The park's northern boundary is at Minou; it does not include the Dakhlet Nouadhibou, or the westernmost areas.

Other promontories include Minou, Cap Sainte-Anne, Argun, Alzaz, Tagarit and Tafarit.

Inhabited places by the bay include Nouadhibou in the north, Arkeiss and Tel-Alloul to the east and Teichott, R'Gueiba and Awguei to the south.

The bay is the possible location of Cerne, a Carthaginian outpost founded by Hanno the Navigator around 500 B.C.

The area is also known as the place where the French frigate Méduse was famously wrecked in 1816.