Provideniya (Chukotka Russia)

Provideniya is a Bering Sea cruise port in Bukhta Provideniya (Providence Bay) and a small town in Russia's Chukotka Okrug (Providensky District) with population around 2,000. The Okrug (region) is located in northeastern Siberia and across the Bering Strait (North Pacific Ocean) from Alaska USA.

Providence Bay (Bukhta Provideniya) is a scenic fjord on Chukchi Peninsula's southern coast. In the 19th-early-20th centuries, this bay was used as a wintering anchorage and provisioning site for whalers and fur traders. Komsomolskaya Bay (fka Emma Harbor) is a large-sized sheltered bay in Providence Bay's eastern part.

The town is served by Provideniya Bay Airport (aka Urelik/Ureliki) located approx 3 km (2 mi) located 3 km to the southwest. The 1954-built airport has a concrete runway and serves mainly transport aircraft. The airport and the surrounding areas are off-limits to foreigners unless a special Russian government permit is granted. Provideniya Airport serves regularly scheduled domestic flights (by Chukotavia Airline) connecting to Anadyr and also charter flights (by the American airline Bering Air) connecting to Nome Alaska.

Bering Strait is a relatively narrow (width 90km/55 mi) and shallow (max-depth 55 m/180 ft) waterway between Russia's Chukotka Peninsula and USA-Alaska's Seward Peninsula. Between the peninsulas are located two Russian islands (Big Diomede and Little Diomede) which allows Bering Strait to be spanned by a sea bridge or an underwater tunnel. A tunel project was proposed by the Russian Federation and is popular by work names like "Bering Strait Crossing", "Eurasia-America Transport Link", "TKM-World Link", "AmerAsian Peace Tunnel", "Bering Strait Tunnel". In 2007, Russia backed the project, announcing a USD 65 billion funding for the consortium that will build the Tunnel.

During the USSR times (Soviet Union), Provideniya was a military port and the largest town east of Anadyr (back then, the town had population 5,000+). Port Provideniya Bukhta (code RUPVS) is fjord-sheltered and with a deep-water harbor. It was established to serve the Northern Sea Route (Sevmorput) - a shipping route along Russia's Arctic coast. The route from Kara Sea (North Cape) to Bering Sea (Bering Strait) is officially called Northeast Passage.

Cruise itineraries that visit Provideniya often include Alaska's Aleutian Islands, Pribilof Islands, Dutch Harbor (Unalaska).