Gerritsz Bay ( bg, залив Гериц, zaliv Gerits, ) is the 4 km wide bay indenting for 2.15 km the north coast of Anvers Island in the Palmer Archipelago,

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

. It is entered east of Oberbauer Point and west of the northwest extremity of the small peninsula forming

Cape Grönland Cape Grönland () is a cape on the east side of the entrance to Gerritsz Bay which forms the northern extremity of Anvers Island, in the Palmer Archipelago, Antarctica. The cape was discovered by a German expedition 1873–74, under Eduard D ...

. The point is so named in order to preserve the historical memory of the area. Having navigated the

Strait of Magellan The Strait of Magellan (), also called the Straits of Magellan, is a navigable sea route in southern Chile separating mainland South America to the north and Tierra del Fuego to the south. The strait is considered the most important natural pass ...

in 1599, the Dutch mariner Dirck Gerritsz Pomp (1544-1608) was blown to the south and reportedly sighted an extensive, ice-covered mountainous land. Although Gerritsz was unlikely to have reached 60° south latitude, some later publications used the name ''Gerritsz Archipelago'' for the Palmer Archipelago or ''Gerritsz Islands'' for the

South Shetlands The South Shetland Islands are a group of Antarctic islands with a total area of . They lie about north of the Antarctic Peninsula, and between southwest of the nearest point of the South Orkney Islands. By the Antarctic Treaty of 19 ...

Location

Gerritsz Bay is centred at . British mapping in 1980.

Maps

British Antarctic Territory.
Scale 1:200000 topographic map. DOS 610 Series, Sheet W 64 62. Directorate of Overseas Surveys, UK, 1980.
Antarctic Digital Database (ADD).
Scale 1:250000 topographic map of Antarctica. Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR). Since 1993, regularly upgraded and updated.

References

Bulgarian Antarctic Gazetteer.

Antarctic Place-names Commission The Antarctic Place-names Commission was established by the Bulgarian Antarctic Institute in 1994, and since 2001 has been a body affiliated with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria. The Commission approves Bulgarian place names in ...

. (details in Bulgarian
basic data
in English)
Gerritsz Bay.
SCAR Composite Antarctic Gazetteer.

External links

Gerritsz Bay.
Copernix satellite image Bays of the Palmer Archipelago Bulgaria and the Antarctic {{AnversIsland-geo-stub