Taui Bay ( Russian: Тауйская губа; ''Tauyskaya Guba'') is a body of water in the

Sea of Okhotsk The Sea of Okhotsk; Historically also known as , or as ; ) is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean. It is located between Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, Japan's island of Hokkaido on the sou ...

off the coast of the

Magadan Oblast Magadan Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia. It is geographically located in the Russian Far East, Far East region of the country, and is administratively part of the Far Eastern Federal District. Magadan ...

in Russia. The bay opens to the south.

Geography

It is some 130 km (80 mi) wide and 75 km (46 mi) deep, and is enclosed by the Koni Peninsula with Odyan Bay and Zavyalov Island on its eastern side and by Spafaryev Island on its southwestern end.

Ice Ice is water that is frozen into a solid state, typically forming at or below temperatures of 0 ° C, 32 ° F, or 273.15 K. It occurs naturally on Earth, on other planets, in Oort cloud objects, and as interstellar ice. As a naturally oc ...

occurs in the bay from the middle of October to the middle of June.

Tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tables ...

s are semidiurnal. Springs rise about 4.5 m (14.75 ft), while neaps rise 1.8 to 2.1 m (5.9 to 6.9 ft). The enclosed area is ca. 10 000 km², and the average depth 50–60 m (165-196 ft). The

Arman Arman (November 17, 1928 – October 22, 2005) was a French and American artist. Born Armand Fernandez in Nice, France, Arman was a painter who moved from using objects for the ink or paint traces they leave (''cachets'', ''allures d'objet'') t ...

, Ola, Yana and Taui rivers drain into the bay. The city of

Magadan Magadan ( rus, Магадан, p=məɡɐˈdan) is a Port of Magadan, port types of inhabited localities in Russia, town and the administrative centre of Magadan Oblast, Russia. The city is located on the isthmus of the Staritsky Peninsula by the ...

is situated the centrally at the end of the bay, on the isthmus of the Staritsky Peninsula separated from the mainland by the smaller Nagayev Bay on the west and on the east.

History

Taui Bay was frequented by American, French, and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n whaleships hunting bowhead and

gray whale The gray whale (''Eschrichtius robustus''), also known as the grey whale,Britannica Micro.: v. IV, p. 693. is a baleen whale that migrates between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. It reaches a length of , a weight of up to and lives between ...

s between 1849 and 1885. The

bark Bark may refer to: Common meanings * Bark (botany), an outer layer of a woody plant such as a tree or stick * Bark (sound), a vocalization of some animals (which is commonly the dog) Arts and entertainment * ''Bark'' (Jefferson Airplane album), ...

''Isabella'', of

New Bedford New Bedford is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast (Massachusetts), South Coast region. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, New Bedford had a ...

, reported as many as thirty ships in the bay, all whaling. These ships usually sought shelter to obtain wood and water, flense whales, or boil oil in Fabius Harbor, between the mainland and Fabius Island ( Ostrov Nedorazumeniya), or Jeannette Harbor (Nagayeva Bay), under Jeannette Point (Mys Chirikova). Some traded calico for fresh

salmon Salmon (; : salmon) are any of several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the genera ''Salmo'' and ''Oncorhynchus'' of the family (biology), family Salmonidae, native ...

from the natives. On 12 August 1852, the whaleship ''Liancourt'', of Havre, was wrecked in the bay during a

squall A squall is a sudden, sharp increase in wind speed lasting minutes, as opposed to a wind gust, which lasts for only seconds. They are usually associated with active weather, such as rain showers, thunderstorms, or heavy snow. Squalls refer to the ...

. Her crew were rescued by nearby vessels. A ship found casks with provisions and pieces of the wreck to the west of the bay about ten days later.''Three Brothers'', of Nantucket, August 23, 1852, Nantucket Historical Association.

Fauna

There are a number of large colonies of

common murre The common murre or common guillemot (''Uria aalge'') is a large auk. It has a Subarctic, circumpolar distribution, occurring in low-Arctic and boreal waters in the North Atlantic and North Pacific. It spends most of its time at sea, only coming ...

in the bay.Kondratyev, A. Y., Litvinenko, N. M., Shibaev, Y. V., Vyatkin, P. S., & Kondratyeva, L. F. (2000)
"The breeding seabirds of the Russian Far East"
''Seabirds of the Russian Far East'', 37-81. Beluga whales are also occasionally sighted in the bay – they were formerly seen here regularly.Solovyev, B. A., Shpak, O. V., Glazov, D. M., Rozhnov, V. V., & D. M. Kuznetsova. (2015). "Summer distribution of beluga whales (''Delphinapterus leucas'') in the Sea of Okhotsk". ''Russian J. Theriol.'' 14 (2): 201-215.

References

External links

* {{- Bays of the Sea of Okhotsk Bays of Magadan Oblast Pacific Coast of Russia Shipwrecks in the Sea of Okhotsk