Hilton Head Island Live Cam

The Mighty Sea

The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest water body on earth, covering over 30 million square miles. About 4,800 miles between South Carolina and Africa, the ocean is the dominant environment on Hilton Head Island. Changing sea levels have in the past both flooded the island and left it high and dry, miles from the prehistoric coast. Hurricanes and tropical storms, born in the Atlantic in summer, and winter's northeasters have sculpted the shoreline. Sea breezes cool the island in summer, and warm it in winter.

The ocean is three times as salty by volume as human blood. Winds blow sea salt across the island, affecting the soil and limiting the kinds of plants that can grow. Originally deposited in river sediments, elements in the ocean range from common table salt to gold. They are the basic fertilizer that supports the marine food chain.

The Living Beach

The sandy shoreline extends 19 miles from Dolphin Head to South Beach. On the ocean side, light gray beach sands are comprised of finely crushed shells, rocks and organic matter, made hard-packed by ocean waves. Along Port Royal and Calibogue Sounds and inlets, the sand is mixed with mud.

All beaches are battle zones between the land and sea. Ocean waves wear away forests and dunes, and carry the soils away on currents. At high tide, animals, shells and marine plants wash ashore, framing a noticeable wrack line. Ebbing tides expose long pools named runnels that are refuges for many marine creatures. At dead low tide, the soggy sands are decorated with peculiar holes, tubes and remains of sea life. Some minute species spend their entire existence between sand grains on the beach.

Dunes: A Windswept Landscape

Hilton Head Island's dunes are vitally important to nature and man. Dunes form when blowing beach sand collects in the wrack line of beach flotsam. Specialized seaside plants grow in this organic mulch, and trap even more sand, causing dunes to grow taller and wider. These sturdy herbs, vines and grasses come equipped to withstand salt in the wind and soil; desert-like conditions; intense winds and sunlight; and wild fluctuations in temperature.

The Maritime Forest

The dense woodlands on Hilton Head Island are influenced by the nearby ocean and salt marshes. Described as maritime (means "near the sea"), island hardwood and pine forests encounter a host of environmental challenges: the spray of sea salt; wind damage from ocean storms; eroding, sandy soils; flooding by salt-water from time to time: and a scarcity of freshwater. Trees and shrubs have adapted for survival by developing low-spreading crowns, waxy leaves and needles, and deep root systems.

Hilton Head Island's forests have historically been cut for naval stores (turpentine and pitch for ships), agriculture, timber and resort-residential development.

Throughout time, they have cooled and quieted the landscape, and provided diverse wildlife habitats.

Valuable Freshwater Wetlands

Did you know that more species of animals are found in a swamp than anywhere else on Hilton Head Island? Or that mosquitoes cannot live in a swamp's standing waters (acids from leaves kill the larvae)?

Freshwater wetlands were formed long ago when the sea level was higher, covering portions of the island. The remnants of rivers and creeks that were isolated when the sea level fell, beginning 20,000 years ago. You may not see standing water in wetlands all the time. The ecosystems are primarily controlled by high ground water. Water-loving plants that thrive in the dark, organic or peat soils that form under saturated conditions.

The island's most common freshwater wetlands area: swamp forests (water-loving trees); flatwoods (mostly pines); bay-galls (small trees and dense shrubs); marshes (grasses, rushes and ferns); and pocosins (bogs).

Nature's Nursery: The Salt Marshes

Salt marshes are panoramic, wet meadows that grow in estuaries, meeting zones where tidal streams and sounds join the ocean. Here, plants are unique because they can live in salt water which floods and drains the marshes twice a day at high tide. Species such as smooth cordgrass inhabit the silty pluff mud that is transported seaward by rivers on the mainland. The plants provide food, shelter, and breeding grounds for countless kinds of wildlife; and stabilize the fluid soil with their roots.

In autumn, vegetation dies and is decomposed by bacteria. The end-product, called detritus, is a nutrient-rich food source for plankton, young shrimp, crabs, oysters, clams, fishes and more. For over 4,000 years man has harvested seafood from the fertile salt marshes. The wide grasslands also slow the rush of the tides, protecting homes and forests from erosion. Some dead marsh grass, carried by currents, even ends up on beaches and helps build sand dunes.

Hilton Head Island employs a council-manager form of government, with six council members elected from their respective wards and mayor elected at-large. Both the council persons and the mayor serve two-year terms. Hilton Head Island is situated within Beaufort County, which employs a governing County Council, elected to serve four-year staggered terms.

Nine public, full-service Island marinas provide daily or monthly dockage, hook-ups, provisions and fuel for vessels up to, or exceeding, 140 feet. Excursion tours, group fishing and sailing charters, as well as overnight sails are also available at any of the Island's major marinas. Fishing craft can be rented for an hour, half-day, or full day.

In 1997 The Hilton Head Island tourism industry contributes nearly $1 million each year to local charities and not-for-profit organizations and that doesn't even include United Way contributions from their employees. While the number of tourists to the Island has grown an average of 2% annually over the past five years, tax revenue from tourism has increased at more than double that rate: 4.8% annually for the same time period. This year's visitors to Hilton Head Island are more educated and have higher household incomes than five years ago. Nearly all the growth in Hilton Head Island tourism has occurred during the winter months and is represented by the mature traveler market.