If you like coming to visit the Isle of Palms each year, way to go! You’re one smart cookie. You’ve found a good thing here, and it draws you back. We totally get it.
We love our returning guests.
Here at Exclusive Properties, we are thrilled to have quite a number of recurring guests. Our clients often find a particular Isle of Palms vacation rental home, one that’s a perfect fit for their family or friend group.
So they decide to make it an annual thing, where they come back again to the same beach home, year after year. It’s familiar, and you can hit the ground running. Everybody already knows which one is their bedroom. You know where your favorite restaurants are, where the best place to take sunset beach photos is, or to find seashells. It becomes your home away from home. Soon it becomes a treasured family tradition.
Maybe your beach home away from home is oceanfront, like one of the ones I covered in this blog. Or maybe you pick one of the 18 homes in our portfolio that are pet friendly, so the whole family can come, both two-legged and four-.
So… who’s our favorite?
Drumroll please…. and the winner is…
Well, you know good and well there’s no way we could pick just one. You are all so special to us. It would be like trying to pick which one is your favorite child. You just can’t do it.
That being said, there is one who comes to mind. She pays a visit each year, and sometimes more than once a year.
Her name is…. Caretta caretta.
She’s the unofficial mascot of Lowcountry beaches.
If you come to the beach here each year, you’re in excellent company. So does one of the most fascinating living beings around.
Caretta caretta is the Latin name for loggerhead turtles, the surprisingly lovely, fascinating, gentle giants of the sea and frequent visitors to the Lowcountry. In fact, they love the area beaches so much, many choose to lay the eggs for their adorable babies right here in our sands.
Caretta loves to visit between May & October.
Loggerhead nesting season happens each year starting in early May and it lasts till Halloween. Around Mother’s Day is usually when the first loggerhead nest appears here on the beach, just steps from many of our Isle of Palms vacation homes.
Loggerheads have had a tough time in recent decades, with populations dwindling due to boat strikes, habitat loss, pollution, and other manmade issues. Thankfully, many concerned people and institutions have been working tirelessly to ensure their survival - namely the SC Aquarium, its state-of-the-art Sea Turtle Care Center, SCDNR (the SC Department of Natural Resources) and the Island Turtle Team here on the IOP. Their efforts are working, and loggerheads are rebounding.
Here’s one important way you can help. Exterior lights on beachfront homes confuse the hatchlings and can lead them in the wrong direction, away from the water. This is why we follow the Lights Out for Loggerheads ordinance in all our homes. Please turn off exterior lights during nesting season. Thank you for helping to save loveable loggerheads!
A Very Special Achievement Award goes to…
One lady loggerhead in particular stands out and deserves an accolade as a top tier, #1 Frequent Visitor.
Thanks to DNA testing, the Turtle Team was able to discover that one certain mama - known as “CC002992” in the genetic tests - laid 30 nests on the Isle of Palms between 2011 and 2023. Amazing!
Read more about her, as well as her six daughters, here.
A recent, rare daylight hatch caught on video!
Loggerhead nests usually contain around 120 eggs and take about 60 days to hatch. Most hatchings take place during the night, when the babies can follow the reflection of the moon off the water to find their way into the ocean.
But recently, a very rare daylight hatch happened on neighboring Dewees Island. Not only that, but intrepid area wildlife expert & photographer Judy Drew Fairchild was there and able to videotape it. It’s an incredible glimpse into the miracle of these sea creatures who spend magical moments here on our beaches.
You can watch the videos of this extraordinary event on her blog, “The incredible gift of a daylight hatch.”
Judy is a South Carolina Master Naturalist and born educator. Her website, Nature Walks with Judy, is a treasure trove of information about flora and fauna in this area - plants, butterflies, birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects, sea creatures, you name it, she covers it.
There’s even a cool category called, “Lowcountry Nature By Month.” So whatever time of year you come to stay in our IOP vacation rentals, it’ll show what you’re apt to see out there on the beach, in the sky or around the island. Be sure to subscribe for free on her website and have wonderful local nature discoveries and updates sent right to your inbox.
So make like Caretta, and come to the IOP beach often. We’ll help you find the perfect home away from home from among our rich portfolio of Isle of Palms beach rentals.
All best,
Lowcountry Lisa
your Isle of Palms vacation blogger