Albatross Island is an island

Island

An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...

 2 miles (3 km) southeast of Cape Buller

Cape Buller

Cape Buller is a rugged headland forming the west side of the entrance to the Bay of Isles on the north coast of South Georgia. It was discovered and named in 1775 by a British expedition under James Cook....

, lying in the Bay of Isles

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 lie in the bay, many of which are named after local birds...

, South Georgia. Charted in 1912–13 by Robert Cushman Murphy

Robert Cushman Murphy

Robert Cushman Murphy was an American ornithologist and former Lamont curator of birds for the American Museum of Natural History....

, American naturalist aboard the brig Daisy, who gave this name because he observed albatross

Albatross

Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds allied to the procellariids, storm-petrels and diving-petrels in the order Procellariiformes . They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Pacific...

es there.

The island is rat

Rat

Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the superfamily Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus...

-free and there is a breeding population of South Georgia Pipit

South Georgia Pipit

The South Georgia Pipit is a sparrow sized bird, only found on the South Georgia archipelago. It is the Antarctic's only song bird, and South Georgia's only passerine, and one of the few non-seabirds of the region....

s here, along with wandering albatross

Wandering Albatross

The Wandering Albatross, Snowy Albatross or White-winged Albatross, Diomedea exulans, is a large seabird from the family Diomedeidae, which has a circumpolar range in the Southern Ocean. It was the first species of albatross to be described, and was long considered the same species as the Tristan...

es and giant petrel

Giant petrel

Giant petrels is a genus, Macronectes, from the family Procellariidae and consist of two species. They are the largest birds from this family...

s.

The area including the Bay of Isles along with Grytviken

Grytviken

Grytviken is the principal settlement in the British territory of South Georgia in the South Atlantic. It was so named in 1902 by the Swedish surveyor Johan Gunnar Andersson who found old English try pots used to render seal oil at the site. It is the best harbour on the island, consisting of a...

 is one of two Areas of Special Tourist Interest on South Georgia. As with Prion Island

Prion Island

Prion Island is an island 1.5 miles north-northeast of Luck Point, lying in the Bay of Isles, South Georgia. Charted in 1912-13 by Robert Cushman Murphy, American naturalist aboard the brig Daisy, and so named because he observed petrels of the genus Prion on the island.The area including the Bay...

, there are various regulations — permits are required to land here; only one boat can land a day; no more than 65 people are allowed on the island, but in groups of 12 or less with a leader; and stays of more than four hours are not allowed. Visitors must not go within 10 metres (10.9 yd) of an albatross, or 25 metres (27.3 yd) when the birds are courting. There are four landing sites on Albatross Island.