what word refers to a bay cove or other recess along the coast

Indentation?

From the Thesaurus:

bay, bight, cove, creek [ chiefly British ], estuary, firth, fjord ( or fiord), inlet, loch [ Scottish ]

an inlet (pretty sure...)

maddie was right is is an inlet

not geography

The word you are looking for is "cove". However, to find this word, you can also refer to a thesaurus, which is a useful tool for finding synonyms and related words. In this case, by looking up the term "bay cove" or "coastal recess" in a thesaurus, you can find alternative terms such as bay, bight, creek, estuary, firth, fjord (or fiord), inlet, and loch. These are all words that refer to similar geographical features along the coast.