Surprise Bay (KI 46) is a curving 750 m long sandy beach, bordered by low quartzite points, the southern rocks extending 1 km to the southwest, together with reefs extending 500 m off each point. The points and reefs lower waves to about 1 m at the shore where they maintain a low tide terrace bordered by cobble beaches and grading into a relatively shallow rocky bay floor. The beach is backed by extensive Holocene parabolic dunes, some of which are scarped at the beach and active (Fig. 4.198). Denbys Bay lies 200 m to the north and has a 300 m long curving reflective beach (KI 47) backed by a low foredune, with a 4WD track along the rear of the dune, and cobble beaches against the boundary points. Rocks border each end and some outcrop across the southern section of the beach, while small reefs and rocky seafloor dominate the small bay. Both beaches are remnants of a more extensive sandy shoreline that in the early-mid Holocene supplied the massive parabolic dune field that extends 3 km south to Stokes Point and 2.5 km west to Surprise Point, and in lee of Surprise Bay extends up to 4 km northeast to Big Lake. The dune field blankets the entire southwest tip of the island covering about 700 ha. read more

Beach Length: 0.3km