The Bay of Cárdenas is a shallow bay

Bay

A bay is an area of water mostly surrounded by land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Bays also exist as an inlet in a lake or pond. A large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight...

 on Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

's northern shore, in the province

Provinces of Cuba

Administratively, Cuba is divided into 15 provinces and one special municipality not included in any province. The last modification was approved in August 2010 , splitting Havana province into two new provinces: Artemisa and Mayabeque...

 of Matanzas

Matanzas Province

Matanzas is one of the provinces of Cuba. Major towns in the province include Cárdenas, Colón, Jovellanos and the capital of the same name, Matanzas...

.

It is located on the Cuban coast, facing the Nicholas Channel

Nicholas Channel

Nicholas Channel is a strait off the northwestern coast of Cuba. It lies east of Havana. It separates Cuba from the most southwestern of the islands of the Bahamas....

, and is delimited to the north by the Hicacos Peninsula

Hicacos Peninsula

Hicacos is a peninsula on Cuba's northern shore, in the province of Matanzas. The resort town of Varadero is located on the peninsula. The name comes from a species of cactus.-Geography:...

. To the north-east it is flanked by cay

Cay

A cay , also spelled caye or key, is a small, low-elevation, sandy island formed on the surface of coral reefs. Cays occur in tropical environments throughout the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans , where they provide habitable and agricultural land for hundreds of thousands of people...

s of the Sabana-Camaguey Archipelago

Sabana-Camaguey Archipelago

Sabana-Camagüey is an archipelago that lines Cuba's north-central Atlantic coast. It is located off the northern coast of the provinces of Matanzas, Villa Clara, Sancti Spíritus, Ciego de Ávila and Camagüey, and is bounded to the north by the Atlantic Ocean, specifically by the Nicholas Channel ...

, such as Cayo Cruz del Padre, Cayo Galindo and Cayo Cinco Leguas. To the south-east it is bordered by the coastal wetlands and mangrove

Mangrove

Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...

s of Martí

Martí, Cuba

Martí is a town and municipality in north-eastern section of Cuba's Matanzas Province.-Geography:The municipality is divided into the barrios of Guamutas, Lacret, La Teja, Martí, Máximo Gómez, Motembo and Río de la Palma....

 as well as the Bay of Santa Clara

Bay of Santa Clara

The Bay of Santa Clara is a bay on Cuba's north coast, located between the Nicholas Channel and the northern coast of the provinces of Matanzas and Villa Clara....

. The port and the city of Cárdenas are located on the south-eastern shore. The bay has a total area of more than 250 km² (96.5 sq mi). An artificial navigation channel (Kawama Channel) connects the bay to the Straits of Florida

Straits of Florida

The Straits of Florida, Florida Straits, or Florida Strait is a strait located south-southeast of the North American mainland, generally accepted to be between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, and between the Florida Keys and Cuba. The strait carries the Florida Current, the beginning of...

 south of the town of Varadero.

Other than the industrial port of Cardenas, other marina

Marina

A marina is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters....

s lining the bay are located at Siguapa and Júcaro. The waters of the bay are also used for fishing lobster

Lobster

Clawed lobsters comprise a family of large marine crustaceans. Highly prized as seafood, lobsters are economically important, and are often one of the most profitable commodities in coastal areas they populate.Though several groups of crustaceans are known as lobsters, the clawed lobsters are most...

. On the southern shore, a combination of cays (Cayo Cupey) and causeways is used for oil

Petroleum

Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...

 extraction.

The bay was the stage of the Battle of Cárdenas

Battle of Cárdenas

The Second Battle of Cárdenas was a secondary naval engagement of the Spanish–American War fought on 11 May of 1898 in the port of Cárdenas, Cuba, between an American squadron of 5 ships under Captain Chapman C. Todd and 3 small Spanish vessels under Mariano Mateu. The battle resulted in an...

 on May 11, 1898, during the Spanish–American War.