The sea in this wide gulf is frozen for about nine months every year and is often clogged with ice floes.

East of these islands lies Sellyakh Bay, a deep inlet stretching southwards where the 352 km (219 mi) long Sellyakh and the 267 km (166 mi) long Muksunuokha have their mouths.

[3][1] In 1712 Yakov Permyakov and his companion Merkury Vagin, the first recorded Russian explorers of the area, crossed the Yana Bay on dogsled from the mouth of the Yana River to Bolshoy Lyakhovsky over the ice in order to explore the then unknown island.

Unfortunately Permyakov and Vagin were killed on the way back from their exploration by mutineering expedition members.

[4] In 1892–1894 Baron Eduard von Toll, accompanied by expedition leader Alexander von Bunge, carried out geological surveys in the area on behalf of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences.