page_title: Bras d'Or Lake
section_title: Subdivisions
hierarchical_section_title: Bras d'Or Lake / Subdivisions
caption_attribution_description: English: The medium sized self-unloader Algoport passing under the Seal Island Bridge entering Cape Breton Island's Bras d'Or Lake system to load at Little Narrows Gypsum.
context_page_description: Bras d'Or Lake is an inland sea, or large body of partially fresh/salt water in the centre of Cape Breton Island in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. Bras d'Or Lake is sometimes referred to as the Bras d'Or Lakes or the Bras d'Or Lakes system; however, its official geographic name is Bras d'Or Lake, as it is a singular entity. Canadian author and yachtsman Silver Donald Cameron describes Bras d'Or Lake as "A basin ringed by indigo hills laced with marble. Islands within a sea inside an island." The lake is connected to the North Atlantic by natural channels; the Great Bras d'Or Channel north of Boularderie Island and the Little Bras d'Or Channel to south of Boularderie Island connect the northeastern arm of the lake to the Cabot Strait. The Bras d'Or is also connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Strait of Canso by means of a lock canal completed in 1869—the St. Peters Canal, at the southern tip of the lake.
  There are several competing explanations of the origin of the name "Bras d'Or".
context_section_description: The effect of local topography has resulted in the following major components of Bras d'Or Lake:
  Northern Basin
  Great Bras d'Or
  Little Bras d'Or
  St. Andrews Channel
  St. Patricks Channel
  Baddeck Bay
  Nyanza Bay
  Whycocomagh Bay
  Southern Basin
  Denys Basin
  St. Peters Inlet
  East Bay
  West Bay
  The largest part of the lake measures approximately 25 kilometres across in the southern basin, framed by East Bay and West Bay with Denys Basin to the north and St. Peters Inlet to the south. The Barra Strait is crossed by highway and railway bridges running between the Washabuck Peninsula and the Boisdale Hills.
caption: Ocean-going ships enter and exit the Bras d'Or Lake system via Great Bras d'Or, spanned by the Seal Island Bridge
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