Secret catacombs of the Azov Sea

You can read about our first part of trip to the Arabat Arrow here:
How we found Crimean surfer's paradise

Today I'd like to tell you about an amazing and a quite mystical place on the Azov Sea, which we discovered once.

The weather was much better on our second day of staying at the coast.
In the morning a small delegation was formed to get water for breakfast. It turns out that the issue of fresh water is a quite a big problem for the locals.
I volunteered due to my curiosity, but I couldn't even imagine where we were going to take this water!
After driving for about 5 kilometers along a seaside road, an interesting landscape appeared - rocky ledges in the middle of the field, dotted with holes that looked like cave entrances.

However, as you get inside, you entering a big stone kingdom, like an ancient cave city. The huge "hall" at the entrance is divided into many passageways, that compose big underground labyrinth. The web of catacombs stretches for tens of kilometers under the ground and is called The Ak-Monaic quarries.

Little is known about the exact origin of this place, but there is a theory that they appeared during the rule of Empress Catherine, and were a place for exile soldiers. The convicts mined a stone, and soon Ak-Monai settlement appeared. The approximate period of formation is the end of the 19th century.

And so, we went down, passed through the main passage and headed to one of the corridors of the catacombs. There was no further light, only the phone flashlight. The road went down and the passage became all narrower. At some point, I felt ill at ease. After 5 minutes we reached the destination - a small stone "room" with a well inside. "Can you feel ear popping? We are below the sea level, so there is a fresh water here." Yeah, it’s better not to try to realize that you’re actually locked in the cave under the sea, or you might get a panic attack :)

We draw some water, went up and walked a little through the labyrinth. Of course, going to that kind of expedition you should be prepared, and since we did not have anything with us except our phones, we decided not to go deep inside. In addition, those who worked in the quarries died there, and buried there. And it's easy to get to their burial place by chance.
So we limited ourselves to a sketchy excursion and went back to our camp.