Vermilion Bay (french: Baie Vermilion) is a

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

in southern

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Vermilion Bay is located in southwestern

Iberia Parish Iberia Parish (french: Paroisse de l'Ibérie, es, Parroquia de Iberia) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 69,929; the parish seat is New Iberia. The parish was formed in 1868 during ...

and southeastern

Vermilion Parish Vermilion Parish (french: Paroisse de Vermillion) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana, created in 1844. The parish seat is Abbeville. Vermilion Parish is part of the Lafayette metropolitan statistical area, and located in southern ...

. It is an

inlet An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea. Overview In marine geogra ...

of the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an oceanic basin, ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of ...

, to which it is connected to the south by a narrow

strait A strait is an oceanic landform connecting two seas or two other large areas of water. The surface water generally flows at the same elevation on both sides and through the strait in either direction. Most commonly, it is a narrow ocean channe ...

called Southwest Pass; Marsh Island and a portion of the Louisiana mainland in southeastern Vermilion Parish otherwise separate it from the Gulf of Mexico. On the east, Vermilion Bay connects directly to

West Cote Blanche Bay Cote Blanche Bay is a bay in southern Louisiana in the United States. It is divided into East Cote Blanche Bay and West Cote Blanche Bay. Cote Blanche Bay is located on the southwest coast of St. Mary Parish; East Cote Blanche Bay forms its south ...

.''Webster's New Geographical Dictionary'', 1984, pp. 690, 1291.

Notes

References

*''Webster's New Geographical Dictionary''. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 1984. . Bays of Louisiana Bodies of water of Iberia Parish, Louisiana Bodies of water of Vermilion Parish, Louisiana Estuaries of Louisiana {{Louisiana-geo-stub