Papua Beach () is a beach 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km) long on the southeast shore of
Cumberland West Bay
Cumberland West Bay is a bay forming the western arm of Cumberland Bay, South Georgia. It is entered southward of Larsen Point, where it is wide, and extends in a southwest direction. It is separated from Cumberland East Bay by Thatcher Pe ...
,
South Georgia
South Georgia ( es, Isla San Pedro) is an island in the South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. Stretching in the east†...
. The name derives from "
Papua Cove Papua most commonly refers to:
* New Guinea, the world's second-largest island in the southwestern Pacific Ocean
* Western New Guinea, the western half of the island of New Guinea, which is administered by Indonesia.
** Papua (province), an Indones ...
," now an obsolete name, applied for a minor recession of the shore of this beach by the
Swedish Antarctic Expedition
The Swedish Antarctic Expedition of 1901–1903 was a scientific expedition led by Otto Nordenskjöld and Carl Anton Larsen. It was the first Swedish endeavour to Antarctica in the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.
Background
Otto Nordensk ...
under Nordenskjold, 1901–04, because a colony of gentoo penguins (''
Pygoscelis papua
The gentoo penguin ( ) (''Pygoscelis papua'') is a penguin species (or possibly a species complex) in the genus ''Pygoscelis'', most closely related to the Adélie penguin (''P. adeliae'') and the chinstrap penguin (''P. antarcticus''). The earl ...
'') was found there. The
cove
A cove is a small type of bay or coastal inlet. Coves usually have narrow, restricted entrances, are often circular or oval, and are often situated within a larger bay. Small, narrow, sheltered bays, inlets, creeks, or recesses in a coast are o ...
was called "Pinguinbucht" on a 1907 chart by
A. Szielasko, and the form Penguin Bay appears on some later charts. Following this survey in 1951–52, the SGS reported that the beach now described, rather than the cove or
bay, is the significant feature for which a name is required.
Beaches of South Georgia
{{SouthGeorgia-geo-stub