Stormy Weather

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Miss Shelby when she’s not scared.

My dog, the ever “brave” Pembroke Welsh Corgi Shelby, is hiding under my chair as thunder rumbles so loudly that the windows vibrate. I’m in for the night so I’m hoping that it storms all night long and clears by morn, as so often happens during the heat of summer. This isn’t because of any particular love for thunderstorms, indeed, the noise tends to keep me awake, but because I am planning an early morning beachcombing expedition and stormy weather often churns up interesting finds that would lie undisturbed in calmer water.

My favorite place for beachcombing stretches from the jetties at the tip of the heel along the beach of Port Royal Sound to Fish Haul Creek. I make this journey from Islanders Beach, the most northern public access, which is a 1.5 mile walk to the jetties, How much farther I wander depends on the tides and the weather, always remembering that however far I wander, I still have to make the return trip.

Hilton Head Island Parks Map

 

Because of the shallowness of the ocean off our shores, Hilton head Island is not known for “shelling.” But  we are fortunate to have Port Royal Sound, an estuary, or semi-enclosed coastal body of water with rivers flowing into that is open to the sea, The estuarine circulation, especially where the sound meets the ocean, serves to bring forth treasures not often found along the Atlantic coast. (For more on estuaries check out this link to The Encyclopedia of the Earth.)

It had stormed last Saturday evening so I was excited to go out Sunday morning, and besides finding lots of sea whips (a soft coral), star coral (a hard coral) lettered olives, moon snails, and slipper snails (including a half dozen baby ears!), I found something I ad yet to come across.

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This is a large sea whip skeleton. On the branch tips to the right are sea whip barnacles- I’ve seen those before- what I had never seen before was the rubbery growth covering the left half. I checked my go to guide when I got home, Living Beaches of the Carolinas, to name my find. What I had was a Rubbery Bryozoan, or Moss Animal, a colony of individual animals related to mollusks, that often envelop sea whips (go figure). I brought this home to see if I could dry it out for my specimen collection, but the rubbery masses dried up to nothing. Glad I have my photo!

Wish me luck tomorrow, but in the meantime, here a few photos of what you might expect if you venture around the heel on a good day.

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