Ekaterina Strait

a strait between the islands of Kunashir and Iturup in the Kuril chain.

The strait, connecting the Sea of Okhotsk with the Pacific Ocean, is over 22 km wide, and its depth ranges from 150 to 500 m. From February through March it is choked with drift ice from the northern part of the Sea of Okhotsk. The strait is named after the Ekaterina, the vessel on which the Russian mission headed by A. Laksman sailed to Japan in 1792.