One of the main features of the southern, maritime borders of Ukraine is the presence of a succession of estuaries. The Dniester and Kuyalnitsky, Dneprovsky and Dry Liman are just a few of the bays that were formed when the Black Sea flooded the mouths of plain rivers.
One of the most interesting formations of this kind in the Black Sea region is recognized as the Dry Liman, whose name is absolutely incompatible with the status of an active hydrological object. Dry Liman is the very mouth of the river, in this case Dalnik, which was once flooded by the treacherous Black Sea.
This hydrological object is located on the territory of Odessa region. The regional center itself is distant from Sukhoi Liman by a distance of 16 km, and one of the steepest trading ports of Ukraine — Ilyichevsk — is located on its shore.
Long ago the sea washed a sandy spit to «fence off» the estuary from itself. The spit was not small — more than 1.25 kilometers, and not skinny — in some places its width reached 170 meters. But at the beginning of the XX century the Dalnik River managed to break through the dam, which was organized for its waters by a more powerful neighboring reservoir. Not the least role in this was played by storms that acted as a counterbalance to the usual direction of sea waves.
As a result of the breach of the spit, sea water mixed with river water. The slightly musty estuary received an influx of oxygen-rich liquid, so it became home to many fish capable of living in slightly salty water. For example, carp and chekhon, hamsa, mullet, horse mackerel, luffar and kalkan. In order not to lose such valuable biological resources, in 1935 in the break in the spit that separated the Dry Liman from the Black Sea, the first dredging and launching channel was dug, guaranteeing the locals their piece of bread and butter, or rather — their daily piece of smoked or salted fish.
Today, after the port was built on the right bank of the estuary, the estuary is connected to the sea by a serious channel. By the way, its depth is equal to 14 meters. By the way, the famous Corinthian, which connected the Aegean and Ionian Sea and broke the Isthmus of Corinth, has a depth of only 8 meters. Although we are not in Greece, but vessels of «sea», «river-sea» and «river» class pass through our Ukrainian canal.
Except for the artificial transportation artery, the main part of the Dry Liman is not navigable. The depth of the reservoir in the northern part barely reaches one and a half meters. In this place, several ponds, oriented to commercial fish farming, are artificially separated from the estuary. In the south, closer to the sea, the depth increases, which allows the estuary to be used as an ideal springboard for kite and wind surfing.
The small Dry Liman has already become a real attraction of the Black Sea coast. Its biological resources attract those who love to catch fish without going to the open and fluctuating sea. Moreover, the efficiency of fishing in its slightly salty waters is many times higher than in the open Black Sea. Therefore, many of those who come on vacation to Ilyichevsk or to Odessa, gladly come to Dry Liman to please themselves with real effective fishing.