A cay (also spelled key, but both are pronounced alike as "key" href="http://articles.gourt.com/en/IPA">IPA /ki:/) is a small, low island consisting mostly of sand or coral. The word is used almost exclusively in the Caribbean, though it is sometimes used in the context of other tropical environments, such as the Great Barrier Reef and especially in the Florida Keys.

Sand cays are formed when tidal action, wind and sea birds deposit, over a long period of time, coral debris and sand onto reef flats, usually on the leeward side of the reef, but occasionally on the windward side. weather affects the formation of cays greatly; large tides would bring much more debris onto the cay and thus make it larger, while a hurricane could completely obliterate a cay.

An example of a coral cay is Heron Island.

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Americas - International Herald Tribune

McCain vows to end 'partisan rancor'
By ADAM NAGOURNEY AND MICHAEL COOPER Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:25:25 -0000
John McCain sought to move from a convention marked by an effort to reassure the party base to an appeal to a broader electorate.
At McCain's convention, big money still talks
By Michael Luo Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:29:59 -0000
For all of John McCain's efforts to purge big money from politics, large donors still wielded sizable influence over the RNC.
McCain's challenge: To cast Republican ticket as anti-establishment
By PETER BAKER Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:25:25 -0000
As John McCain accepted the Republican Party's nomination, he sounded a rousing insurgent's call to topple the establishment - except that he and his party head the establishment.
Foreign policy factions vie for McCain's heart
By David E. Sanger Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:31:37 -0000
Hidden from view during much of the Republican convention here, a fierce struggle has been under way to mold the foreign-policy approach of John McCain.
To counter Palin, Obama to dispatch female surrogates
By PATRICK HEALY AND JEFF ZELENY Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:25:25 -0000
With the McCain-Palin team courting female voters, the Obama camp plans to deploy prominent Democratic women.
Canada to hold early elections
Fri, 05 Sep 2008 21:25:25 -0000
Prime Minister Stephen Harper of Canada plans to dissolve Parliament on Sunday and call early elections in hopes of strengthening his minority government's hold on power.

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