[3][6] Port Cunnington is a community established on a peninsula reaching out deep inside the lake.

Other settlements on the lake shore include Dwight, South Portage, Baysville and Dorset.

Despite its size and basin shape, low fertility and a short residence time combine to make it only moderately productive.

Lake of Bays water is clear, and the maximum secchi disc reading obtained was 8 m (26 ft).

In the summer months of July and August, the surface layer can have an average temperature approaching 21 °C (70 °F), while the top few metres can warm to about 26.5 °C (79.7 °F).