory, today, to get from Russian Chukotka to American Alaska, it is enough to swim for two hours by ferry. However, both the US and Russia restrict access to the reservoir. It is almost impossible for an American or a Russian citizen to get permission to swim in the Bering Strait. Sometimes adventurers illegally try to cross it on kayaks, by swimming or on ice.

There is an erroneous opinion that the strait in winter is completely frozen, and it is easy to cross the ice. However, there is a strong north current, which usually leads to the formation of large open water channels. Sometimes these channels are clogged by moving pieces of ice, so it is theoretically possible, moving from piece to piece, and in some areas moving by swimming, cross the strait.

At present two cases of successful crossing of the Bering Strait are known. The first was recorded in 1998, when a father and son from Russia tried to walk to Alaska on foot. Many days they spent at sea on drifting blocks of ice, until finally they were brought to the shores of Alaska. And not so long ago, in 2006, the English traveler Carl Bushby and his American friend Dimitri Kiefer made their way back. In Chukotka, they were detained by the FSB of Russia and deported back to the United States. There were several more such attempts, but all of them resulted in the fact that rescuers had to lift people from ice blocks with the help of helicopters.