BEAUFORT, S.C. — The beaches of Hunting Island State Park, east of Beaufort, S.C., had their best sea turtle nesting season on record in 2026, with volunteers counting 230 nests on the island this year.
Volunteers with the Friends of Hunting Island sea turtle patrol tracked the total, which tops the park’s previous record season of 2023. The first two nests of the year were found on May 11. Patrol members walk the beach at dawn every day from May 1 until the end of the nesting season, reporting new nests, protecting them and moving them when a mother turtle picks a risky spot.
State monitoring data for the beach shows how much work that took. Of the 230 nests, 108 were left in place and 122 were relocated, about 53%. The nests held an estimated 26,043 eggs, and 18,254 hatchlings emerged and headed for the water. Nest success was 87.2%, according to the data, which was last updated Oct. 3.
Most nests on South Carolina beaches are laid by loggerhead sea turtles, which were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1978. Record-breaking years have become more common across the Southeast, and biologists hope the trend points to a recovery for the species.
Hunting Island has about 6.8 kilometers of ocean-facing beach that remains a prime loggerhead nesting area, even after Hurricane Matthew struck Beaufort County on Oct. 8, 2016, and badly damaged the island’s dunes, lagoons and forest. The park, which became a state park in 1938, hosts some 1.3 million visitors a year.
Beachgoers are reminded that state and federal law bars harming or interfering with sea turtles or their nests. Sick, injured or dead turtles and nest disturbances should be reported to the S.C. Department of Natural Resources at 1-800-922-5431.