Cape Island called again, as it often has for me. Four nights were set aside for loggerhead program staff and volunteers to spend the night on the island monitoring the nighttime happenings of loggerheads: both females nesting, and nests hatching out. The daily daytime work of staff and volunteers misses the night action where turtles […]
Moments under a July moon Read More »
It had been awhile since I had entered the interior of Bull Island, and certainly not since the heat had cranked up in the Lowcountry. This Monday was a day off for me, and came on the days before the July 4th weekend. The conditions were favorable for a sail out to the Northeast Point,
I was off my usual track to Bull Island for a trip out to Cape Island on July 4th. I am an irregular volunteer for the loggerhead program on Cape, mainly putting in time each year to build the hatcheries. Having been offered the opportunity to get out during the nesting season, I used my
It was beastly hot, with the expectation to approach 100 again with high humidity. It seemed a bit early for this kind of blast furnace weather, only June 13. I had recovered from my early morning run with my running buddy Brantley Arnau to prepare for a sail around Bull Island, a circumnavigation of this
I’ve been waiting for the right series of conditions to make the sail across Bulls Bay to Sandy Point and back. I wanted to take the outgoing tide out to the bay, and make it across to Sandy Point to see what was left at low water. People have predicted that this island would be
Alert readers noted in the previous entry “Opening up” that I observed my first loggerhead turtle of the year sailing out into Bulls Bay on April 11. I had several more sightings this past Thursday, April 22, 2010, Earth Day. It was our first day of building hatcheries on Cape Island, led by Sarah Dawsey,
I postponed my sail until Sunday afternoon, April 11, 2010, with the tide incoming for several hours before launching Kingfisher at the Romain Retreat landing. The winds were forecast for 10-15 knots from the NE, so I anticipated some tacks to get through the marshes via Andersonville Creek on the way to the Northeast Point
I was recently asked to give a presentation to the staff of Coastal Expeditions at the Dominick House on Bull Island. A number of these staff had just started work for their role as guides and naturalists, and the three days of training was planned to give them a strong background in interpretation. A number
Saturday, January 23, 2010 was Volunteer Appreciation Day on Bull Island, and I took the easy ride over on the Island Cat ferry. Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge staff hosted this event that included the trip over to the island, a guided tour around the island (with trailers and a van to transport the group),
Sunday, November 15, 2009. The low tide at 12:29 PM inspired me to take the outgoing flow in the morning to the island. The marine forecast was for light winds, and there was a little wind from the east going out Andersonville Creek into Bulls Bay. The wind finally died before I made it to
My second book, Tracing the Cape Romain Archipelago, came out in September of 2009. It was a big deal for me: Exploring Bull Island came out in 2005, so this doesn’t happen every year (do the math). My full time job keeps the frequency low for these events, now numbering two in my life, and
Low tide 8:03AM. Predicted winds SW 15-20 knots; 20 knots later. I arrive at the Romain Retreat landing at 10AM, and the breeze is solid already. A commercial fisherman is steaming in through Anderson Creek, and I recognize the homemade roof as a crabber I have seen the past two years in McClellanville. He turns
Pine Island hammocks Read More »
