What Is The Biggest Natural Harbour In The World?

[atoll]

Originally Posted by zippy

Listing harbours, not bays, this is the largest 6 that I turned up.

Sydney, Australia
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Falmouth, Cornwall, United Kingdom
Poole, Dorset, United Kingdom
Cork, Republic of Ireland

not a mention of diego suarez which as got to be one of the worlds largest natural harbours,or bahia in brazil
Diego Suarez bay

[Robin3]

Originally Posted by charliehows

heard this as a throwaway remark somewhere recently - "Vancouver harbour is the 2nd biggest natural harbour in the world, after Sydney, Australia..."
Really? So...sydney - biggest, Vancouver - 2nd...3rd?, 4th?

POOLE HARBOUR In the UK is number 2 to Sydney I was told depending how you measure, , but then most of Poole harbour is very shallow especially at low tide.

[valhalla360]

Largest harbor is such a pointless arguement.

The whole point of a harbor is to get good protection from wind and waves. As they get larger, they develop more fetch and negate the protection they offer.

Personally, I prefer the smallest harbor I can fit into as it typically provides far better protection.

[mausgras]

OK This has to bring out the pedant in me .... sorry

According to the Oxford dictionary a harbour is ....a place on the coast where ships may moor in shelter, especially one protected from rough water by piers, jetties, and other artificial structures:

I guess this definition does not exclude a natural ocurring sheltered place without jetties etc but it would include a stretch of open coastline that still provides the necessary shelter. It does not necessarily have to be an enclosed waterbody.

So if we cannot specify are harbour by its natural characteristics maybe we can define it by the number of ships it normally shelters.

On that basis I think the Singapore and Malacca Straits are a clear winner by the several hundred (maybe even thousand) ships which are regularly moored there. I have sailed out of Singapore and ships were moored for at least three days sailing distance. I did not record my last sighting, I wish I had but at a guess they would have been moored for 2-300 nautical miles from Singapore and along the Malaysian coastline.

Now where else in the world can beat that????

[DtM]

I suspect that the distinction between an harbour and a bay is one without a difference.

[DtM]

Jim and Ann,

When are you returning downunder?

Your anchorage place in Pittwater awaits you !!!

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by DtM

Jim and Ann,

When are you returning downunder?

Your anchorage place in Pittwater awaits you !!!

Wish I knew for sure! Still threshing out medical issues, but sure hope to be back on board before Xmas. Glad to hear that Towler's is still there!

Cheers,

Jim

[PamlicoTraveler]

I would have guessed Vathi, Ithaca in Greece (Ionian, next to Cephalonia). It is huge, and totally protected, and definitely not a bay.

But the argument is rather pointless...kind of like the world's tallest midget. If it's too big it's of no use as a harbor anyway.

[sailful]

I had read that Prince Rupert is the largest natural harbour on the west coast of North America.

[DtM]

Hi Jim,

We can get back on board our catamaran in a fortnight. My medical (knee) issues have kept us off her for 6 weeks now.

Towler's is a likely first night.

daniel