29 articles
Alum Bay
Alum Bay, Isle of Wight: bay at the island's western tip beside the Needles, famed for 21 shades of coloured sand, vertical Tertiary cliffs, its Elizabethan alum name, Marconi's 1897 radio station, and the Needles Landmark Attraction chairlift.
Athos / Ormos Vatopediou
Ormos Vatopediou (Vatopedi Bay) is the broad bay on the northeast coast of the Athos peninsula, Greece, named for Vatopedi Monastery and its harbour Arsanas Vatopedi; boat-only access, Diamonitirion permit, male pilgrims only.
Bay of Biscay
The Bay of Biscay (Golfo de Vizcaya, Golfe de Gascogne) is a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean bounded by western France and northern Spain, known for rough seas.
Bay of Kiel
The Bay of Kiel (German: Kieler Bucht; Danish: Kiel Bugt) is a bay in the southwestern Baltic Sea off Germany's Schleswig-Holstein and the Danish islands, linked to Kiel by the Kiel Fjord.
Bay of Kotor (Бока которска)
The Bay of Kotor (Бока которска, Boka) is a winding Adriatic bay in southwestern Montenegro, a ria entering over 20 km inland with four gulfs, Venetian fortifications, the UNESCO-listed Kotor region (1979), and the Port of Kotor cruise hub.
Bay of Mecklenburg
Bay of Mecklenburg (Mecklenburger Bucht), a southwestern Baltic Sea bay off Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in the Belt Sea transition zone, with Zechstein salt-floored seabed, Baltic Ice Lake shorelines 20-40 m below sea level, and seasonal oxygen deficiency.
Boknafjord
Boknafjord (Boknafjorden) is a broad, open fjord in Rogaland, southwestern Norway, between Jæren and Karmøy; at 96 km it is Norway's fourth largest by area.
Bolata Cove
Bolata Cove (Болата) is a small crescent-shaped bay with a 300 m sandy beach near Balgarevo, north of Cape Kaliakra, Bulgaria; the only sandy beach between Kavarna and Shabla, protected in Stepite and Natura 2000, managed by the Ministry of Tourism since 2025.
Bristol Channel
Bristol Channel: Atlantic inlet between south Wales and Cornwall, Devon, and Somerset, historically the Severn Sea; with the Severn Estuary it is about 250 km long and has the world's second-highest tidal range, about 12 m mean spring.
Freshwater, Isle of Wight
Freshwater is a village and parish on the west coast of the Isle of Wight, England, known for Freshwater Bay's shingle beach beneath chalk cliffs, the Stag and Mermaid rock stacks, Tennyson's Farringford, Julia Margaret Cameron's Dimbola, and walks to Tennyson Down and the Needles.
Gdańsk Bay
Gdańsk Bay (Zatoka Gdańska), a southeastern bay of the Baltic Sea in the Gdańsk Basin, receives the Vistula, hosts the ports of Gdańsk and Gdynia, includes shallow Puck Bay behind the Hel Peninsula, and averages 70 m deep.
Glyfada (Γλυφάδα)
Glyfada (Γλυφάδα) is a seaside municipality of the Athenian Riviera on the Saronic Gulf, south of Athens, on the site of the ancient deme of Aixone; renamed in the early 20th century for brackish wells, with four marinas and free beaches.
Golfo di Trieste - Italy
Golfo di Trieste (Gulf of Trieste), a shallow ~500 km2 semi-enclosed bay at the northeastern Adriatic between Italy and Slovenia; LTER site C1 since 1986, Miramare MPA, OGS marine observatory, Isonzo inflow and bora winds.
Golfo di Venezia - Italy
Golfo di Venezia (Gulf of Venice), inlet of the northwestern Adriatic from the Po Delta to Capo Promontore and an LTER-Italy site (IT12-001-M) run by CNR-ISMAR, with observations since the late 19th century and the Acqua Alta platform 15 km offshore Venice.
Gulf of Finland (Финский залив)
The Gulf of Finland (Suomenlahti) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Finland, Estonia, and Russia, receiving the Neva River's freshwater at St. Petersburg.
Gulf of Lion
Gulf of Lion (golfe du Lion; ancient Sinus Gallicus), large NW Mediterranean bay on the French coast from Cape Creus to Marseille; broad shelf, submarine canyons, mistral winds, dense-water formation, 4,010 km² marine park.
Gulf of Taranto
Gulf of Taranto (Golfo di Taranto), embayment of the northern Ionian Sea on southern Italy's instep, named for Taranto (ancient Taras, Spartan colony founded 706 BC); known for its Calabrian-arc tectonics, submarine geohazards, the Port of Taranto, and the Mar Grande SIN remediation site.
IJ (Amsterdam)
The IJ is Amsterdam's central waterway, once a Zuiderzee tidal bay, now running from the IJmeer to the North Sea Canal. Key facts: 1876 canal, GVB ferries, IJburg islands, IJmuiden salt management.
Lulworth Cove
Lulworth Cove, Dorset, England: an almost circular bay on the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, cut where the sea breached hard Portland limestone and eroded softer Purbeck, Wealden, and Greensand rocks behind the Purbeck Monocline.
Plymouth Sound
Plymouth Sound is a large natural harbour in southwest England where the Tamar and Plym meet the English Channel. It anchors the Plymouth Sound and Estuaries MPA and the UK's first National Marine Park, with over 200 shipwrecks and Devonport Dockyard on its shores.
Port of Palos
Port of Palos (Puerto Histórico de Palos), the Tinto river port of Palos de la Frontera, Huelva, Spain, from which Columbus's Santa María, Pinta, and Niña sailed on 3 August 1492; buried after 1503, rediscovered in 1992.
Ría de Vigo
The Ría de Vigo is the southernmost of Galicia's four Rías Baixas, a roughly 33 km sea inlet in Pontevedra province on Spain's Atlantic coast.
Rías Baixas
The Rías Baixas are four large, funnel-shaped coastal inlets on the western coast of Galicia, north-west Spain, whose seasonal Atlantic upwelling drives highly productive waters supporting fisheries and mussel farming.
Saronic Gulf (Σαρωνικός κόλπος)
The Saronic Gulf is a semi-enclosed embayment of the Aegean Sea that serves as the marine gateway for Athens and Piraeus. It holds islands like Salamis and Aegina and is a major sailing area.
Sognefjord
Sognefjord (Sognefjorden), Norway's longest and deepest fjord at 205 km and about 1,308 m, runs from Solund to Skjolden; second longest worldwide after Scoresby Sound, with the UNESCO-listed Nærøyfjord arm.
Strangford Loch
Strangford Lough (Loch Cuan) is Northern Ireland's largest sea lough, about 150 km2 in County Down, a drowned drumlin landscape with 120 islands, rich marine life, and Ramsar, SAC, SPA, and MCZ protections.
The Wash
The Wash is England's largest tidal embayment, on the Lincolnshire-Norfolk coast, fed by the Great Ouse, Nene, Welland, and Witham. Macrotidal (about 5 m mean range), it hosts the UK's largest overwintering waterbird aggregation, a large common seal colony, and major shrimp, cockle, and mussel fisheries.
Vestfjorden
Vestfjorden, a broad open bay in Nordland, Norway, between Lofoten and the mainland; skrei cod spawning ground, site of the Lofoten fishery, ~180 km long, sill 227 m.
Zuiderzee
Zuiderzee, former brackish North Sea bay in the Netherlands, formed by 12th-century floods including the 1170 Allerheiligenvloed; closed by the 32 km Afsluitdijk on 28 May 1932, becoming the freshwater IJsselmeer.