Gold Harbour ( es, Puerto de Oro) is a small

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

south-southwest of

Cape Charlotte Cape Charlotte (located at ) is a cape that forms the southeast side of the entrance to Royal Bay on the north coast near the eastern end of South Georgia in the Atlantic Ocean. It was discovered in 1775 by a British expedition under Captain Jam ...

, with Bertrab Glacier at its head, along the east end of

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� ...

. During the early 1900s, the feature was variously called "Anna's Bay", "Gold-Hafen" or "Sandwich Bay"; the latter name has also been used for

Iris Bay Iris Bay is a small bay immediately south of Muller Point at the east end of South Georgia, lying northwest of Cape Vahsel, along the embayment between Cape Vahsel and Cape Charlotte. The name "Sandwich Bay", for John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sand ...

. The approved name appears to have taken root through common usage by sealers and whalers and is now well established. Gold Harbour is so called because the sun's rays make the cliffs yellow with their light in the morning and evening. There is no particular historical or geological reason to give Gold Harbour its mineral name, which was in common use among the early sealers. Perhaps they were inspired by the sunsets.

Wildlife

The area is a breeding ground for penguins, including

King penguin The king penguin (''Aptenodytes patagonicus'') is the second largest species of penguin, smaller, but somewhat similar in appearance to the emperor penguin. There are two subspecies: ''A. p. patagonicus'' and ''A. p. halli''; ''patagonicus'' i ...

s and

Gentoo penguin 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 ear ...

Southern elephant seal The southern elephant seal (''Mirounga leonina'') is one of two species of elephant seals. It is the largest member of the clade Pinnipedia and the order Carnivora, as well as the largest extant marine mammal that is not a cetacean. It gets it ...

s also breed here, especially at the west end of the beach, where a glacial stream flows.

Light-mantled albatross The light-mantled albatross (''Phoebetria palpebrata'') also known as the grey-mantled albatross or the light-mantled sooty albatross, is a small albatross in the genus ''Phoebetria'', which it shares with the sooty albatross. The light-mantled a ...

es breed here as well.

References

* Child, Jack. ''Antarctica and South American Geopolitics: Frozen Lebensraum''. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1988, 13–14, 27–28. * Lonely Planet, ''Antarctica: a Lonely Planet Travel Survival Kit'', Oakland, CA: Lonely Planet Publications, 1996, pp. 275–281. * U.S. National Science Foundation, ''Geographic Names of the Antarctic'', Fred G. Alberts, ed. Washington: NSF, 1980.

External links

Video of Gold Harbour

Picture of Gold Harbour
Ports and harbours of South Georgia {{SouthGeorgia-geo-stub

Wildlife

See also

References

External links