Forget Sharks. Beware of Seaweed!
Folly Beach was its normal beautiful self when we Wallers arrived a week ago Thursday. But four days into our long-awaited vacation, we woke up to this sight of this:
Miles and miles of seaweed.
It’s as though the ocean had coughed up a lung.
The beach was covered with rotting seaweed, and it was still washing up on shore. In fact, staring out at sea, you could see large bands of seaweed –100 yards wide, 20 yards deeps– rolling in the surf, making their way inland. Watching it was amazing. Swimming in it was downright creepy!
Eeeeeew!
The question on everyone’s mind was why now? And why this much seaweed? Someone two towels down was overheard saying there had been a storm the night before, and it loosened all the seaweed. Maybe, but I wasn’t convinced. There hadn’t been a dark cloud in the sky since our arrival.
When in doubt, Google it.
Spring, it turns out, is seaweed season along the coast. And while May is the peak month, it’s not unusual to see invasions of seaweed in June. In fact, environmentalists say seaweed doesn’t stop washing up on shore until the first week of August, give or take.
And what exactly is seaweed?
There are many varieties, as you may’ve guessed. The “stick-type” found on along the Atlantic coast, and on Folly Beach, is known as sargassum. Dr. Lou Burnett, director of the Grice Marine Lab at the College of Charleston, says the brownish weed, which provides a habitat for sea life, appears in huge floating masses in the Sargasso Sea of the north central Atlantic. Sargassum, he says, is a of species brown algae that hitches a ride on the Gulf Stream, which heads straight for the Lowcountry.
Nice.
Seaweed nipping at my toes.
Next question: What was the City of Folly Beach going to do about all this seaweed? The beach was full, and the ocean was belching up more seaweed. Wasn’t this a public works issue? During my research, I found that other coastal cities have battled the annual invasion of seaweed:
Large Amount of Seaweed Invades Corpus Christi Beaches
With this much seaweed, I expected bulldozers (or hay bailers) to make a sweep of the beach late at night or early in the morning. But the next day, the seaweed was still there, and further Google searches revealed why. It seems those stinky piles of rotting algae are teeming with marine life. The crabs seemed to love it, and for Sandpipers seaweed is an all-you-can-eat plant buffet. “Beach wrack,” it seems, is a pivotal part of the ecosystem along the shoreline.
So no, there would be no bulldozers.
Seaweed Patrol to the rescue.
Fortunately, a tanned beauty from the Folly Beach Seaweed Protection Agency (FBSPA) rolled up on her boogie board to see if I was okay, and administer first aid if needed.
Two sets of legs wash up on shore.
By the end of our session, all twenty toes were accounted for.
And still attached.
A quick note about the author: Tim Waller has lived in Greenville, South Carolina since 1994. He and his family love the Upstate area. This is a blog about their life. 