Perhaps everyone has heard about Fox Bay - this is the most famous Crimean beach, stretching along a long sandy strip at the foot of Echki-Dag. There are many wonderful beaches in Crimea, not inferior to Liska in the softness of the sand and the gentleness of the sea, but only here a unique spirit of liberation and carefree reigns. — Mecca of naturists and informals, advanced and advanced youth. And not young people either... You won’t meet anyone here!
There is an assumption that the name “Fox Bay” comes from the sea fox. But local old-timers claim that the bay was previously called “Lysa” because of the exposed coastal ledges towering above it.In Lisya, everyone relaxes as they want: you can live in a tent, lie naked on the sand, beat a tambourine, wander along the shore with a backpack, enjoy fresh beer, hiding from the sultry rays under an umbrella, dive into the sea, forgetting about unnecessary swimming trunks and swimsuits. However, the “nudist” essence of the place does not force one to necessarily follow traditions - you can relax “clothed”, especially since excess sun is still harmful, which should not be forgotten.
During the warm season, the bay is home to hippies and musicians, tourists and climbers, Hare Krishnas and Hindus, Buddhists and “Indians”, hitchhikers and yogis, “elves” and “goblins”, hunters and fishermen, scuba divers and divers, hang gliders and speleologists: everyone can find here company and surroundings “according to taste and color”, the degree of “undress and looseness”. Even many “civilized” people, who in ordinary life are in no way connected with the listed society and wear a suit, tie and shiny shoes in the city, come here on vacation to be among the wild nature and take a break from civilization.
Children as young as two months old are brought here. Some, the most desperate, or perhaps, on the contrary, advanced mothers come here to give birth among dolphins - right in the sea.
You can get to Lisya by car by turning right before reaching Kurortny from Shchebetovka, but it’s better to just come on foot from the beach in Kurortny along a narrow path along the hills through Crab Cape, passing the Melon and Watermelon rocks.
Behind you is Kara-Dag, turning blue in the midday haze, in front is Crab Cape (where in one place you have to climb through a small through grotto). Actually, Fox Bay is more likely not a bay, but a long crescent-shaped beach, landscaped divided into three parts.
And Liska begins directly from the place where the first tent city was set up. Locally it is "Piccadilly". There are markets, pubs and kebab shops. I also went under the shade of one of the eateries, where I met the first inhabitants of Liska - Lesya, Vasya and their kids Masha and Alya. They are from Dneprodzerzhinsk and have been coming to Lisya Bay for several years in a row. As Vasily says, Liska has deteriorated recently.
And the whole fun is in the tent cities. The fact is that these towns are not simple, but... national. There is a Ukrainian town - a “zhovto-blakitny” banner flutters on a high yardarm. There is a Russian tent city, easily recognizable by the sovereign tricolor. I also discovered the flag of Scotland, hoisted over a canopy, under which strong, tanned men were drinking beer with obvious pleasure.
In fact, these towns make up one town, since all nationalities live side by side, seemingly quite peacefully, but distinguishing themselves with the help of national flags. However, maybe the flags are just there, out of love for their native places...
They say that Liska's main problem is the lack of firewood. This is understandable - there is no forest here, only sparse bushes huddle between the tents. True, the problem can be solved, since you can bring both firewood and water to Lisya by car.
Since trade is the engine of progress, it has already reached Liska. Here you can buy any products, including soft and non-soft drinks.
Bartender Murat lives in Shchebetovka in the winter, and in the summer he and his family move to Liska. He’s had a bar here for nine years, quite in the style of the bay: a counter with beer, camouflage nets on high stakes, a diesel engine for the refrigerator and poor lighting. There is a bed right on the seashore, they live right there...
Having passed the first tent city, I soon reach the second, “Cuba” in the local language. Here people no longer indulge in “patriotism”, but live like this, without flags. Finally the sandy beach begins. This is already a real Fox Bay. Nearby, some three kilometers away, is the old Kara-Dag, frightening with its steep cliffs and roaring grottoes, a biological station with a pebble natural beach. And here, in Lisya, there is soft sand. I take off the sneakers that are no longer needed.
I lie down on the sand near the shore. The sand near the water is cleaner than the sand near the hill. Its slopes are completely dotted with streams, which during rains wash clay directly onto the beach. By the way, a little about the hills. If buildings are made of large bricks, between which there are small layers of mortar, then the Echkidag hills adjacent to Fox Bay are just the opposite - “built” from thick layers of loose sedimentary rocks, which are penetrated by thin layers of hard rock, standing out in brown against the gray background clay mountain wall.
But the main thing in Lisya is the sea! If you have been to Yevpatoria, you probably remember the sandy beaches, near which the sea becomes cloudy during rough weather. And in Liska the sea is extraordinary. I have never seen anything like this anywhere. Feet step into soft sand, a wave rolls over bare skin, weathered by the breeze, heated by the sun. The feet sag slightly. Having gone waist-deep, you dive into the water. Pleasant freshness frees the body from languor. The water is very warm, but most importantly, transparent, despite the fact that the waves rush onto the shore, and the wind is quite fresh. Closer to the horizon it is azure blue, and near the shore the water is yellowish-green from the sand running from the shore in small dunes. You walk along it, and your foot seems to step on a ribbed “grater”. This kind of sand can be found in small rivers in central Russia - clean, shallow, winding, where shallow waters are interspersed with blue-black whirlpools.
You can swim endlessly. Just missing the sun frying my body, I go ashore. Diving in Lisya is actually not very interesting: just sand and sand. But you can truly relax and dissolve in nature, feel like a part of it.
Nearby, about twenty meters from me, young people live in a tent. Periodically, they crawl out from under the canopy to swim in the sea. The guys and the girl swim, completely undressed, but after swimming they dress again, which is correct, too much sunbathing is not good.
Perhaps those who come to Lisya for the first time will feel a little shy, because here it is customary to walk, sunbathe and swim without unnecessary “clothes”. But everyone’s shyness somehow quickly passes. Those who used to say: “I will never take my clothes off” are gradually losing their shyness along with the details of their clothing.
Noisy companies also come here. A whole boat just arrived with a dozen vacationers, all honorably - portly aunts, husbands, judging by their figures, partial to beer, loud-voiced children, a tape recorder, snacks, drinks. Well, why should they have stood a little further away? The coast is free...
A guy approached, in his words, “permanently living” in Lisya and enthusiastically cleaning the beach from garbage. He was carrying a hefty package: “Good afternoon! Let me introduce myself. My name is Pasha, I live here permanently and collect garbage. Could you give me some money, no matter how much, for groceries?”
Such politeness could not be refused, and the guy honestly earned two hryvnia.
But there were times (as I was told) when in Liska you didn’t need money, just a couple of bottles of port and you were yours!
I wanted to visit “Jamaica” - the favorite place of the Rastafarians, but the day before they scattered all over the coast. The average Rastafarian is a black-tanned man with a tambourine and dreadlocks, sick of weed and his own recklessness. It is these “chelas” who beat their tambourines all night long in Lisk, setting a unique rhythm for the entire coast.
If we summarize the articles about Fox Bay posted on the Internet, then in most cases the main idea will be something like this: a place where all sorts of informals drink and sunbathe naked. I want to talk about my experience in Fox Bay.
Geographical location of Fox Bay
Between and Karadag there is Chalka Bay. Its length is about ten kilometers. Part of this bay is a narrow strip of beautiful beach under the clayey slopes of the Echki-Dag ridge and bounded by Mount Nyushka and Cape Crab, only 2.7 km is called Lisya Bay, although Liska itself ...
Background to the trip to Fox Bay.
The first time I heard about Fox Bay was from the daughter of the owner of the room we rented in Sudak. By this time, we had already ceased to be simple mattresses and began to appear very rarely on the city beach of Sudak. First, we (my wife Larisa and I) explored the New World with its colorful bays, Tsarskoye Beach and then the wild beaches along the Sudak - New World road, but more on that another time. All this gave us the right to consider ourselves savages and almost nudists.
And Tatyana’s stories about her vacation in Fox Bay excited my soul. She spoke with delight about some kind of wild, free kingdom, where you just can’t get to it - there is no road, no water, no forest - so everything - firewood, water, food, personal belongings - must be carried on yourself. But for that – complete freedom: of speech, of press, and of clothing. And the basic principle is - do what you want - the main thing is not to disturb others. The next year, we again listened with envy to Tatyana’s stories about Fox Bay with new details.
And finally, we made up our minds.
Sudak Solnechnaya Dolina Coastal.
A bus runs from Sudak and takes you only to Solnechnaya Dolina, but the minibus runs more often and goes to the beach of Solnechnaya Dolina - the village of Pribrezhnoye, which is another three and a half kilometers. The departure point is the lower platform of the Sudak bus station, the schedule is there, on the pole (schedule 2011 in the photo). During the season there are a lot of people, and the minibus is an ordinary small passenger “Gazelle”. In the city it stops a couple of times, but it is impossible to sit in it, except to rest one leg. The route goes along the coast to the east - Cape Alchak, Kapsel Bay, Cape Meganom, past the Arhaderesse wine cellars, Solnechnaya Dolina, and finally the beach (Pribrezhnoe).
A little about Sun Valley Beach.
By the way, the minibus does not reach the sea a little, but stops near the branded wine store “Solnechnaya Dolina”, so the bulk of the people first pack wine, both to take away and in, and then move on. Yes, the wine list of the Solnechnaya Dolina factory deserves a separate article, the only thing you try is you won’t regret it. And one more thing: in the second half of August, these stores sell local grapes, tasty, ripe and, compared to the market, for nothing. From the store 50 meters is the Pribrezhny embankment, and behind it the beach, by the way, is very good - sand, small pebbles, clean water, and few people. To the right there will be a small market, then the beach of Solnechnaya Dolina is blocked by the fence of the Russian military unit. Who are they protecting here on the beach? And from whom? There will be a row of “cafes” to the left. You should go there. Actually, behind the last cafe the trail to Fox Bay begins. She either climbs the hills or walks along the very edge of the surf. Here and there there are settlements of savages. The places, although wild, are not very nudist. Basically, everyone is by car, and so on until “Kinogorodok” - the last point that can be reached from Solnechnaya Dolina.
Film town. It’s not Fox Bay yet, but the beaches are already wild.
“Kinogorodok” is a former film set in Chalka Bay in oriental style. It was built in 2004 and became the backdrop for the filming of the movie Live Fish. Embankment, palace, houses. Everything is abandoned and falling apart more and more every year. And between them there are tents and cars. Our first attempt to reach Fox Bay ended somewhere halfway. We walked as always - at random: according to the sun and stars, without even asking those around us. And then, having passed the next section along the edge of the surf under the cliff, we came out onto a wonderful beach. There were tents on a small step along the beach. On both sides of the edge of the gentle surf were scattered semi-naked and completely naked male and female bodies, sunbathing and bathing. It was already 9-10 o'clock, that is, very hot.
After two kilometers of walking through the mountains under the sun, the place seemed very attractive, and we decided to take a break. After settling in and swimming, I looked around, and among other things, on the distant hill I noticed a cafe and a suspicious little blue house on a hill. What was my surprise when it turned out to be the store of the Solnechnaya Dolina winery! It’s clear – we didn’t go any further.
Second attempt to reach Fox Bay.
It’s interesting that we didn’t make it to Fox Bay the following year either. We, as always, were vacationing in Sudak, and our daughter and her boyfriend decided to live like savages on that beach in Chalka Bay, which we discovered last year. We visited them often and with pleasure, brought food, swam, and sunbathed. And then, finally, we decided to go further, but the weather this year was not good. Either wind, or rain, or even a storm. That's what happened this time too. As soon as we passed, the Chalka Bay Film Town rebelled - the wind grew stronger, a cloud rolled in, and it began to rain. I’m still kicking myself for not taking a photo then. The road back is a complete extreme. Squally wind. Shower. The path either climbs steeply up, then goes along a clay slope at 45 degrees, or along the edge of the surf along a wall sliding down. Once again nature explained to us that what seems to be the safest place can be very formidable and dangerous.
And finally, FOX!
And finally, the next time, we safely passed the Cinema Town, walked three hundred meters along the pebbles between the sea and the wall and found ourselves in the world of summer, sea, nudity and freedom. It’s interesting that what struck me was not naked ladies with large busts or young girls sunbathing in what their mother gave birth to. No. I was amazed by the relationships between people. Some walk naked, some clothed, some without a top, and some without a bottom. But no one pays attention to this. Well, enough about psychology.
Settlements and population of Fox Bay.
The beach of Lisya Bay itself or simply Liski is somewhere a little more than a kilometer away. Sand, small pebbles. There are rocks in the water in some places. In calm weather, the water is very clean, warm, and the surf is weak. There are a lot of fish in the sea and dolphins often come. In general, they say they have something like a kindergarten there. There is a step above the beach, and behind it a steep slope made of blue clay (yes, the same one that is packaged and sold on trays).
The population is diverse. From the Pribrezhny side, this part of Lisya Bay is called “Nyushka”, an almost calm family vacation. Children are frolicking in the shallow water. Older boys play volleyball or juggle with a strange apparatus consisting of balls on a rope. Somewhere further down the beach is Jamaica with the corresponding ensign. Although I also saw the flags of Russia and Poland. Here they beat drums almost around the clock, young people wander around with signs of various subcultures in their hairstyle, remnants of clothing and accessories.
Closer to Kurortny there are shops and cafes. You can get here along the only dirt road, made by a small business about ten years ago, and it’s about twenty minutes on foot to the village of Kurortnoye. That’s why there are a lot of “mattress people” here, music plays loudly in the cafe - discos until the morning. And in general, if it weren’t for the completely naked ladies and men, then everything began to resemble not Fox Bay, but Koktebel or Sudak. Although the cafes here are unique - people not only drink and eat there, but also sleep, and I got the impression that some people live there. I especially liked the free-standing “restaurant” (at the very beginning). Two-storey reed bungalow. There are practically rooms on the second floor. There are some “informals” sleeping around, but an excellent cook and they fed us well.
Help continued
ends in a place called Piccadilly Circus. And it is conditionally divided into several “villages”, among which: Piccadilly - there is a market, Zelenka - a comfortable place in the shade of trees up the ravine, then Jamaica with Cuba, and, finally, Nyushka - also up the ravine, although without trees, but It's more or less quiet here.
Fox Bay Beach
The width of the beach in Fox Bay is up to ten meters, every year, for some reason everything is mostly sand, small pebbles, shells in the surf - pebbles, sometimes large ones. Lots of beautiful stones. There are also semi-precious ones, sometimes even Carnelian is found.
How to get to Fox Bay.
On foot.
from Pribrezhnoe - a little more than three kilometers, or from the village of Kurortnoye - less than two. In both cases, there is a path along the shore - you won’t get too lost, I want to say one thing - it’s not very easy to walk in flip-flops.
By car.
From the Feodosiya - Sudak highway in front of Shchebetovka, turn onto Kurortnoye. Then leave Shchebetovka and after some time the road will go to the left, and a dirt road will go straight across the field along the forest belt. If you turned correctly, then soon there will be a bridge over the river and large containers in the field, go past them and go up the hill (there will be a forest here), then go down, pass the pond, and end up in the sea... Turn right and along the beach to a small market , right in front of the market the road will turn right, go around the market and again up a small hill - behind it the main beach of Fox Bay itself will begin (information from the network, I didn’t go there myself).
From Solnechnaya Dolina you can only get to Kinogorodok. In the Kinogorodok area and further to Pribrezhny there are also many good wild beaches, access by car, you can meet nudists, but the atmosphere is not the same. There are no informals, fire shows and drums until the morning.
From the road to Pribrezhnoye you need to turn left back in Solnechnaya Dolina and past the lakes, through the vineyard (there is security there, you need to negotiate) you will go to the sea. There are many roads there, it is better to check with the locals. From Kinogorodok to Fox Bay about seven hundred meters along the shore.
The wild beach “Fox Bay” or “Liska”, as it is often called, is located in the southeastern part of the Crimean peninsula, not far from Sudak, southwest of the village of Kurortnoye and northeast of the village of Pribrezhnoye.
The town of “Fox Bay” is a fairly large, wide bay of the Black Sea, surrounded by the impressive and beautiful mountain ranges Kara-Dag and Echki-Dag, which gives it a feeling of certain isolation and isolation from the outside world.
Surprisingly, Fox Bay is one of the places that made Crimea famous far beyond the borders of Russia and Ukraine. Tourists are attracted by both the unusual setting of the beach, which does not involve the usual formalities, and the natural features of this place, making it one of the most beautiful on the entire peninsula. In fact, “Fox Bay” is the only wild area of Crimea that is not a state nature reserve, but is therefore accessible to everyone, in which nature has been preserved in a form not affected by technical progress and any construction, and has preserved its pristine beauty.
In addition, “Fox Bay”, due to its remoteness from cities and any industries, is included in a number of ecological zones of Crimea with unusually clean air, which is also an attractive factor for travelers.
Description of the beach and its features
“Fox Bay” beach is a unique place in Crimea, a holiday in which is significantly different from an ordinary beach holiday and has a number of its own specific features that cannot be found in other Black Sea resorts.
The length of the Fox Bay coastline is about five kilometers; the coastal topography here is uneven, with significant elevation changes.
The beach is covered with grayish sand, both on the shore and underwater. However, in some places the seabed hides large boulders under the sand.
Thanks to the proximity of the mountains, in “Fox Bay” it will not be a problem to find a shady place where, if desired, you can hide from the heat and sun rays. The air and sea water here are saturated with various microelements, such as iodine, which have a beneficial effect on the human body and contribute to overall health. In addition, the water here occupies a leading position in purity and transparency compared to water on other beaches of the Crimean peninsula.
“Fox Bay” is a wild beach, so there is no standard infrastructure for city beaches; tourists who come here independently set up tents, canopies, awnings, marquees and other structures depending on their needs.
However, due to the increasing popularity of this place, cafes and bars usually open here during the season, albeit very authentic ones. In addition, in the village of Kurortnoye, closest to Fox Bay, you can find everything you need: shops and markets with food, fruit, clothing and goods for everyday life and recreation, pharmacies, public transport stops, ATMs and other infrastructure.
Vacationers in “Fox Bay”
The most important feature of “Fox Bay” is the contingent - these are vacationers who traditionally come here from year to year. This place attracts representatives of a wide variety of subcultures: hippies, Rastafarians, punks and other informals, as well as “green” tourists and those who prefer outdoor recreation rather than in a hotel. And of course, “Fox Bay” is one of the most favorite vacation spots among nudists, or naturists, as they prefer to call themselves.
However, it is not at all necessary to be naked while on the beach here - it all depends on the desire of each vacationer, so on the coast, people in swimsuits peacefully coexist with sunbathers without clothes. At the same time, the general atmosphere that reigns in “Fox Bay” is incredibly friendly, welcoming and inviting, so being here is comfortable and pleasant.
It is worth noting that in addition to informals and nudists, representatives of creative bohemia, including famous people, also like to come to “Fox Bay”. For example, according to rumors, in the eighties of the last century, Viktor Tsoi, Boris Grebenshchikov and other cult characters liked to come here to take a break from the bustle of the cities and gain strength and energy for further creativity.
During the peak season, a real tent city unfolds on the shore of the bay, and nightlife with fire shows, the sounds of guitars, drums and cheerful laughter, as a rule, boils until dawn.
What is interesting in “Fox Bay” for tourists
In addition to the beautiful coastline, Fox Bay and its surroundings are full of interesting and worth visiting natural attractions.
The natural protection of the bay from the outside world on one side is the Echki-Dag mountain range, rising above the beach with its two peaks - Kokush-Kaya and Kara-Oba, whose heights are 570 and 670 m, respectively. Climbing to the top, you can see a beautiful view of the bay, bare and deserted, but no less attractive to the eye, slopes of the ridge, as well as the village of Kurortnoye and the extinct KaraDag volcano.
Numerous plateaus, hills and sharp peaks of the mountain range form intricate, bizarre figures that provide excellent ground for flights of fancy. For example, Mayak Hill, when viewed from a certain place, its outline resembles the silhouette of a fox drinking water from the sea. This association is further strengthened by the dull orange, brownish color of the rocks. According to one version, the name of the bay is connected precisely with this, although there are many other assumptions regarding its origin, plausible and not very plausible.
The Karadag ecological trail runs along the slopes of the Holy Mountain - another excellent place for viewing and photographing the surrounding area.
In addition, near the peaks of Echki-Dag there are two springs with pure spring water, which has an excellent taste, which can quench your thirst on hot days. The upper spring, called the Big Spring, is also very beautiful and deserves attention for this reason. Here is also one of the most interesting places in the entire massif, which received the unusual name - “Ear of the Earth”. This is a deep karst cave, going 132 meters into the depths of the mountain and representing a narrow, almost vertical tunnel.
Panoramic view of the Fox Bay beach in Crimea on Google Maps
How to get to Fox Bay in Crimea
Most vacationers get to Fox Bay through the village of Kurortnoye, located northeast of the beach. From the village there is a good walking path along the sea; the journey will take about half an hour or a little more with a leisurely walk. There are two more walking routes to the bay from the village of Shchebetovka, but they pass through the mountains and their duration, and therefore the duration, will be much longer.
Today, you can get to the bay by car, but it is advisable to do this in a car with high ground clearance and all-wheel drive. On the road between Shchebetovka and Kurortny there is a turn onto a dirt road that runs along the unfinished sewage treatment plant, through vineyards and mountain serpentine roads to the bay.
The village of Kurortnoye is also accessible by public transport from neighboring cities - for example, from Feodosia and Koktebel you can get there directly by bus No. 101.
Also, if desired and necessary, you can always use the services of local taxis operating throughout the Crimean coast, for example, “Taxi Crimea” and “Taxi Simferopol”.
Video from the beach “Fox Bay” (Photo report)
All my ears were buzzing about Fox Bay.
The customs officer, who suspected us of being in kazantip, summed it up: if you are in Kurortnoye, then you are in Lisya Bay. Friends from zhezhe regularly commented on me with fox bays. The owner of the hotel, expressing respect to us for our well-groomed and exquisitely beautiful appearance, involuntarily compared us with characters from Fox Bay, casually mentioning that some of his guests ran there for portions of joints. “I’m far from this, I just asked you not to be impudent and to clean up after yourself.. For example, I love vodka”
We decided to go there. And we got there, maybe we’ll get there some other time.
The easiest way to get there is on foot, but I decided to show off a little due to my interesting position.
Getting there with the help of local residents turned out to be extremely problematic. In the comments they wrote to me about some mythical taxis for 50 hryvnia; this summer there are no such prices in this area. Taxis on call (from numbers posted with advertising cardboards on kiosks) quoted us amounts of 200-300 hryvnia. Those who stood on the main “platform” of the Kurortny village valued themselves at 150 hryvnia, but refused to go there because the road was littered with dust, and after such a trip the car needed to be washed not only outside, but also inside.
Katya, my new friend, a seller of excursions, got me the best price for a one-way taxi. Deeply sympathizing with my easy pregnancy and little pussy Ladushka, she called a familiar taxi driver, who was merciful up to 100 hryvnia, and I saved this option in reserve.
Getting there by sea turned out to be just as difficult financially.
Excursion stands offered 60 hryvnia on a boat there at 9 (11, 13, 15 hours), back at 19. When I set out to negotiate, pay and sail the next day, it turned out that the boat goes to Fox Bay only when requests for a trip leave at least 4 people. Where can I look for the rest of my comrades?
I almost fell into despair, because even based on the acquaintance I had formed with the excursion dealers, they offered to go back there for 150 hryvnia - a boat for me alone - I almost decided to walk. As a result, they fitted me with a boat for 100 hryvnia, and I will give the number of this magical man to anyone if anyone finds themselves in these places and who needs to go fishing, diving or swim somewhere.
Sasha, Renat and our new friend Sveta/photographer set out for Fox Bay on foot at 9 am. We took beach accessories and plenty of water with us.
Fox Bay is located on the right of Kurortny, and the Kara-Dag complex rises on the left.
Ladushka and I set off on the boat trip at 9:45 – it took us at least half an hour, although I could be wrong. To calm my nerves, I put Buja on a yellow inflatable vest, bought on the first day, which we hardly use for swimming.
I was scared out of my mind - I have become very timid lately, especially when it comes to the elements. We were sailing in a small boat, bouncing on the waves - the shore was too far from us, with us was a woman with two children, one of whom, small, was vomiting into a beer glass. It was an acquaintance of the captain, he was taking her further than us. I was thinking about what I would do if we suddenly capsized and drowned, whether we would be able to get to the shore and everything like that. Riding a boat on such waves is an attraction, or even extreme. But still I liked it. Ladushka too, although most of the time she looked forward with round eyes, sometimes she laughed, but it was clear that she was in shock.
While we were sailing, it seemed to me that the road to the bay was actually very short - why were we so on the safe side? From a distance everything looks different. When we were unloaded onto the beach, everything fell into place.
Now I want to talk about the trail itself from Kurortny to Fox Bay.
A couple of days ago I sent Renat and Sasha there for reconnaissance. They returned quickly enough, having previously called me when they got to the place. There is no mobile communication in Fox Bay, unless you climb the mountain. Then, if J does not blow away, there is an option for negotiations.
The journey one way takes 45-60 minutes if you walk with a firm manly step. At first, this is an ordinary road from the village, along which a car can drive. Then a rocky coast with small and large pebbles begins.
Further, a peculiar path alternates between “off-road” roads and sharp rocks; you have to walk on stones, on clay, on gravel and pebbles.
3. a melting glacier apparently flows down this “channel”
7. this is a dangerous place on the trail - those two boulders, in our opinion, are just about to fall
9. At the beginning of the path there is a significant obstacle - a collapsed rock appears. You can climb over it or swim across the sea, but it seems to me that swimming across is stupid.
The path is simple, but requires attention and some skill.
this is just a crossing from above
10. This inscription says - everyone who goes throw a stone on the path - apparently, in order to quickly organize a normal crossing over the rock
11. On one side there is the sea, on the other there are mountains of volcanic origin, they are adjacent to the path. 5-10 meters from the shore you can see blocks of stones that fell from the mountains, on which tourists and birds sunbathe.
If you look into the sea, you can see and imagine how lava spread from the mountains into the sea. The landscape is similar to the landscapes from the film “One Million Years BC”.
They say there is also a mountain path, but this time I did not allow the men to explore it. Sometime later.
13. just a man walking from the bay, with a simple double bass
14. Renat and string bags + pride and courage
15. At the entrance to Fox Bay, before you get to the tents and cafes, you can meet cows eating shit and garbage in a landfill.
18. the dog that lives on the mountain
19. something buglike on the mountain - this is my husband, who is confused to call me
20. cafe we didn’t get to
21. Fox Bay - the beginning, Piccadilly Circus is visible in the distance
26. my little murochki
28. tents top view
So, Lada and I were unloaded from the boat onto the shore.
What we saw was a large number of naked people. More precisely, the dressed characters immediately catch your eye, but the naked ones, that’s the point, merge with the landscape, and you want to immediately join them and merge with nature hahahaha. In clothes you immediately begin to feel uncomfortable. The number of naked ones may depend on the distance from civilizational buildings.
31. People stay on the shore in tents, some build huts on the slopes of the mountains, some build shelters there. Someone pulls sheets near the sea to catch fire without damaging the skin - be that as it may, it is difficult to find any other shade here. Behind the rare trees growing in the strip between the slopes of the mountains and ending at the beach, people have built nests for themselves - there they hide from the shadows, consume, communicate and exist.
Anything that comes to mind is made from sea stones - from mini fences to stones/idols that can be painted.
36.
Swimming in the fox-covered sea is a pleasure, and so is lying on the beach. The beach consists of very small pebbles - almost sand, it is much more pleasant than the beach in Kurortny. Along the entire coast there is very convenient entry into the sea, and the water is especially warm and gentle.
There are a lot of naked people there, in fact, Fox Bay is called a nudist beach. I would say it's just a beach with naked people. I saw a lot of people dressed. There are a lot of fat and hairy people, but in this atmosphere you don’t feel like vomiting from them. As a bonus, I can mention the naked beauties that abound in the nudist Fox Bay. All their bodies, white or brown, look so beautiful against the background of the sea and sand, at that moment I even managed to envy their smooth skin, without bruises, scars, tattoos, jewelry and everything else. The good news is that most women (of any age, mind you) take care of themselves and almost all of them have a complete absence of hair anywhere; there is nothing worse than vomiting hairy pubes, especially if the hair there is sparse and brown.
Naked girls can also be found in Piccadilly, where the main contingent of dressed people is.
The naked aesthetic is close to me, Sasha was also delighted. Getting naked in nature is something special. I think this is very good and correct. Lisya Bay is almost close to ideal, due to the fact that there are a lot of beautiful naked people there.
By the way, after Fox Bay it is very difficult to adapt to a regular plow - something always gets in the way, clothes, for sure!
The atmosphere in Fox Bay is special. This is because completely different people gather there, and everyone is trying to behave differently than on the “mainland”. They don't always succeed, but it's fun to watch. Tent life and some asceticism, rejection of civilization, return to innocence, unity with nature - this is wonderful, another thing is that not everyone is given, not everyone needs. It seems to me that conveniences were invented for this purpose: to develop, but also to have the opportunity to beautifully return to romance.
People from the tents cook in pots. They build stoves and fires from stones, and make improvised stoves. The garbage is stored in a landfill at the entrance to Fox Bay, where cows sit during the day and eat whatever they find.
37. They brought me by boat, by this time my men and the photographer were already in place. Sasha was sitting on the mountain and looking out over the sea, so he quickly descended and moved us to a random tree, where we began to unpack. Ten minutes later Renat and Sveta arrived and we laid out the blanket.
From the den behind the tree, colorful locals looked at us.
"Hi all!" - I told them and waved my hand, they looked at me with such interest.
"Hello what is your name?"
I introduced myself.
“My name is Uncle Slava, and if anything happens, contact me.”
Of course, I took it into account. After 10 minutes, a woman with a beard approached Uncle Slava and tied three palms on his head, like some little girls are tied.
While I was lying with my butt up for 20 minutes, the natives were intensely looking at me; I was of interest even in their sophisticated society.
A naked boy with a backpack approached us and began to persistently lay out smoking devices (“devices”) made of stones. Sasha and Renat refused at first, then they clarified that we would only need it as a decorative element.
“You don’t smoke?” - the boy asked dumbfounded
“We don’t smoke anything, no cigarettes, no... nothing.”
“What are you doing then? Are you eating? - the boy did not let up
"No, we don't drink or smoke"
“And you don’t even drink???” - “Well, what kind of Rastafarians have gone, what are you doing then?” and left, as if offended.
The fact that people smoke in Fox Bay is visible everywhere, except that no one walks along the beach, proudly waving flags and banners: WE CONSUME! Now the attitude of customs towards those who look somehow informal or hippie is clear.
In general, the spotted groups of dreadlocks made a blissful impression; I did not notice any swollen faces, intoxicated by “rest” or not disfigured by the intellect. The only tent caused a vomit reflex in me - three thin boys were sitting near it, each with dreadlocks of different lengths, one with characteristic Indian pants that looked like a fly at his ankles - I often saw these characters in the resort. Every time they behave like monkeys, like macaques - wildly and apparently in their eyes they jump wildly, sometimes sideways, bulging their eyes and the like. Perhaps this is some kind of specific reaction to me, but in general their appearance makes a depressing impression.
Of course, I met a Moscow red-haired boy - whom I bump into at the Moscow City Center in the center. The redhead used to have gorgeous long hair. The first time I met him on Arbat - he was trying hard to bring himself to the bottom, so that his brain would slowly atrophy and the nomadic lifestyle would merge into his manner of communicating and speaking, into his lifestyle and all that. As soon as he sees me, he looks at me for a long time, as if trying to recognize me, and then comes up to shoot me a cigarette. At the time of the meeting in Fox Bay, he looked like a homeless person, dirty jeans, his whole body was covered with huge brown freckles, his hair was either wet or dirty, not far from dreadlocks, an indistinct color, but his eyes were large, maybe even beautiful, looking at you incomprehensibly, There is a prayer in them - someone give the whitefish already. He came up to us while we were eating and lit a cigarette.
The strangest impression from the beach was that I saw a naked boy with cerebral palsy. A man led him by the hand, they were both naked. The boy is terribly thin, his body is very strange, everything is as shown in specific clips, very thin arms with huge joints, hands, sudden incomprehensible movements, they walked along the beach towards the sun and sea. I didn’t understand what emotions the boy was experiencing, but it seemed to me that he was madly happy, I’m not afraid of this word.
38. The time was approaching 12, I’m very afraid of this sun, we all headed to Piccadilly to have lunch and put Ladushka to bed.
Along the way, I asked my companions to photograph the tents and all sorts of interesting things, but they were unable to cope with the task, so there will be no reportage photos.
40.Piccadilly is the central and only street where there are cafes decorated in oriental styles, and they are also food shops.
46. We spent almost three hours in the cafe - I chose the one where there was the least amount of wind from the sea, as it just so happened that it was the very first.
The non-Russian and non-Ukrainian hosts are very friendly girls, they liked us and even tried to communicate with us. The food there is disgusting, everything is greasy, covered in oil, I ate home-style cutlets (rare vomit) and sausages - even worse, they looked like a soggy bun. Lada ate pilaf and Ukrainian borscht; we poured the orange oil into the ashtray. It's good that we ordered a lot of vegetables.
Prices are the same as in a standard cafe on the coast of Kurortny.
47. Billy Bungalow
Opposite us was a cult establishment, as I understood it, Billy’s. We didn't manage to sit there - the cook apparently got drunk or died. Classic-looking weevils periodically fell out from there - not everyone consumes substances in Fox Bay, some drink until they lose their pulse. There are a lot of sorcerers, at Billy's, for example, and also in the pubs at the end of Piccadilly. They look like homeless people at the Yaroslavl station - they are dressed in summer clothes, their faces are swollen and all lined up, sometimes you come across young and misunderstanding people who have lost all orientation in space. I know what all this is about - cheap Crimean wine is a very dangerous potion. You can actually catch a squirrel. Once, when I was at the excavations in Chernomorskoye, I drank two glasses of this wine - we quarreled with each other in our company, I got into a fight with Sasha, we almost didn’t sleep all night because of the “bull” that took away our brains. It would seem that.
59. sudden Axl Rose is more beautiful, isn't it?
60. There is a paid shower and toilet in Piccadilly. You can also pour fresh water from a tank for money - 50 kopecks per liter, the rest of the water is sold in bottles and bottles in cafes/shops. We didn’t take a shower - it costs 10 hryvnia. A lot of people wash in the sea - I saw a girl in the process of soaping herself. From personal experience I will say that washing in the sea is disgusting, one might even say that it doesn’t make much sense. Once I had to wash myself from the sea for 7 days in a row - I constantly felt dirty. And it’s very difficult for me to imagine how people can engage in oral sex in such conditions - it must probably be soulful punk rock or chronic substance intoxication.
Yes, there is a feeling that by the evening everyone here will start having sex - the feeling of libido is spread everywhere. We felt like ordinary tourists who had taxied to the zoo. I couldn’t live there for long, I love comfort and small conveniences too much, in particular, washing before or after the process.
A toilet costs 2 hryvnia. The toilet is a wooden cabinet with a neatly designed hole in the ground. The only nasty thing is the flies and the smell, but at least there is protection from the wind and rain if necessary.
One can only guess what those people who live along the entire coast of Fox Bay do. Apparently, those who lived there should talk about this. Most people pee, of course, in the sea, but what can you do if you’re in trouble—after all, you can’t run far and quickly through the sand and surf. I sympathize with those who have diarrhea.
After lunch, after Lada woke up, we headed back to the beach. Sveta had children's paints for body art, I painted Ladushka's face - she likes to be a kitty. Then they did body art on my face - all for a fox-like beach photo shoot. We will be able to evaluate the results when I return to MSC, although I am very interested in what happened in the end.
65. Lada is very afraid of the waves, although other children from Fox Bay frolic in them. The waves were gorgeous - for a while - and clean, almost
67. I was scared to swim for the second time, Sasha rinsed me in the surf
69. and then I arranged an erotic photo shoot for Sasha - handsome - at least print it out on a calendar
75. here he looks like Bruce Willis
78. In the evening, a strong wind rose, I did not dare to go back by boat and thought that it would be cool to walk after all.
I walked barefoot and did great. In some places, however, it was difficult - I was forced to move even slower than usual, but only because of my tramping. If we get together again, I will definitely go on foot. Lada traveled on her dad's shoulders - I think she liked everything more than all of us.
Along the way there are empty beer bottles and torn flip-flops everywhere.
Not far from Kurortny we saw a punk lying in the stones - we thought that he crawled away from the tents and fell asleep, but he looked like he had just arrived, that is, relatively clean, with a baseball cap, belt and all that. At first I thought he was dead, but he was still breathing. It seems to me that such things will not end well.
and some more goodbye photos that I took on the way home
87.this is a stone in front of the entrance to the bay
88.here I tried to take a photo of frozen lava
96. my family against the backdrop of Kara-Dag
and I have a request: if anyone has any more information, personal impressions, maybe someone wants to correct or add, give links to your photos or someone’s interesting reports - please comment. Let the post end up being useful for everyone who is interested in this place.
Looking through last year's sea cards, I discovered that the story about our trip to Fox Bay remained unpublished.
So, Crimea, Fox Bay. This small bay is located between the Kara-Dag mountain range and Cape Meganom. Probably the most famous resting place in Crimea (and not only in Crimea, but in the entire territory of the former USSR) for naked sunbathers, hippies, punks, indifferences and other informals. In Fox Bay there is the largest nudist beach in Crimea, the length of the coast is almost 5 kilometers. Romance, in short!
The desire to get to Fox Bay arose several years ago (though not for me), but it took a long time to make this desire come true. Last September we vacationed in Ordzhonikidze (a small resort village near the city of Feodosia), and our friends were just in Lisya Bay. One day we came to an agreement, met in Koktebel, then we all went together to visit us, in Ordzho, and the next morning, succumbing to persuasion, we went to Fox Bay to observe the life and way of life of naked savages-tents.
To get from Ordzhonikidze to Fox Bay, you need to: take a minibus or bus to Koktebel - you wait half an hour for departure, another twenty minutes you shake along a dusty road among the mountains and hills; in Koktebel, change to another regular transport heading to Kurortnoye (another twenty to thirty minutes) - you need to get off in the center of the village, before reaching the biological station; From the center of the village it takes about twenty minutes to get to the sea; and, finally, the last push - along the coast in a western direction, leaving Kara-Dag and Kurortnoye behind, to Liska - about an hour on the road, if you walk at an average pace (if you are not in a hurry, the walk will take all of one and a half, or even two hours).
This is the village of Kurortnoye, the center of the settlement:
Yes, the appearance of the village is completely non-resort, but every summer, thousands and thousands of vacationers come to Kurortnoye (oops, pun intended). The sea is blue and warm, the mountains are beautiful and high, wonderful bays with very clear water and small cozy beaches - I want to go there too, again.
Among the ruins, unfinished construction, long-term construction and reconstruction, occasionally there are mansions in which rooms are rented out to those wishing to spend some time in Kurortny. By the way, the prices for decent housing in these small and apparently run-down villages of south-eastern Crimea (Koktebel, Ordzhonikidze, Kurortnoye, Shchebetovka, Primorsky, etc.) are quite comparable to those in Yalta. That is, good housing is expensive, and sometimes very expensive.
We looked back, and behind us was the beach of the village of Kurortnoye, and right behind the extinct Kara-Dag volcano was Koktebel, from which we had recently arrived:
We are moving along the sea coast. The terrain is clayey hills and mounds, indented by trails and paths.
I really liked this stone - where did such a huge boulder come from?
By the way, almost the entire coastline along the road from Kurortny to Lisya Bay is strewn with large stones. Cape Meganom is visible ahead (by the way, the Meganom Peninsula is one of the driest places in Crimea), the climate there is like a desert.
We walked a couple of kilometers and looked back again - Kara-Dag looked like some kind of monster with its snout in the sea:
The area is practically deserted; only our small company is moving in the direction of Fox Bay. Again big stones falling from the sky:
Representatives of the local fauna. These are not seagulls, but some strange birds that look a little like ducks. Although, maybe these are not ducks, but completely different animals:
Fox Bay is already visible in the distance:
Cape Meganom is huge:
A stone that recently fell on the path blocked the road with a kind of gate:
You pass through these gates, and here it is, the destination of the journey - Fox Bay:
Fox Bay was met with chaos and a huge amount of garbage. The stories of local old-timers that during the season, in the summer (let me remind you, we were in Lisk in early September, when there were almost no vacationers left) there was much more garbage on the coast, should have reassured us, probably. But they didn’t calm me down. Acquaintance with Fox Bay did not start with very pleasant things.
"Mattress area" This is what the local ancient aborigines contemptuously call those who come to Liska by car on weekends - they say they came to swim on mattresses. By the way, the entire Fox Bay is divided into such conventional areas: Nyushka, Zelenka, Jamaica, Cuba, Uganda, Piccadilly, Kinogorodok, etc.
“Zelyonka” is apparently because in this part of the bay some bushes and trees grow, and even grass makes its way through the clay soil.
In a self-made “wine shop” they sell wine by the glass, supposedly licensed, produced by the Koktebel plant. The price is exorbitant compared to prices in nearby villages. But the local savages take it, there is nowhere to go, because the nearest civilization is an hour’s walk through very rough terrain.
Somehow like this:
We move deeper. It's hot, dusty, I want beer and a swim.
Another almost standard still life from Fox Bay. Sad.
Do you see the Kara-Dag sparkling with its teeth in the distance? We have gone quite far from Kurortny.
In the center of Liska there are even some signs of civilization:
Shop - beer, ice cream, drinks, cigarettes. The prices, as I already said, are high - but there is no choice. By the way, the store has electricity from a diesel generator, and natives often come here to recharge their mobile phones and even laptops. They are, of course, the most genuine aborigines, but many take advantage of the achievements of progress.
A typical picture from Fox Bay, if you look towards the sea:
And we are heading to the planet Plyuk towards Zelenka, to the place of residence of the comrades who invited us to visit:
This is how people live in Liska.
Tent, sleeping bags, makeshift fireplace, daily trips to the mountains for firewood and water. Late rise, breakfast, sea-sea-sea, evening and night gatherings or visits, and again morning.
Someone even brought a pet with them:
There are a variety of people in Fox Bay. As I understand it, most of those who relax here are distinguished by non-standard thinking and behavior. This does not mean that these people are inadequate; on the contrary, they are quite adequate, very nice and really assess what is happening around them.
Those who came to Liska solely for the purpose of “breaking away” (in one of the many ways provided, or even several at once) for the most part are also adequate. Well, or almost adequate.
We didn’t stay at the tents for long, but went to the beach. We swam, sunbathed, and went to the nearest “bar” for beer. Bar is a very strong word. A huge tent, inside of which there is a very conventional “bar counter” made from scrap materials; homemade tables and benches - you can sit in the shade of a tent and even drink cold beer from a refrigerator powered by a diesel engine.
Entering the bar, we immediately saw a girl standing on a table located to the left of the entrance. The girl had only one red sock on her left foot. The girl was young and very beautiful. She stood on the table, wearing a red sock, with a mop in her hands. I dipped a mop and a rag into a bucket of water (the bucket stood on a bench near the table) and used this mop to wash the table on which it stood. She did it very focused and enthusiastically.
The guy who was at the makeshift bar saw the girl and started shouting: “What are you doing? Stop worrying about bullshit, get off the table and start cleaning” - well, something like that. The girl sent the guy away, using profanity, and continued to move the mop on the table. The guy said something much harsher in response, and the girl threw the mop, sat down with her beautiful naked butt on the table, and dipped her feet in a bucket of water. I sat there and was sad.
A few minutes later, another girl (as I understood, an acquaintance) turned to her and asked some question: either she was joking, or she sympathized. And suddenly, out of nowhere (and where could it have come from? The girl was wearing only one sock!) a knife appeared in our heroine’s hands, which she began to wave, chanting something like “how many have I stabbed, how many have I cut, how many souls have I ruined! Well, in that spirit. The girl walked for some time with a grumpy gait between the tables, telling something about her hard life, and gradually calmed down, sat down next to the bucket and, as it seemed to me, fell asleep.
Yes, of course, there are people in Lisk whose behavior may cause confusion among untrained observers (like us, for example). But local aborigines do not pay much attention to such shows. In Fox Bay, people gather who are free in their actions, and, moreover, their style of behavior is determined by the environment. And the situation is such that such a performance is, in principle, commonplace, and even welcomed. It's fun, isn't it? You can laugh. Or sympathize.
From the bar we returned to the seashore. By the way, there are very few people. We swam and lay on the warm sand. We decided to go somewhere to eat. You can have a snack in one of several self-made catering establishments just like the “bar” - such “halabuds”, assembled from wood, cardboard and the remains of other once-industrial goods. It looks like a cafe. The inside of the cafe looks like this:
On the stone wall hangs a long-faded painting depicting the leader of the world proletariat:
By the way, Lenin, along with Che Guevara and Bob Marley, are very popular characters among the residents of Fox Bay.
Our table was on the second floor of the “cafe”, and we climbed up these stone steps:
From our top shelf it is very interesting to look at what is happening below:
Ethnographic style of “cafe” decoration:
After sitting in the “restaurant” for a while, we got ready to go home. We bought beer and some water, put our backpacks on our shoulders and set off on the way back, towards Kurortny. We spent only half a day in Fox Bay, but there were enough impressions.
The impressions are twofold. I liked it in Lisk, and I would like to stay there for a longer time - two or three days, for example. But no more. I probably couldn't stand it any longer.
There are many interesting things in Lisk and the surrounding area that we did not have time to see and experience. A film town where many famous films were filmed. The Echki-Dag mountain range, which you would like to climb and admire the sea from above. The Ear of the Earth cave is very deep and mysterious. Well, and most importantly - interesting people, some of whom I already know.
Goodbye, Fox Bay. Perhaps we'll see each other again.
