What Is the Large Ocean Inlet Separating Florida from Mexico?

That body of water is the Gulf of Mexico, a large, semi-enclosed marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean. It borders the southeastern United States, eastern Mexico, and western Cuba. Connected to the Atlantic via the Straits of Florida and to the Caribbean Sea via the Yucatán Channel, the Gulf covers approximately 1.6 million square kilometers (600,000 square miles), making it the ninth-largest water body in the world.