High Winds Predicted; More Erosion Possible

Dewees Islanders are watching the potential breech from the front beach into Lake Timacau closely.  At times the beach has accreted (grown vertically or horizontally or both) for a few days, weeks or even months.  The long-term trend over the past two years, however, has been mistakeable: erosion.  The dunes just north of Osprey Walk have eroded significantly.

The sand in the area about 30 yards north of Osprey Walk is so thin now that Islanders worry it might breach.  The next wave of winter storms is expected to arrive in Charleston on Tuesday night (tonight).  The Weather Underground says to expect winds of 23-25 miles per hour overnight.  Local TV shows are saying that winds might reach gail force — winds with speeds between 32 and 63 mph.

The pictures below are are of the area from February 3, 2010.  Judy will try to take more pictures today.  Click a picture if you want to enlarge it.

The sand under Osprey Walk has eroded again

The area to the left of the driftwood tree is the spot that might breach

The front beach south of Osprey Walk at high tide

The ocean has nearly reached the parking area at Osprey Walk

Internet Service on Deweees

I get asked periodically about Internet access on Dewees.  We get ours on the island from AT&T (Bellsouth is now owned by AT&T).  We recently upgraded to the fastest speed they offer (approximately 6 MB/second downloads).  It’s reasonably snappy.  Click here to see AT&T’s DSL promotions.

Around the house, we use the 2Wire wireless router provided AT&T and an Apple Airport Express as a network extender.  The Airport Express works well for both Macs and PCs.

In Mount Pleasant, we recently switched from AT&T back to Comcast because Comcast can provide speeds up to 16 MB/second downloads and 3 MB/second uploads.

I’d love to have speeds that are routine in Japan, Korea and countries we compete and cooperate with.  They sport speeds in excess of 50 MB/second.

The upcoming release of the iPad is only going to increase our bandwidth demands.  Vincent Cerf’s dream from 1970s that there should be “IP on Everything” is coming true.  The Internet is (or should be) everywhere.  It’s floating in the air.  You should hook into it at the very highest speed you can afford.  It’s vital to your competitiveness, productivity, communication, and education.  Plus it’s entertaining.  If you have to choose between Internet access and satellite TV (cable on the mainland), then you should definitely choose the Internet.  And then you should check out Hulu.com (and it’s ilk).

Folly Beach is Eroding, too

Our friend at Charleston Waterkeeper posted pictures of the recent erosion at Folly Beach.  The long-term causes are probably different since Folly is on the south side of the Charleston jetties.

McIntyre’s Relatives Blog about Trip to Dewees

David and Barbara McIntyre’s niece and nephew from Ontario blogged about their December trip to Dewees.  Here’s the link.  It’s always interesting to see the island from visitors’ perspectives.

Sun brings out the big gator at Huyer House Pond

Early clouds giving way to sunny, clear skis, with temperatures in the mid-50s.  The large American alligator at Huyler House Pond like the forecast.  She was seen sunning on the raft in the middle of the pond today.

POA grating roads on the island

There is lots of standing water on Dewees at the moment.  When you drive down Pelican Flight, you can see it in the marshy and grassy areas of many lots.

The water has been messing with the roads.  In some places standing water and puddles have been on the roads for days.  The POA was spreading gravel on the island today to fill in the holes and reshape the “crown” of the roads.  The goal is to get the water to run off the roads.  In some places that may be difficult unless the POA removes or reshapes the earthen “curbs” that hold the water on the roads.

New Gravel in Dewees Marina Parking Lot

New gravel with large rocks was added to the Dewees Marina parking lot on the Isle of Palms.  Ted said, “these stones are big, they hurt,” as he walked out of his flip flops.  See picture.

Gravel with large stones added to Dewees Marina parking lot

Nominating Committee Names Slate for 3 Openings on the POA Board

After evaluating the list of folks throwing their name in the ring and current needs of the POA Board, the Nominating Committee presented the following slate for the 3 open seats:

• Alex Kliros
• Jim Mack
• Faith Schwaibold

Two other folks will have their names on the ballot:

• Ann Fink
• Dick Robinson

If anyone else wants to run, they can do so from the floor.

The entire community appreciates all of the candidates willingness to serve.

Dewees Islander voted in as Co-Chair of International Trade Coalition

According to a Moultrie News article, Deweesian Kathryn Banks has been elected to Co-Chair the South Carolina Interenational Trade Coalition.  Here’s the text of the article:

Rene Dentiste Mueller, Ph.D., and Kathryn Banks of the College of Charleston’s Global Business Resource Center have been voted co-chairs of the South Carolina International Trade Coalition (SCITC) for 2010-2011.

The SCITC is the preeminent trade organization in South Carolina and is comprised of the state’s major trade entities, including the US Export Assistance Center/US Commercial Service, the South Carolina Department of Commerce, the Export Consortium, the SC Department of Agriculture, the SC World Trade Center, the District Export Council, and the SC Forestry Commission.

The principal goal of the SCITC’s outreach efforts is to educate constituents on the wealth of global commerce opportunities that exist for South Carolina companies.

SCITC member entities work together to ensure that South Carolina companies have access to the best resources to meet their importing and exporting needs.

For its part, the Global Business Resource Center fosters global commerce education by connecting College of Charleston students and faculty with the South Carolina business community through education, outreach and research programs.

Giant Tun Shell Exploration Solves Earlier Beachcombing Mystery

This is a follow-up to Reggie’s post on the perfect giant tun shell that he found on the beach.  When he found it, the actual dead snail came out of the shell and landed on the sand, releasing an incredibly foul odor. 

After Ted found the second one, I came home and looked through all my shell and mollusk guides to see what I could find out about the actual snail.  What did it eat?  Who were its main predators?  Where and how did it live? die?

I found out some pretty interesting facts:  The giant Tun, Tonna Galea, is a deep-water (10-30m) snail which feeds on sea stars and sea cucumbers. The foul stench may be due to the fact that its saliva can be 2-4% sulfuric acid, which helps it bore into echinoderms and other mollusks.  The population has suffered in the past because of poaching from shell collectors. It lives in Atlantic,  Caribbean, and Mediterranean waters, and extends as far north as North Carolina.  I’ve never found a whole one on Dewees before, but did find a small one on Bull Island a few years ago.

The beach was the usual treasure trove of discovery, and these shells were found with a number of dead sea stars, so whatever killed the sea stars might have exacted a toll among ton shells as well.  In addition, there were many spent egg cases for whelks.  After only finding small fragments of Tun shells now and then, we found two intact ones and countless other fragments this time.

In my web searching, I found an interesting youtube film of one walking on the ocean floor. It is almost 7 minutes long, so I recommend waiting for it to buffer and then clicking through quickly.  The reason it’s so long is that the Tonna Galea falls off a small cliff, and we watch to see if it can right itself.  (Yes, a cliffhanger!)

THEN, I was looking back at my photos, and began wondering about the egg case for the Tun shell.  When I searched for Tonna Galea egg case, I came upon this photo of  Tonna Galea laying down an egg rosette. Eureka!!! It is the Giant Tun that created our mystery object from our earlier post! Our mystery is solved!  I can understand why it is called an egg rosette.  These rosettes were the mystery item we couldn’t identify on the beach in October.