What to See and Do on Kiawah
Story and photographs by Sue Corcoran
K
iawah is a great place to visit! Those who are
lucky enough to come for repeat visits, or
better still, live here, will tell you we share the
Island with a fascinating array of creatures
whose family ties to the place go back generations. Here are
some suggestions for interacting with them in a way that
will be good for all.
SEE: Our resident pod of bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops
truncatus) lives in the Kiawah River. If you are lucky, you may
see them engage in a unique and startling feeding behavior.
Called strand feeding, this involves a group of dolphin
working together to herd a school of large fish onto the shore.
Usually around low tide, amid much splashing and thrashing,
the dolphin follow them ashore, always on their right sides,
and snatch up their meal. Dolphin who are disturbed by
people or dogs abort the mission and move elsewhere.
DO: If you see dolphin gathering and swimming parallel
to the shore, stand very still and stay at least 15 yards
away. Remind others nearby that if your presence does not
spook the dolphin, there is a good chance you will witness
something truly spectacular. If the situation warrants, remind
others that feeding, touching, or in anyway interacting with
dolphin can be harmful to these beautiful creatures. Plus,
it carries a hefty fine.
SEE: Each year, mammoth lady loggerhead sea turtles
(Caretta caretta) lumber ashore in the dark of night to dig
nests and deposit up to 100 eggs the size of ping-pong balls.
Tracks leading to the first nest of the year historically appear
on our beach around Mother’s Day. Those lady loggerheads
typically lay three to five nests each year, totaling around 35
pounds of leathery eggs. About 60 days later, again under
cover of darkness, the hatchlings “boil” up and out of the
nest to make their way to the ocean and begin their fight for
survival. Listed as an endangered species in 1978, only one in
1,000 of these little guys will survive to adulthood. The holes
we have such fun digging in the sand and the elaborate castles
we create present a major obstacle to loggerheads, both adults
and their tiny offspring as they traverse the beach in the dark.
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Naturally Kiawah