Mumbai Harbour
Mumbai Harbou (Mumbay bay or Marathi: मुंबई बंदर or Front Bay) is a natural deep-water harbor in the southern portion of the Ulhas River estuary in India. The narrower, northern part of the estuary is called Thane Creek. The harbor opens to the Arabian Sea to the south. The historical island of Elephanta is one of the six islands that lie in the harbor. It is also site of the Gateway to India swim.
Front Bay is the official name of the harbor, so named because Mumbai started as a tiny settlement facing the harbor. The waterbody behind the original settlement, forming an arc between the former Colaba island and Bombay island, up to the Malabar Hill promontory or peninsula, was similarly called Back Bay.
Front Bay is home to the Mumbai Port, which lies in the south section of the western edge of the harbor. Jawaharlal Nehru Port and Navi Mumbai lie to the east on the Konkan mainland, and the city of Mumbai lies to the west on Salsette Island. The Gateway of India with its jetty for Elephanta is the most important tourist destination, followed by the INS Vikrant maritime Museum.
Open Water Swimming
The Gateway of India channel swim (Gateway to India Challenge) has been completed by the following swimmers through the Mumbai Bay:
- Rohan More in 1996 Dharamtar to the Gateway of India in India in 7 hours 29 minutes at the age of 11.
- Aditya Santosh Raut, 70 km two-way crossing on 24 November 2002 between the Gateway of India and Dharmatar in 21.28 hours at the age of 9 years
- Christian Jongeneel, 6 hours 49 minutes in December 2012
- Prakash Nadar, 18 hours from Gateway of India to Rewas in Raig in 2013
- Atharva Rakshe, 24 km from the Gateway of India to Belapur Jetty in the Arabian Sea in 4 hours 49 minutes in 2014
- Bhakti Sharma, 16 km from Uran Port to the Gateway of India in 4 hours in 2003
- Bhakti Sharma, 36 km swim from Dharmatar to the Gateway of India in 9 hours 30 minutes in 2004
- Bhakti Sharma, 72 km two-way relay crossing between Dharmatar to the Gateway of India in 16 hours 58 minutes in 2008 with Leena Sharma and Priyanka Gehlot
- Delphinus, a 286 km circumnavigation relay around Mumbai starting and finishing at the Gateway of India
- Sampanna Ramesh Shelar, 18 km across Mandva Jetty to the Gateway of India on 3 March 2015 at the age of 14
- Soham Sheth, 18 km across Mandva Jetty to the Gateway of India on 3 March 2015 at the age of 14
- Sampanna Ramesh Shelar, 24 km from Gateway of India to Belapur on 24 January 2015 at the age of 14
- The Sea Hawk, 433.11 km from Dona Paula in Goa along the Konkan coast to the Gate Way of India in 156 hours between 13-19 February 2015 that included Paramvir Singh, Gullupilli Narhari, Ankan Kumar Patel, Vicky Tokas, Ganesh Palande, and Manav Mehta
- Anushka Purandare, 24 km from the Gateway of India to Belapur in 4 hours 59 minutes on 12 March 2016; with pace swimmer Tejas Shankaran
- 61-year-old Ned Denison, chairperson of the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame 35 km swim from Dharmatar to Gateway of India in the center of Mumbai in 7 hours 52 minutes on 28 November 2018.
