Best Bay

Shark Bay is a remote bay located on the coast of Western Australia. Designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991, it’s notable for its unique geological formations including living stromatolites—among the oldest known structures on Earth. The bay supports a significant dugong population and b...

The Bay of Kotor is a significant Adriatic sea inlet located within Montenegro. Its dramatic, deep form resembles a fjord, creating stunning coastal scenery. The bay’s notable features include the historic Old Town of Kotor, a UNESCO World Heritage site. It's primarily appreciated by travelers inter...

The Bay of Fundy is a bay located on the Atlantic coast of North America between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It’s notable for possessing the largest tidal range globally, averaging approximately 16 meters (53 feet). This immense difference in sea level due to the gravitational pull of the moon an...

Glacier Bay National Park encompasses a dramatic bay within southeastern Alaska. It’s notable as one of the fastest-retreating areas of tidewater glacier activity on Earth. The park features extensive fjords carved by massive glaciers and is recognized globally for its unique glacial landscapes. Gla...

The San Francisco Bay is a significant estuary situated along California’s west coast. It's notable as the largest of its kind in the United States, formed by the Golden Gate Strait’s connection to the Pacific Ocean. This complex ecosystem supports diverse marine life and provides crucial habitat fo...

Hanalei Bay is a significant coastal bay located on Kauai’s north shore. Its expansive shoreline, approaching two miles in length, offers a notable scenic vista framed by dramatic mountains. The bay’s calm waters and consistent surf make it popular for recreation including swimming, surfing, and pad...

Monterey Bay is a deep bay located along the west coast of California. It’s notable for its extraordinary marine life diversity and was designated a National Marine Sanctuary in 1992. The area supports significant populations of whales, dolphins, sea otters, and numerous fish species. Scientists, re...

The Bay of Naples is a wide gulf located along the southwestern coast of Italy in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is prominently overlooked by Mount Vesuvius, the active volcano responsible for the destruction of Roman cities like Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 AD. Historically central to Greek and Roman civi...

Bacuit Bay is a coastal body of water located off the municipality of El Nido in the province of Palawan, Philippines. The bay is enclosed by dramatic limestone karst cliffs and jagged islands, forming a distinct archipelagic seascape. It is recognized for its outstanding marine biodiversity, suppor...

Phang Nga Bay is a sheltered inlet in the Andaman Sea situated between the island of Phuket and the mainland of southern Thailand. The bay covers an area of approximately 400 square kilometers and is distinguished by its sheer limestone karst formations that rise vertically from the calm waters. It...

La Concha Beach is a renowned urban beach situated in San Sebastián, Spain. Its distinctive crescent shape and calm waters within the Bay of La Concha make it a popular destination. The beach attracts swimmers, sunbathers, and walkers seeking recreation along the Basque coastline. It’s particularly...

Magens Bay is a renowned public beach located on St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Established in 1946 through a donation by Arthur S. Fairchild, it’s notable for its consistently calm, turquoise waters and sheltered bay environment. The beach attracts visitors seeking relaxation and water activities...

Georgian Bay is a large, semi-enclosed arm of Lake Huron located in Ontario, Canada. Covering approximately 15,000 square kilometers, it is hydrologically distinct enough to be occasionally referred to as the sixth Great Lake. The bay is physically separated from the main body of Lake Huron by the B...

Yakutat Bay is a large inlet located on the southeastern coast of the U.S. state of Alaska, opening into the Gulf of Alaska. It is a prominent glacial fjord system that serves as the ocean terminus for several major glaciers, most notably the Hubbard Glacier. Hubbard is North America's largest activ...

Lan Ha Bay is a body of water situated off the coast of Hai Phong Province in northeastern Vietnam, located directly south of the renowned Ha Long Bay. It encompasses a portion of the Cat Ba Archipelago and features a landscape of over 300 limestone karst islands covered in dense vegetation. Unlike...

The Bay of Bengal is the northeastern arm of the Indian Ocean, bordered by India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is the largest bay in the world by area, covering roughly 2.17 million square kilometers. Numerous major river systems, including the Ganges, Brahmaputra, an...

The Thomas Point Shoal Light stands as a historic sentinel on Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay. Constructed in 1875, this screwpile lighthouse was unique; it remains the last of its kind still situated within its original location. Its distinctive design—a tower supported by a submerged spiral of iron scre...

Bahia Magdalena is an expansive, shallow lagoon system located on the western coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico. It is protected from the open Pacific Ocean by a long, narrow barrier beach known as Isla Magdalena. The bay's warm, calm waters serve as a critical wintering, calving, and nursing gro...

Bai Tu Long Bay is a bay located in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the northeastern coast of Quang Ninh Province, Vietnam. It is situated immediately northeast of Ha Long Bay and shares the same dramatic geological characteristics, featuring thousands of steep limestone karst islands. Because it is slightl...

Jervis Bay is a large, sheltered coastal inlet located on the southern coast of New South Wales, Australia. A section of its shoreline forms the Jervis Bay Territory, an exclave established in 1915 to provide the landlocked Australian Capital Territory with access to the sea. The bay is noted for it...

Table Bay is a natural inlet of the Atlantic Ocean situated on the southwestern coast of South Africa. The city of Cape Town was established along its shores when Jan van Riebeeck built a Dutch East India Company supply station there in April 1652. The bay is named for the adjacent Table Mountain, w...

Bristol Bay is a large arm of the Bering Sea extending into the southwestern coast of Alaska in the United States. It is renowned for supporting one of the world's largest wild sockeye salmon fisheries, with annual runs yielding tens of millions of fish. The watershed feeding into the bay consists l...

Hanalei Bay Beach is a significant coastal location on Kauai’s north shore. The bay’s unique crescent shape and dramatic mountainous setting create a popular destination for recreation and photography. It's frequently utilized by surfers seeking consistent waves and enjoyed by visitors and residents...

Cenderawasih Bay is the largest bay in Indonesia, situated off the northern coast of the Papua provinces. A significant portion of the bay is enclosed within the Teluk Cenderawasih National Park, a protected marine area encompassing numerous coastal and island ecosystems. The region is known for its...

Kachemak Bay is a large, fjord-like inlet located off the southern coast of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, United States. It is separated from the Gulf of Alaska by the Kenai Mountains and the Homer Spit, a prominent glacial moraine. The bay is designated as a National Estuarine Research Reserve due...

Hervey Bay is a sheltered bay between the Queensland coast and Fraser Island in Australia. Its calm waters make it one of the world's premier humpback whale watching destinations from July to November, when the whales use the bay as a resting place during their annual migration. The surrounding city...

Baffin Bay is a marginal sea located between Baffin Island (Canada) and Greenland, spanning approximately 1,130 km in length. Named after English explorer William Baffin who charted it in 1616, the bay connects to the Atlantic Ocean via Davis Strait and to the Arctic Ocean through Nares Strait. Much...

Hudson Bay is a large inland sea in northeastern Canada covering approximately 1.23 million km², making it the second-largest bay in the world. Named after explorer Henry Hudson who reached it in 1610, the relatively shallow bay (averaging 100 meters in depth) is frozen for much of the year. Histori...

Walker Bay is a coastal inlet on the southwestern coast of South Africa near the town of Hermanus in the Western Cape province. The bay has gained international recognition as one of the world's premier land-based whale watching destinations, particularly for southern right whales that visit between...