The Bering Strait connects the Arctic Ocean with the Bering Sea and divides two continents: Asia and North America. The Russian-American border passes through it. It is named after Vitus Bering, the Danish captain who sailed through it in 1728. However, there is still debate about who discovered the Bering Strait. The Anadyr River Delta, which could only be reached through this strait, was investigated by Cossack Semen Dezhnev back in 1649. But later its discovery was unnoticed.
The depth of the strait averages 30-50 meters, and the width at the narrowest point reaches 85 kilometers. There are numerous islands in the strait, including the island of Diomede and the island of St. Lawrence. Some waters of the Bering Sea fall through the strait into the Arctic Ocean, but most of them flow into the Pacific Ocean. In winter, the Bering Strait is subject to severe storms, the sea is covered with ice up to 1.5 meters thick. Drifting ice stays here even in the middle of summer.
About 20-25 thousand years ago, during the ice age, the monumental continental glaciers formed in the northern hemisphere of the Earth contained so much water that the level of the world ocean was more than 90 meters lower than now. In the Bering Strait region, a drop in sea level exposed a massive, glacier-free path known as the Bering Bridge or Beringia. He connected
modern Alaska with northeast Asia. Many scholars suggest that Beringia had tundra vegetation, and even reindeer were found on it. The isthmus opened the entrance to the North American continent for people. 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, these days, to get from Russian Chukotka to American Alaska, it is enough to swim two hours by ferry. However, both the US and Russia restrict access to the reservoir. It is practically impossible for either an American or a Russian resident to get permission to swim in the Bering Strait. Sometimes adventurers illegally try to cross it by kayaking, swimming or ice.
There is an erroneous opinion that the strait completely freezes in winter, and it can easily be crossed on ice. However, there is a strong northern 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.
Currently, 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. They spent many days 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 Karl Bushby and his American friend Dimitri Kiefer made the return trip. In Chukotka, they were detained by the FSB of Russia and deported back to the United States. There were several more similar attempts, but all of them ended with the fact that the rescuers had to lift people from the ice blocks using helicopters.
