A barachois is a term used in Atlantic Canada, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Réunion and Mauritius Island to describe a coastal lagoon partially or totally separated from the ocean by a sand or shingle bar. Salt water may enter the barachois during high tide.
The bar often is formed as a result of sediment deposited in the delta region of a river or – as is the case in Miquelon – by a tombolo.
Name
The English term comes from the French language, where the word is pronounced [ba.ʁa.ʃwa].
The term comes from a Basque word, barratxoa, meaning little bar. The popular derivation from the French barre à choir is without historical merit.
In Newfoundland English, the word has become pronounced (and sometimes written) as barrasway.
Examples
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Dark Harbour, New Brunswick.
- Dark Harbour, Grand Manan, New Brunswick (photo)
- Barachois de Malbaie on the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula, fed by one of two Malbaie Rivers in Quebec and the Beattie, du Portage, and Murphy Rivers
- Grand Barachois, Miquelon Island
- Grand-Barachois, in Westmorland County, New Brunswick
- Barachois Pond Provincial Park in western Newfoundland
- Big Barasway and Little Barasway, communities on Newfoundland's Cape Shore
- Prince Edward Island National Park has several examples
- Percival Bay, off the Northumberland Strait, is also known as the Big Barachois
- The coves in the lagoon of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean
- Barachois Pond Provincial Park, Newfoundland.
- Topsail Beach Provincial Park, Topsail
- Former settlement of Freshwater, Deadmans Bay, St John's, Newfoundland.
- Great Barachois, near Petit-de-Grat, Nova Scotia
References