Australia · AU

Maupertuis Bay

Maupertuis Bay is a wild, southwest-facing bay on the remote south coast of Kangaroo Island in South Australia. Backed by cliffs that rise to around 100 metres and opening onto the constant swell of the Southern Ocean, it is a place to look at rather than to swim in, forming part of the rugged coastline of Flinders Chase. The bay takes its name from the French explorer Nicolas Baudin, who honoured the mathematician and philosopher Pierre Louis Maupertuis, and its headland at Cape du Couedic anchors one of Kangaroo Island's most scenic drives. Today its waters are protected inside the Western Kangaroo Island Marine Park, so the shoreline feels untouched and far from the island's calmer swimming bays.