The bay is 20 miles wide at its mouth and is bounded by the Rhins of Galloway to the west and the Machars to the east.

Discharged bombs were retrieved by a retired minesweeper based at Drummore.

It is still a licensed Ministry of Defence range with byelaws[1] restricting access during test and evaluation activities conducted by QinetiQ[2] on behalf of the MOD.

Once an important commercial fishery, Luce Bay is now seldom used for this purpose.

It contains important marine and littoral life, and has been declared a Special Area of Conservation by Scottish Natural Heritage