• 2022 Hilton Head Sea Turtle Report – A Very Good Year!

    We are now at the end of the 2022 Sea Turtle season, and it was a good one. While we didn’t top 2019, we came close – 2022 ended up being the third-best year for nests and the second-best year for hatchlings in the past 15 years! Each year the tremendously dedicated folks at seaturtle.org compile data from our very own Hilton Head Island turtle volunteers and make it available for everyone to see. We take the data, analyze it, and put it in easy-to-read graph form. In 2022 we had around 400 Loggerhead turtles nest on the island, many in Palmetto Dunes. We also had one Green turtle nest…

  • HUGE Hammerhead Shark

    On July 13, Chip Michalove, owner of Outcast Sport Fishing, reeled in by far the biggest hammerhead shark recorded off the coast of South Carolina. And after taking a photo with the animal, he followed his standard operations for large sharks – he quickly tagged and released her, and watched her swim off into the ocean a few miles off the shore of HIlton Head. Chip estimates that the shark was 13 1/2 feet long and, based on length to weight tables, probably weighed over 1,000 pounds. He catches and releases a number of great white sharks, but they are much bulkier. A similar length great white would be closer…

  • Real Estate Investment – Hilton Head Island

    Hilton Head Island real estate prices jumped at the end of 2021. One possible reason was that investors who were becoming wary of the stock market wanted another place to put their money. These people also saw inflation coming and know that real estate can be a great harbor when currency is losing value. Low interest rates were also a contributor. We purchased our first condo in 2017, and decided to buy a second unit in 2021. We had been visiting Hilton Head for about 30 years, so we know the area very well. Now that we have purchased two units, we have picked up some tips that potential buyers…

  • 14 Years of Turtle Nests on Hilton Head Island

    If you have been lucky enough to be on the beach at Hilton Head Island during the summer, you have probably seen the flagged sea turtle nests. If you have been very lucky, you have even seen a turtle heading back into the ocean after a hard night of egg-laying. And if you have been extremely lucky, you have had the opportunity to see baby turtles scurrying toward the water. Each year, turtles make their way to Hilton Head Island to lay their eggs. We have been tracking the counts using data from the wonderful folks at www.seaturtle.org, and are very happy to say that it looks like the number…

  • 2021 Turtles are Hatching

    Right on schedule, the 2021 baby turtles are making their way from Hilton Head beaches back into the surf. An estimated total of 79 new Loggerheads have hatched and made it to the ocean. That number will increase significantly over the next few months, probably ending up close to 20,000. Unfortunately, it appears that 2021 will be a slightly below average year for nests on HHI. Over the past ten years, an average of 309 Loggerhead turtles have made nests on our beaches each summer, producing an average of 21,000 Loggerhead babies. As of July 21 we have seen 244 new nests, and while already above the 2018 total of…