Cape Buller () is a rugged

headland A headland, also known as a head, is a coastal landform, a point of land usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends into a body of water. It is a type of promontory. A headland of considerable size often is called a cape.Whittow, John ...

forming the west side of the entrance to the

Bay of Isles The Bay of Isles is a bay wide and receding , lying between Cape Buller and Cape Wilson along the north coast of South Georgia. It was discovered in 1775 by a British expedition under James Cook and so named by him because numerous islands (a ...

on the north coast 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� ...

. It was discovered and named in 1775 by a British expedition under

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

. Macdonald Cove sits just to the west of Cape Buller on the north coast of the island. The cove is south-southeast of the

Welcome Islands The Welcome Islands ( es, Islas Bienvenido) are a small rocky archipelago to the north of the main island of South Georgia. They are to the east of Bird Island. They are west-northwest of Cape Buller Cape Buller () is a rugged headland f ...

and has important fossil occurrences on its periphery. It was named by the UK Antarctic Place-Names Committee in 1982 after

David I.M. Macdonald David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, a

British Antarctic Survey The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) is the United Kingdom's national polar research institute. It has a dual purpose, to conduct polar science, enabling better understanding of global issues, and to provide an active presence in the Antarctic on ...

geologist in charge of field work on South Georgia, 1975–76 and 1976–77. Sitka Bay sits west of Macdonald Dove, west of Cape Buller. The names Sitka Bay and Buller Bay have both appeared for this feature on maps for many years. Following a survey of South Georgia in 1951 and 1952, the South Georgia Survey reported that this feature is known locally as Sitka Bay, and the name is approved on that basis.

References

Headlands of South Georgia {{SouthGeorgia-geo-stub