It's really neither. If you look at a map you'll see that this is rather a misleading question, because the Gulf itself is actually altogether SOUTH of the States, beginning as far east as the west coast of Florida, and closing in a colossal semi-circle all the way round the southern edge of Alabama, part of Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, and Mexico itself. The bowl runs almost right around on itself, all the way to the Yucatan peninsula and Cancun on the far north-eastern tip of Mexico, from where it's only about a thousand miles back across the water to Florida.. ! The entire rim of the bowl is technically the GoM, so it's actually more South than either East or West.