Archive for September, 2010

There’s a new queen on the scene in Folly Beach.

Twenty-year-old Lindsey Lambrakos – daughter of Andrea Weathers and Chris Lambrakos – took over as keeper of the crown at the pageant in North Charleston. She will represent the city of Folly Beach at festivals, pageants and other events throughout the state and region. In November, Lambrakos will compete for the title of Miss South Carolina.

In addition to her title as Queen of Folly Beach, Lambrakos is Miss Relay for Life 2010. She is a graduate of First Baptist Church School where she was a cheerleader and member of the Foreign Language Club. She is currently a junior at Clemson University where she is majoring in Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management. She enjoys boating, fishing, traveling and spending time with friends and family.

Lambrakos also enjoys volunteering and making appearances with her crown to support local fundraising and awareness events. One of the biggest duties the Queen of Folly Beach must adhere to is civic duty.

To win the title, contestants are required to participate in interviews and a swimsuit and evening wear competition. Lambrakos was joined by Teen Queen Bianca Gardner, Teen Queen of Edisto Beach Amber Cohen and Queen of Edisto Beach Brettany Griffin. For the first year in the pageant’s history, the titles of Junior Teen and Miss Division were added to the Folly Beach pageant. The Jr. Queen of Folly Beach is Madison Oswald and the Miss Division Queen is Brandy Morton.

The pageant raised more than $5000 in its first year for local charities and logged more than 1000 volunteer hours for various organizations and schools throughout the state. In addition to the Folly Beach pageant, the titles of Teen Queen and Queen of Edisto Beach were added in recent years, along with Junior Queen and Miss Division. These additions provided the chance for six young women from the two communities to be crowned.

The pageant received national recognition when it was featured on “The Learning Channel” program “The King of the Crown.”

Welcome to the Best of Folly Beach 2010

The Best of Folly Beach is a democratic accounting of what we like most about the Edge of America – the things that make it special for us. With this year’s Best of Folly Beach you have the right to cast your ballot here as we release a new poll every two weeks. Have your voice heard and you might just be helping your favorite local business with winners in each category receiving free exposure on FollyBeach.com!

Captain Anton DuMars, a coastal geologist and 30-year Folly Beach Resident, captured dolphin echolocation clicks off Folly with his hydrophone. Click the ‘play’ icon below to listen.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

As an Eco-tour guide, I know a trip into the salt marsh almost always includes a dolphin encounter.  Next come the smiles and the wows.  Dolphins enchant us- all of us.  After spending almost 3 decades casually observing dolphins, I started paying a bit more attention to our tidal creek neighbors.  I began to see the same animals over and over again, often in the same bend in the same creek.  Using my iphone, I record dolphin geographic positions and numbers per pod, hoping to establish some patterns.  Taking a picture of these guys is like trying to take a picture of lightening- their next 2-second surface could happen anywhere.  So, in lieu of photographing subtle distinguishing dorsal fin features, I sketch them into my logbook instead.

In Folly Creek, I usually see “Saw fin” among a large dolphin pod, including juveniles and infants.  Apparently, dolphins segregate themselves like 3rd graders on a playground- girls over here and boys over there.  Girls work together to rear the little ones, while males swim alone, or with one or two other partners in crime.  Saw fin must be female, I conclude. I’ve seen “Prop fin”, a big male, working with other big boys, chasing mullet onto the bank at Morris Island.  “Tip” and “Flat top” make random appearances in their resident areas of the creeks. Some Dolphin sport numbers on their dorsal fin, apparently assigned by dolphin scientists.  I’ve recorded the position of “866”, “860”, and “854”- yet to find “007”.

All this above-the-water surface observation had me wondering what goes on below the surface.  We know dolphins make noise- anyone who’s seen “Flipper” knows this.  Intrigued, I bought a hydrophone and digital recorder from Cetacean Research Technology, Inc. out of Seattle.  My first deployment of the hydrophone captured dolphin echolocation clicks.  “Holy Crap!” I screamed, mildly impressing my passengers.  Since this initial recording, I’ve amassed over 50 dolphin recordings.  I’ve heard clicks, pings, pops, and oscillating whistles.  I even captured a strand feeding “charge” command, given just before two dolphins simultaneously exploded onto the creek bank chasing fish.  Other noises heard include snapping shrimp, grunting fish, and boat propeller sounds.  Bill Roumillat, a fish scientist with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources knows a red drum from a spotted sea trout by voice.  He told me the best time and place to listen- I’ve got to do that!

My ultimate fantasy dolphin-recording goals include recognizing some language patterns.  Generic signals among dolphins must exist.  They work as groups to feed and raise young.  They also encounter dolphin from outside their pod who likely share the language, if it exists.  We all recognize the urgency when someone yells “fire!”  Maybe dolphins recognize that same urgency when one of them yells “boat!”  Seeing these animals thrills us.  Hearing them adds an entirely different dimension.

Captain Anton DuMars, a coastal geologist and 30-year Folly Beach resident, owns and operates Tideline Tours, LLC.  To contact Anton, please call 843-813-2497 or visit http://tidelinetours.com.

Charleston waterways are reaching their peak temperatures and the estuaries surrounding Folly Beach are teeming with wildlife. As the algae blooms move in with the warm water, jelly fish follow to consume them. They are seen on and around the beaches as well as floating serenely with the tidal flows. However, swim with caution because these passive creatures have tentacles with a painful sting.

Loggerhead sea turtles continue to migrate into the estuaries between their egg-laying cycles on the beaches. Wading birds and other sea birds such as tri-colored herons, snowy egrets, and royal terns can be spotted on the mud banks lining Folly Creek feeding on the shrimp and finger mullet.

The finger mullet have begun spawning and are migrating in massive schools into the local waterways. This has brought an increase in activity from the Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins. The large schools of mullet are easy prey for the dolphins to exercise their unique feeding habit, strand feeding. They’ve been spotted rounding up the schools of fish beside the low-sloping mud banks and forcing them up on the shore. The dolphins follow their prey onto the bank and beach themselves to devour a hearty meal.

Joe Lotts

Charleston Outdoor Adventures

(843)795-0330

www.charlestonoutdooradventures.com