The most mysterious cape of the New World coast is, without a doubt, exactly Kapchik. It is a unique geological object and one of the most interesting sights of the settlement.
By its geological structure mys Kapchik is an ancient coral reef. For more than 300 meters it stretches from the coast of the New World into the sea, dividing the Blue and Blue bays. Cape Kapchik is often referred to as the Lizard because of its arched shape and semicircular, massive end, resembling a lizard’s head.
If you look at Cape Kapchik from the shore, from the place where the massive curved body of the «lizard» just begins its descent to the water, the view opens a really fantastic picture. Kaptchik resembles a giant lizard, or even a dragon, drinking water from the sea. The rock at the very end of the cape, protruding upwards, looks like a dragon’s ear. Contemplating this picture, you don’t even have to strain your imagination — the distinct outlines of the cape make it look incredibly similar to a prehistoric reptile.
But not only due to its bizarre shape this peculiar natural object became famous. In its depths, the study of which is still in its infancy, lurks a whole world, a small part of which was discovered by Lev Golitsyn at the beginning of the last century.
Kapchik is pierced through by a huge natural cave, which was named Through Grotto. The length of the cave is about 80 meters, and the height — up to 20 meters, it connects through the passage of the Blue and Blue bays. This cave was formed due to a tectonic fault that moved the limestone rocks of the cape, which makes it even more unique — usually such caves in Crimea are formed under the influence of groundwater.
The caves of Cape Kapchik have an interesting history. In medieval times, pirates hid their treasures in them, smugglers hid their goods, who also held meetings with accomplices here. In 1903, Lev Golitsyn celebrated his anniversary in the Through Grotto and organized a banquet hall in it.
It was Golitsyn who was the discoverer of the underground world of Cape Kapchik. Once, walking on a boat near the cape, he noticed large karst cavities in the rock massif, after opening them he discovered a spacious, high cave. To the entrance to it from the side of the Blue Bay was cut a staircase, the very entrance aperture was given an arched shape and hung a beautiful old door. And on the Blue Bay side, for a more convenient exit from the cave to the water, the galleries were deepened, two stone staircases were equipped here, and over the exits to the sea, colored stained glass windows were laid out, making the cave even more fabulous.
The entrance to the Through Grotto has been forbidden for several years due to the danger of rock falls. However, you can go down the stairs leading to its main entrance from the side of the Blue Bay. Now it is closed by a wrought iron door, through which you can clearly see the through passage leading to the shore of the Blue Bay.
Speleologists are conducting research of Cape Kapchik. In addition to the large Through Grotto, they have discovered 7 more caves, as well as a salt lake in the depths of the cape. Who knows what other secrets it hides, maybe there are treasures hidden by pirates somewhere else?
Well, while the underground kingdom of Cape Kapchik is closed from public access, anyone who came to rest in Novy Svet can admire its fabulous view, and from the cape — the most beautiful landscape of the coast of the village. In the west proudly rises Karaul-Oba, in the east — Koba-Kaya with the famous Golitsynsky grotto, in clear weather from the cape opens the widest panorama from Alushta’s Mount Ayu-Dag to Cape Meganom located in the vicinity of Sudak.
For all tourists coming to holidays in Ukraine such sights of Crimea as Cape Kapchik are a must-see. It is an amazing, exhilarating experience of immersion in a fairy tale invented by nature itself.