The forecast suggested more light winds, coming from the NE, then increasing from the N and NW, so we decided to leave Tetrodon Loop and look for a more secure anchorage. We took the SUPs down to The Gathering to say good bye, then lifted anchor and headed out. We had a whole 0.3m below us at the shallow part - too easy!
We opted for Useless Loop - named because it was considered to be a useless harbour due to the shifting sands at the entrance. It was an easy approach though, and we were soon anchored securely in a lovely little bay, well sheltered from the SE through N.
The land is the Heirisson Prong, which is mostly given over to salt extraction using flooded lakes. However, the top half of the prong is a nature reserve, with a double fence running across the entire peninsular to try and exclude non-native species such as feral cats. The burrowing bettong was re-introduced and has made some good progress, with that population being used to seed ones on other islands.
The sandy flat area ahead of our anchor spot was probably deep enough for us to anchor on, but with uncertainty over tides, we opted to stay a bit deeper and safer.
We had a couple of nice walks around the prong, but didn’t find a bettong (which isn’t that surprising). We saw lots of evidence of wallabies and indeed, saw some as we walked. The second walk we dinghied down to near the fence and worked our way along to the gate. It was locked, and the notice boards giving information about the reserve were very faded. I guess no-one comes here? We had a nice swim from the beach where we’d anchored the dinghy - preferring that to the deeper water by the boat due to the number of sharks we’d seen!
Wildlife spotting continued, and we noticed something cruising up the edge between the sand at the seagrass and found a nice ray gliding along.
The sunset was spectacular.
The weather didn’t amount to anything much, but it was better that that be in an anchorage hoping for less fetch! All in all, it was very comfortable in Useless Loop - far from useless for us…