Egersheld Lighthouse (Tokarevskaya Koshka)

Tokarevsky lighthouse is one of the oldest lighthouses in the Far East, still remaining an important navigation facility and the most popular attraction of Vladivostok. It is located on a man-made stony spit extending from Tokarevsky Cape - the so-called Tokarevskaya Koshka. Between Cape Tokarevsky and Cape Bezymyanny on Elena Island, ships follow to the port of Vladivostok from the Amursky Bay, and the lighthouse was placed above the most dangerous shallow bank. This shoal, stretched parallel to the shore and dries at low tide, is called a "koshka." It was raised above the water, covered with sand, and connected to the cape by a narrow island-dam with a length of 796 meters.

As already mentioned, Tokarevsky lighthouse is one of the oldest in the Far East of Russia. In 1876, a luminous sign was installed here, and in 1910 a round white stone lighthouse tower with a height of 11.9 meters was erected on an octagonal foundation. Until now, it has been preserved in its original form.

The lighthouse stands approximately at a wide area in the middle of the spit, which is divided into two segments. At the first one, from the Tokarevsky Cape to the lighthouse, a power line was built - the wires from it were stretched across the Bosphorus-East to the same mast on Cape Bezymyanny. In this segment you can get to the lighthouse by car.

Another part of the spit, leaving into the sea, called "cat's tail". During low tide there you can reach the end of the spit on the dry land, and during high tide the water rises 20 centimeters and pours the sand ankle-deep. From the side of the “walk on the water” in this area the braids look as if people are walking straight along the waves. The people themselves also have strong impressions - as if walking above the sea abyss.

Kosa is considered to be a symbolic “beginning of the Pacific Ocean”, so meeting the dawn at the lighthouse and around it is of particular importance - perhaps the earliest start of the day on the planet.

In winter, spotted seal, the sweetest spotted seals, appear on the Tokarevskaya Koshka. This is the only species of mammals constantly living in the Gulf of Peter the Great. Spotted seals are found in the vast territory from Primorye to Chukotka inclusive. Marine biologists distinguish four of their main populations; near Vladivostok, there live representatives of the most southern and smallest, numbering no more than two and a half thousand individuals.

Strange as it may seem, the sea animals periodically need rest on land, for which the spotted seals choose the Russian island and the Tokarevskaya Koshka. Since these places in recent years have become especially popular with tourists and residents of townspeople, many have the impression that seals crawl ashore more often. Biologists do not agree with this - there are more people, not spotted seals.

IMPORTANT
It must be remembered that it is impossible to get close to the spotted seals. You can admire and take pictures from a distance of 15 meters, but no less. Moreover, in no case should we feed them and try to enter into direct contact.

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