Shantar

The Shantar Islands lie in the Sea of Okhotsk, at the mouths of deep bays north of the lower Amur. Forested shores and steep cliffs face waters known for strong tides, fog and persistent ice. Russian expeditions reached the nearby coast in the seventeenth century, and the islands later appeared in accounts of exploration of the northern sea. Their position off Tugur Bay placed them among the coastal routes linking the Amur country with the Sea of Okhotsk.