Litchfield by the Sea ended the 2026 nesting season with four loggerhead nests. North Litchfield had five. Just across the inlet, Pawleys Island had 50, every one of them loggerheads, all inventoried and none still incubating as of October 29, according to the state's nest database on seaturtle.org.
That makes two record years in a row for a four-mile barrier island. The surge stopped at the island's edges, and the people who know Pawleys' turtles best say they can't explain why.
One beach pulled away in the second half of summer
In mid-July, the Coastal Observer reported that Pawleys had 45 nests, already past the 39 it counted for 2025. The paper also noted that nearby beaches "haven't seen the same surge." Here is how that July snapshot compares with the database as of October 29:
| Beach | Coastal Observer, week of July 16 | seaturtle.org, as of Oct. 29, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Pawleys Island | 45 | 50 |
| North Litchfield | 5 | 5 |
| Litchfield by the Sea | 4 | 4 |
| Litchfield Beach / South Litchfield | 12 | 13 |
| Huntington Beach State Park | 18 | 22 |
| DeBordieu | not listed | 40 |
Pawleys added five nests after mid-July. North Litchfield and Litchfield by the Sea added none. Huntington Beach State Park picked up four, and the database shows two of its nests were green turtles, which Pawleys didn't get this year.
The whole state passed 8,100 nests in 2026, so Pawleys' 50 is a small share of the South Carolina total. Next to the beaches around it, though, Pawleys stands far apart.
What 50 nests actually produced
As of its October 29, 2026 update, the Pawleys page in the database reports these figures for the inside of the nests.
- 5,487 eggs estimated across the season
- 4,615 eggs hatched, for a mean hatch success of 83.7%
- 4,386 hatchlings emerged from the sand, a mean emergence success of 79.8%
- 96% nest success, with a mean incubation of 55.3 days
- 56 eggs lost, 1% of the total: 48 taken for research and eight broken
The two lost-egg categories on the Pawleys page are research and broken eggs, and neither one is tides or storms. Statewide, the database records 221 nests lost to tides or storms in 2026.
The 48 research eggs are close to one egg per nest, and that matches how the program works. In Grand Strand Magazine's October 2026 issue, SCUTE leader Rick Scott said one egg is taken from every nest for DNA analysis, and "there's a DNA number assigned to every turtle that comes up on the beach." In the same article, Scott estimated that only one sea turtle in 1,000 survives. At that rate, Pawleys' 4,386 emerged hatchlings would produce about four adults.
Of the 50 nests, 31 stayed where the mother laid them and 19 were moved. The database describes Pawleys as having stable dunes and adequate setbacks on its northern two-thirds, while on the southern third the houses sit on the active beach. According to the Town of Pawleys Island, SCUTE-trained volunteers move nests that are at risk from the intertidal zone or from foot traffic. So a nest's location on the island plays a large part in whether it stays put.
"That's the $50 million question"
When the Coastal Observer asked why Pawleys was outpacing its neighbors, Mary Schneider, the island's SCUTE coordinator, said, "There's no answer for that." Brian Shamblin, an associate research scientist at the University of Georgia who studies sea turtle nesting, told the paper, "That's the $50 million question."
Shamblin's lab runs the maternal DNA project that SCUTE has contributed to since 2010. It tracks nesting females from St. Augustine, Florida, through the Carolinas. He told the Coastal Observer that females generally return to the area where they hatched, but individuals vary a lot. He has tracked Florida-born turtles that went on to nest at Cape Lookout in North Carolina.
Schneider has her own explanation, and it goes back decades. Speaking to Grand Strand Magazine, she said:
"For about 10 years, we were feeling good if we had 10 nests on the beach at any season. But as a result of protecting those nests and the mothers coming back or the females coming back to where they were hatched, we are getting more and more turtles coming back."
The research also has a newer branch. Researchers have started collecting paternal DNA because of concern that warmer temperatures are reducing the number of male turtles. Nest temperature decides a hatchling's sex, and hotter nests produce more females. "It's still very early. We don't really have answers yet," Shamblin told the Coastal Observer. The 2026 Pawleys page lists only two DNA samples assigned so far and calls the analysis incomplete. Some of this season's answers are still in a lab in Georgia.
The program started here
If Schneider is right that protection brings females back, Pawleys has had a long head start. Grand Strand Magazine reports that SCUTE began on Pawleys Island in 1990 and now covers 13 beaches from North Myrtle Beach to DeBordieu Island. Jeff McClary and Chris Marlow founded the group, and Rick Scott took over as its head in 2023. He puts SCUTE's volunteer count across those beaches at more than 350.
On the island itself, Schneider has been part of SCUTE for 32 years. In October 2025, SCDNR gave her a Lifetime Volunteer Award. "That's about a four-mile beach and we have over 50 volunteers," she told the magazine. "They're all year-round residents." The town says those volunteers walk at dawn every day from May until the last nest hatches, under an SCDNR permit.
Some of the program has spread through neighbors. Scott told Grand Strand Magazine that he and his wife Cathy met Schneider while walking in their Pawleys Island neighborhood about 12 years ago. Within a short time they were walking the beach as volunteers, and later they took on South Litchfield.
Nests that hatch get inventoried, and many inventories are open to the public. Scott said a crowd of 100 or more people can gather to watch volunteers open a nest, count shells, and release any hatchlings left at the bottom. Schneider asks spectators to remember who is working: "More people should do that, but don't interfere with turtle walkers."
Between now and next May
With every nest inventoried, the beach is quiet until spring. Here's what's on the calendar:
- The dark-beach period closed October 31. Georgetown County's notice says lights visible from the beach are prohibited at night countywide from May 1 through October 31, and beach gear can't be left out overnight. The county notice has the details. The town's S.C.U.T.E. page suggests turning off outdoor lights, closing curtains where indoor light shows from the beach, skipping flashlights at night, and filling in beach holes at the end of the day.
- Volunteering comes back with the season. SCUTE asks each volunteer to commit to one sunrise walk a week, according to The Sun News. The town lists Schneider as the Pawleys contact at [email protected].
- Supporting the DNA work is possible year-round. The town page explains how to make a tax-deductible donation to the University of Georgia's turtle DNA research project.
- Adopt-a-Nest reopens in May. The Pawleys Adopt-a-Nest page has no nests listed right now and says to check back in May.
The island's next big gathering near the beach is a race. The 33rd Annual Pawleys Island Turtle Strut 5K/8K is Saturday, November 14, at 8 a.m. It starts at Town Hall, 323 Myrtle Avenue, and is held in memory of former Pawleys Island Police Chief Guy Osborne. The 5K turns around near the Bird's Nest area. The 8K continues down Springs Avenue to the south end beach access. Registration costs $50 for the 5K and $55 for the 8K, and prices go up after November 11. On its way to the far south end, the 8K goes into the island's southern third, where the database notes that houses sit on the active beach.
The Taylor Keenan Team lives and works on the Waccamaw Neck, and a record nesting season on Pawleys is part of what makes this stretch of coast special to us. If you're curious how life on the island compares with Litchfield, DeBordieu, or the communities nearby, we're happy to talk it through, turtle season included. Start your Lowcountry search and contact our team today.
