 Papanui Inlet is separated from Hoopers Inlet by a strip of land which is the isthmus to a hilly peninsula containing Cape Saunders and the peninsula's highest point, the 408-metre Mount Charles.A road, leading to Cape Saunders, skirts the southern shore of the inlet.The inlet is registered as a Coastal Protection Area by the Otago Regional Council, due to its cultural and spiritual values to the Kai Tahu iwi, its status as an important habitat for bird and sea life, and for its historic sites.