Bay

A bay is a large body of water in the land next to a sea or lake between two headlands.^[1] The waves coming to the shore in a bay are usually constructive waves, and because of this, many of them have a beach. A bay may be metres across, or it could be hundreds of kilometres across.^[2] A large bay is often called a gulf, sound, or bight. A bay often contains beaches.

The bay at Castletown, Isle of Man.

Bays form where weak rocks, such as sands and clays, are eroded, leaving bands of stronger rocks, such as chalk, limestone, or granite, forming a headland, or peninsula. Bays are formed when there are parallel sections of softer and harder rock perpendicular to the coast.

Gallery

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  Kells bay, on the Ring of Kerry in Ireland
• 
  Hanauma bay, on the island of Hawaii
• 
  Haifa Bay, in Israel.