From: dtilque@frontier.com

What countries have 3 or more sea coasts?

The coasts all have to be on a single contiguous territory of that
country. Exclaves and islands do not add to the total, but rather each
has their own coast count. Any continuous coastline, uninterrupted by
territory of another country, counts as one, even if the name of the
body of water changes from one part to another. Coastlines on lakes and
rivers do not count. (For the purposes of this question, the Caspian
Sea, Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee and any other inland body of water, even
if they have the word "Sea" in their name, are considered lakes.)

Example: the USA has only two coasts: East Coast and West Coast. The
South Coast is continuous with the East Coast, so it doesn't add to the
total, even though one is on the Atlantic Ocean and the other is on the
Gulf of Mexico. Alaska has its own count (1) and each of the Hawaiian
Islands have their own count (also 1).

Lots of countries have 2 coasts, but I can only find a handful that have
3. How many can you find?

--
Dan Tilque

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From: gromit82@hotmail.com

On 9/17/2025 2:20 AM, Dan Tilque wrote:

What countries have 3 or more sea coasts?

The coasts all have to be on a single contiguous territory of that
country. Exclaves and islands do not add to the total, but rather each
has their own coast count. Any continuous coastline, uninterrupted by territory of another country, counts as one, even if the name of the
body of water changes from one part to another. Coastlines on lakes and rivers do not count. (For the purposes of this question, the Caspian
Sea, Dead Sea, Sea of Galilee and any other inland body of water, even
if they have the word "Sea" in their name, are considered lakes.)

Example: the USA has only two coasts: East Coast and West Coast. The
South Coast is continuous with the East Coast, so it doesn't add to the total, even though one is on the Atlantic Ocean and the other is on the
Gulf of Mexico. Alaska has its own count (1) and each of the Hawaiian
Islands have their own count (also 1).

Lots of countries have 2 coasts, but I can only find a handful that have
3. How many can you find?

So far I've found two:

Morocco: The Atlantic-Mediterranean coast is interrupted by two Spanish exclaves on the Mediterranean side, Ceuta and Melilla, which would give
Morocco three sea coasts by the above criteria.

Saudi Arabia: The Red Sea coast is uninterrupted, but the Persian Gulf
coast is interrupted by Qatar, making two coasts on the Persian Gulf for
a total of three.

--
Joshua Kreitzer
gromit82@hotmail.com

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From: esquel@sommarskog.se

Dan Tilque (dtilque@frontier.com) writes:

Lots of countries have 2 coasts, but I can only find a handful that have
3. How many can you find?

Russia, Spain, France, Morrocco and possibly also Saudi-Arabia are the ones
I can think of.

Of these, Russia is the one to only one to really have three coasts: Artic/Pacific Ocean, Black Sea, Gulf of Finland.

Spain, France and Morrocco all have three pieces of coast lines
thanks the small interruptions of Gilbraltar (Spain), Monaco (France)
and Ceuta and Melilla (Morrocco).

When it comes to Saudi-Arabia, I don't recall the exact circumstances
of the border of Qatar. What I do recall that this was up for
discussion when Mark Brader posted his first Rare Entries Quiz many
years ago. I seem to recall we found maps that showed Qatar having a
border with only Saudi Arabia (which gives them three pieces of coast
lines), only with USA and having a border with both.

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From: esquel@sommarskog.se

Erland Sommarskog (esquel@sommarskog.se) writes:

Dan Tilque (dtilque@frontier.com) writes:

Lots of countries have 2 coasts, but I can only find a handful that have
3. How many can you find?

Russia, Spain, France, Morrocco and possibly also Saudi-Arabia are the
ones I can think of.

After checking the map, I believe that I found one more. Remains to
see if Dan as spotted it. And is prepared to accept it. This is a
greyish area.

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From: dtilque@frontier.com

On 9/19/25 06:31, Erland Sommarskog wrote:

Erland Sommarskog (esquel@sommarskog.se) writes:

Dan Tilque (dtilque@frontier.com) writes:

Lots of countries have 2 coasts, but I can only find a handful that have >>> 3. How many can you find?

Russia, Spain, France, Morrocco and possibly also Saudi-Arabia are the
ones I can think of.

After checking the map, I believe that I found one more. Remains to
see if Dan as spotted it. And is prepared to accept it. This is a
greyish area.

Well, what is it?

The list you first gave was all good, although not complete. None of the
ones I know of are a greyish area, so it may be one I don't know of.

--
Dan Tilque

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From: gromit82@hotmail.com

On 9/19/2025 11:00 AM, Dan Tilque wrote:

On 9/19/25 06:31, Erland Sommarskog wrote:

Erland Sommarskog (esquel@sommarskog.se) writes:

Dan Tilque (dtilque@frontier.com) writes:

Lots of countries have 2 coasts, but I can only find a handful that
have
3. How many can you find?

Russia, Spain, France, Morrocco and possibly also Saudi-Arabia are the
ones I can think of.

After checking the map, I believe that I found one more. Remains to
see if Dan as spotted it. And is prepared to accept it. This is a
greyish area.

Well, what is it?

The list you first gave was all good, although not complete. None of the
ones I know of are a greyish area, so it may be one I don't know of.

Malaysia also has three coasts, on the island of Borneo where its South
China Sea coastline is interrupted by the two parts of Brunei.

--
Joshua Kreitzer
gromit82@hotmail.com

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From: esquel@sommarskog.se

Dan Tilque (dtilque@frontier.com) writes:

The list you first gave was all good, although not complete. None of the
ones I know of are a greyish area, so it may be one I don't know of.

I felt stupid last night. When you said that the US did not qualify,
I though "but what about Point Roberts", but then I realised that it
not qualify. What I failed to do was to take the hint. Of course, Canada qualifies.

The country I have in mind is Poland. The borders against Germany and
Russia both runs through lagoons, and Poland has territory on both
sides on the lagoons. The western lagoon forms the estuary of the Oder
river, which could disqualify Poland. But according to Wikipedia, the
water is brackish.

I should add that I made my original entry from memory only without
checking any sources.

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From: dtilque@frontier.com

On 9/20/25 12:01, Erland Sommarskog wrote:

The country I have in mind is Poland. The borders against Germany and
Russia both runs through lagoons, and Poland has territory on both
sides on the lagoons. The western lagoon forms the estuary of the Oder
river, which could disqualify Poland. But according to Wikipedia, the
water is brackish.

I looked at those borders using GoogleMaps, and can't see how they would
add even one coast to Poland. Perhaps I'm missing something.

As far as greyish areas, I've since discovered one. It depends on whose
claim to a significant amount of the land of a certain country you
accept. Going by international recognition, there's only two. But going
by de facto situation on the ground, there's three.

--
Dan Tilque

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From: gromit82@hotmail.com

On 9/20/2025 4:37 PM, Dan Tilque wrote:

On 9/20/25 12:01, Erland Sommarskog wrote:

The country I have in mind is Poland. The borders against Germany and
Russia both runs through lagoons, and Poland has territory on both
sides on the lagoons. The western lagoon forms the estuary of the Oder
river, which could disqualify Poland. But according to Wikipedia, the
water is brackish.

I looked at those borders using GoogleMaps, and can't see how they would
add even one coast to Poland. Perhaps I'm missing something.

The question is whether the coast of the Szczecin Lagoon counts as a
seacoast (see around 53.756722 N, 14.558637 E), and whether the coast of
the Vistula Lagoon counts (see around 54.377553 N, 19.447694 E). They
are both definitely separate from Poland's Baltic Sea coast within the
meaning of this puzzle, but the question is whether they count as
seacoasts. --
Joshua Kreitzer
gromit82@hotmail.com

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