Cape Dezhnev, Russia Cruises

Cape Dezhnev, Russia Cruise Port

Located on the Chukchi Peninsula in Russia’s scantly populated Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Cape Dezhnev is a cape that forms the easternmost mainland point of Asia. The cape lies between the Bering and Chukchi Seas and is about 50 miles from Alaska’s Cape Prince of Wales, which is separated from Dezhnev by the Bering Strait. While it once had a number of settlements and villages, today only the historic village of Uelen remains inhabited. Despite being the easternmost settlement on Asia, Uelen is also the closest Eurasian—which includes the entirety of continental Europe and Asia—to North America. The Cape Dezhnev peninsula, or East Cape, was once the center for trade between American/international whalers and fur traders and the indigenous Chukchi and Yupik people during the 19^th and early 20^th century. Today ships can drop anchor and ferry passengers across to visit the lone settlement or explore the various sites.

• Visit Uelen and see the Uelen Bone Carving Studio. The natives are famous for their walrus ivory carvings and their artwork is world renowned after a 2004 exhibition in Bern, Switzerland.
   
• Like most of Russia, Cape Dezhnev was once under the Soviet regime. Soviet ruins remain standing near the cape, and while they are in failing condition, they’re still fascinating to observe.
   
• The Cape Dezhnev Lighthouse has a bust of the area’s namesake, Semyon Dezhnev. In 1648, he sailed around the cape from the Arctic Ocean and technically discovered the Bering Strait eighty years before it was documented.
   
• Throughout the landscapes around the cape, visitors may see erected whale bones around the islands. These were left by ancient settlers who dealt primarily in the whale trade.