Located west of Kenai Peninsula, extends southwest 220 miles from Anchorage to its junction with Shelikof Strait at Barren Is., Aleutian Range. 30 miles wide.
Named by the Earl of Sandwich for Captain James Cook, 1728-79, Royal Navy (RN), who explored and mapped the region in 1778. Captain George Vancouver called it "Cooks Inlet" (Wagner, 1937, p. 382). The inlet was recorded as "Zaliv Kenayskoy" or "Kenay (Kenai) Bay" by Sarichev (1826, map 3).