Barguzin Bay (or Barguzinsky Bay) is a branch of

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal is a rift lake and the deepest lake in the world. It is situated in southern Siberia, Russia between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, Irkutsk Oblasts of Russia, Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

, in the

Republic of Buryatia Buryatia, officially the Republic of Buryatia, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia located in the Russian Far East. Formerly part of the Siberian Federal District, it has been administered as part of the Far Eastern Federal District sin ...

; part of it lies in the Zabaykalsky (Trans-Baikal) National Park. The bay is named after the

Barguzin River The Barguzin (; ) is a river in Buryatia, Russia, long, flowing into the Barguzin Bay of Lake Baikal, the largest and deepest bay of Baikal. Barguzin is the third (by the flow amount) inflow of Baikal, after the rivers Selenga and Upper Angar ...

that flows into it from the eastern side of the lake.

Geography

Barguzinsky Bay is bounded by the mainland on the southeast, the main landmass of Svyatoy Nos Peninsula (the "Holy Nose") on the northwest side, and the

Chivyrkuisky Isthmus The Chivyrkuisky Isthmus is a broad land bridge that connects the island-like mountainous part of the Svyatoy Nos ("Holy Nose") peninsula to the eastern shore of Lake Baikal. The isthmus and the "island" are part of the Zabaykalsky (Trans-Baikal) ...

(that connects the two) on the northeast side. The isthmus separates it from the Chivyrkuisky Bay further to the northeast. The bay is roughly diamond-shaped, almost square, with diagonals measuring about 38 km (north-south) and 32 km (east-west). The entrance at the southwest, between the southwest tip of Svyatoy Nos (Cape Lower Head (''Нижнее Изголовье'') and

Cape Krestovy A cape is a clothing accessory or a sleeveless outer garment of any length that hangs loosely and connects either at the neck or shoulders. They usually cover the back, shoulders, and arms. They come in a variety of styles and have been used thr ...

on the mainland, is about 23 km wide. Just beyond the entrance, the bay widens towards the southeast to about 29 km, and then gradually narrows to about 25 km near the isthmus. The water is relatively deep at the entrance, but in the northeast half the bottom is relatively flat at about 50 m or less. The east side of Cape Krestovy is Krestovaya Bay, with a 1 km long beach. Continuing counterclockwise around the perimeter of Barguzinsky Bay, about 2 km due east there is Cape Buchenkova. Another 2 km to the southeast there is another cape, with Krutaya Bay between the two. Another 1.5 km southeast there is Cape Maksimin (or Gromotukhin). Another 4.5 km due east is Cape Dukhovy; between the two is a broad curved bay with mostly sandy beach, where the town of Maksimikha is located. From Cape Dukhovy the coast runs mostly northeast for a total of about 16 km, with four major capes: Bilyutinsky (4 km from Dukhovy), Zelenyy or Green (3 km from Bilyutinsky), Chernyy or Black (3.5 km from Green) and Kholyanki or Kholodyanki (4.5 km from Chernyy). That part of the coastline is rocky and overlooked by hilly terrain. Cape Kholyanki is a popular

ice fishing Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and fish hooks or spears through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Ice fishers may fish in the open or in heated enclosures, some with bunks and amenities. Shelters L ...

location because of the relatively colder and deeper water. About 5 km due east of Cape Dukhovy and 3 km southeast of Cape Bilyutinsky is a shallow 2.5 km by 1.2 km pond,

Lake Dukhovoye A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from t ...

, that has an outlet about 1.5 km northeast of Cape Dukhovy. At Cape Kholyanki the coast of Barguzinsky Bay changes direction and character. It runs due north along the Chivyrkuisky Isthmus, curving towards northwest at the end, in a smooth arc 27 km long. The isthmus is a low-lying sandy marshland. That part of the shore is a long sandy beach, broken only by the mouth of the Barguzin River (5.5 km north of Cape Kholodyanki, at ). The town of Ust-Berguzin is located on the south margin of that river, about 2 km from the lake's shore. This beach is a popular camping, fishing, and boating destination for tourists, as well as the only land way to the "Holy Nose". By late July water temperatures inside the bay close to the shoreline reach 20 – 21 °C; however, due to occasional strong winds from Baikal, currents of cold water may enter the bay and push the warmer waters closer to the shoreline. The isthmus and its beach end at the foot of the mountainous "Holy Nose". The shoreline turns abruptly to the left, by about 120 degrees, forming the Kultuk Bay. It then runs south by southwest in a slightly concave arc, to Cape Lower Head. A few blunt capes protrude slightly into the bay: Makarova at 6 km from the isthmus (where an intermittent mountain stream of the same name empties into the bay), Bolshoy Makarova at 8 km (the largest one, extending 700 meters into the bay), Osynovy at 10 km, Zelenenky at 14 km, Tolsty at 16 km. That part of the shore is again a narrow strip of large pebbles and rocks, overlooked by steep terrain; except at the very tip of the peninsula. Road R438 runs along the southeast side of Barguzinsky Bay to Ust-Barguzin, then turns east along the river to the city of Barguzin. A mostly unpaved road branches off R438 just north of the river and follows the shore of the bay, along the isthmus. At the Holy Nose it turns northeast towards Chivyrkuisky Bay. A precarious road branches towards southwest, leading down to Cape Makarova. That is the start of a popular hiking trail that leads up to Mount Markov, the highest point of the Holy Nose.

Habitation

There are two significant towns on the edge of the bay, on the mainland: Maksimikha at the southernmost end and Ust-Barguzin at the easternmost end, just south of the mouth of the Barguzin River. There are holiday resorts on Krutaya Bay, 1 km southeast of Cape Buchenkova, and about 1 km northeast of Cape Dukhovy. There are a few scattered huts and along the shore, including one on Cape Krestovy at the south end of the entrance and at a place called Glinka on the northwest shore, 1.2 km from the isthmus. A luxury hotel was built at Glinka in 1989, but was destroyed by fire shortly after opening, leaving only the cement and stone foundations. {{coords, 53.443, N, 108.773, E, display=title

References

Russian Topographic Maps
Map N-49-086
, from the ''Карты всего мира'' (''Maps for the World'') website. Accessed on 2019-06-10. Russian Topographic Maps
Map N-49-087
, from the ''Карты всего мира'' (''Maps for the World'') website. Accessed on 2019-06-10. Russian Topographic Maps
Map N-49-098
, from the ''Карты всего мира'' (''Maps for the World'') website. Accessed on 2019-06-10. Google Maps
Barguzinsky Bay
. Accessed on 2019-06-10. (2019):

("Shore survey"). Page on the ''Baikal.land'' website

, accessed on 2019-06-11. L. Shishmareva, E. Trofimova, Alex Triumfov, and others (2012):
The Precious Necklace of Baikal
'. Special edition of
Мир Байкала
' ("World of Baikal") Magazine, published by EKOS (Ulan-Ude, Republic of Buryatia). A. A. Dzuba (2007):
Гидротермы Байкальской впадины и платформенных областей южной части Сибирской платформы
("Hydrotherms of the Baikal depression and platform regions of the southern part of the Siberian platform"). ''География И Природные Ресурсы'' (''Geography and Natural Resources''), volume 2007, issue 4, pages 49-53. Святой Нос. Баргузинский и Чивыркуйский заливы
("Holy Nose. Barguzinsky and Chivyrkuysky bays"). Travel diary at website
Drom.ru
'. See also th
comment
by Aleksey Atutov "Я! И еще двое моих родственников, были первыми и единственными туристами отеля на Глинках...." with a rar
photo
of the hotel
archived
. Accessed on 2019-06-05. Bays of Russia Landforms of Buryatia