GULF OF MEXICO CRUISES

Gulf of Mexico which is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean, bordered on the north by the United States, on the east by Cuba, and on the south and west by Mexico. It covers an area of 579,000 sq miles and extends 1,100 miles from east to west and some 800 miles from north to south. The gulf is connected with the Atlantic by the narrow Straits of Florida and with the Caribbean Sea through the Yucatán Channel.

 The Gulf of Mexico was unnamed until the early 1540s and was considered part of the Atlantic Ocean. The Spanish name most often applied to it was Seno Mexicano, although it was occasionally referred to as Golfo de Nueva España, or Golfo de México. In 1845 the United States Coast Survey began work in the Gulf of Mexico to create accurate navigational charts. The major rivers entering the gulf include the Mississippi, Brazos, and Río Grande.

 Shrimping is important in shallow coastal waters, and petroleum deposits are located in the Bay of Campeche, a southern arm of the gulf, and off the Louisiana and Texas coasts. The United States and Mexico form the Gulf's mainland shore, which extends more than 4,000 miles from the Florida Keys to Cabo Catoche, at the northwestern tip of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. At a depth of more than 12,000 feet, Sigsbee Deep is the deepest part of the gulf. It is more than 300 miles long and is sometimes called the “Grand Canyon under the sea.” Its closest point to the Texas coast is 200 miles southeast of Brownsville.

The Gulf's geologic origin remains uncertain. Proposed theories speculate that it is: a foundered and ocean-flooded continental crust; an ocean basin that has been subjected to rifting; or an ancient sea that has existed since the various continents formed a single land mass. By 1994, around 60 petroleum structures have been converted to permanent reefs in the Gulf of Mexico. An estimated five platforms in Florida, 19 platforms in Texas, three platforms in Alabama and 36 platforms in Louisiana have been donated on behalf of fishery enhancement. Gulf of Mexico cruises are very popular and leave from both the United States and Mexico.