Were there no island to see, there would still be the bay (6)
I believe the answer is:
biscay
'the bay' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'were there no island to see there would still' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'island' could be 'cay' (I've seen this before) and 'cay' is found in the answer.
The remaining letters 'bis' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
'be' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for biscay that I've seen before include "Great Bay between France and Spain" , "Atlantic bay between Spain and France" , "Bay of Western France and Northern Spain" , "French Atlantic bay" , "European bay" .)