Glasgow Bay is locally known as Island Bay due to the island at the entrance of the bay.
Rocky cliffs surround this bay and the lack of beach suggests there landing is impractical. Good location for scuba diving and crayfish diving.
Glasgow Bay is exposed and one must be extremely familiar to anchor here, although it is good in a NW.
Please note that this bay can become very dangerous in a southerly.
The bay is named for the ship, the Glasgow Castle that sheltered at anchor in the cove during a severe storm.1
The Māori iwi (tribe), Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui, knew the cove as Little Island Bay. It was named for the two small islands in the bay, Glasgow Island and Boy Island.2
Glasgow Island is a colony for mutton birds or shearwaters. These birds, known as tītī in Māori, were an important source of food for Te Ātiawa o Te Waka-a-Māui and were harvested annually in Autumn.3
1. James R. Eyles, Place Names of Port Underwood - a post European History, (Picton: October Enterprises, 2002) 57.
2. Te Ātiawa Trust, “Glasgow Island / Oyster Bay, Marlborough, NZ”, accessed May 30, 2019, https://vimeo.com/teatiawa .
3. Marlborough District Council, Nelson City Council and Tasman District Council, “Te Tau Ihu Statutory Acknowledgements 2014”, accessed April 2, 2019, http://www.nelson.govt.nz/assets/Environment/Downloads/TeTauIhu-StatutoryAcknowledgements.pdf .
