a strait between the Yucatán Peninsula and Cuba. The Yucatán Channel is 200 km wide and has a maximum depth of 2,779 m (near Cuba). It connects the Caribbean Sea with the Gulf of Mexico. A powerful current runs through the channel from south to north, resulting in a piling up of water and a rise in the level of the Gulf of Mexico. The rise in level is one of the causes of the Gulf Stream.