The Seabrook Island Turtle Patrol has scheduled the inventory of Nest 7 for Thursday, July 17 at 6:30 pm. Nest 7 is located about 300 yards south of boardwalk 5, which is the nearest beach access.
Click here to see a map showing the location of the boardwalks.
Scheduled inventories and cancellations or postponements can be accessed here.
The timing of this inventory may be modified without notice in the event of inclement weather.
NEWS YOU CAN USE
Town Trash Can and Parking Rules – This is a reminder of our town trash can and parking rules that went into effect on May 1, 2025 under Ordinance 2024-09.
FY 2026 State Accommodations Tax (SATAX) Application – The Town of Seabrook Island is currently accepting applications from eligible organizations for funding from the FY 2026 State Accommodations Tax (SATAX) Tourism Related Expenditure Grant Program. Interested applicants must submit a completed application to the Town Clerk by 12:00 pm on Friday August 15, 2025. The SATAX Advisory Committee will consider funding requests during its upcoming meeting on August 22, 2025 at 10:00 am, at which time the committee will vote on funding recommendations to Town Council.
SATAX funds must be used to attract or provide for tourists, and cannot be used for any item that would normally be provided by a county or municipality. Eligible projects must take place between January 1, 2026, and December 31, 2026. For more information click here.
Chow Town Food Truck Rodeo—The last Chow Town of the summer season will be Wednesday, August 6, 2025, from 5:00 to 8:00 pm. Food trucks from various local vendors will take over the Town Hall parking lot.
Beach Rules – Peak season beach rules are now in effect.
Short-term Rental Regulations – New regulations effective May 1, 2025. Seabrook Island Town Council adopted Ordinance 2024-06, establishing new permitting and operating requirements. For all STR Permit information, click here.
New Drone Requirements – Effective May 1, 2025, no person may launch or land a drone within the Town unless they have a FAA remote pilot certificate (or are under the direct supervision of a remote pilot in command). Drones also need to be registered with the FAA. You must be able to produce both a pilot certificate and FAA drone registration if stopped by a TOSI Code Enforcement Officer.
2025 Town Grant Programs – The Town will begin accepting applications for two town grant programs on March 1, 2025. To learn more about the Community Promotions grant program, click here. Information about the Environment & Wildlife Conservation grant program can be found here.
TOSI Monthly E-newsletter – To stay up-to-date with town communications, sign up for the e-newsletter by clicking here.
MEETINGS
Public Safety Committee Meeting
Tuesday, July 15 – 10:00 am
The agenda can be viewed by clicking here. Watch Live on YouTube.
Seabrook Island Utility Commission Meeting
Wednesday, July 16 – 8:30 am
The agenda can be viewed by clicking here.
Community Promotions & Engagement Committee Meeting
Thursday, July 17 – 1:00 pm
The agenda can be viewed by clicking here. Watch Live on YouTube.
View the calendar of meetings beyond this week by going to the home page of TownofSeabrookIsland.org.
Agendas will be posted at least 24 hours before each meeting. All videos can be found on the town’s YouTube channel. Individuals wishing to participate in the meeting via Zoom can call (843) 768-9121 or email pwiggins@townofseabrookisland.org for login information before the meeting.
-Submitted by the Town of Seabrook Island
Starting Monday, July 14, the portion of the bike and pedestrian pathway at the entrance of Seafields will be partially impacted to help install a drainage system for the development. The pathway is nine feet wide and crews will only encroach into the pathway no more than four feet. This means the pathway will not be fully closed during this part of the installation.
There will be two flagmen at both sides of the construction entrance for pedestrian safety during the installation process.
The drainage system that will be installed will help alleviate the flooding issues in that area.
Barring any unforeseen conditions, the work will take at least three days. We will notify you once the pathway is fully reopen.
-Submitted by the Town of Seabrook Island
The July 2025 issue of Currents is now available. Click on the cover above or visit the SIPOA website and access it through the News dropdown menu.
To receive SIPOA’s weekly Highlights email as well as special notices and alerts from SIPOA, please click here to sign up.
Email your comments and feedback to publiccomment@sipoa.org
-Submitted by SIPOA
Are the kids in your family interested in being Junior Explorers and learning about turtles? If so, Kiawah Conservancy invites you to their special event.
To learn more and register, use the QR code or click here.
-Submitted by Kiawah Conservancy
The Town of Seabrook Island is currently accepting applications from eligible organizations for funding from the FY 2026 State Accommodations Tax (SATAX) Tourism Related Expenditure Grant Program. Interested applicants must submit a completed application to the Town Clerk by 12:00 pm on Friday August 15, 2025. The SATAX Advisory Committee will consider funding requests during its upcoming meeting on August 22, 2025 at 10:00 am, at which time the committee will vote on funding recommendations to Town Council.
SATAX funds must be used to attract or provide for tourists, and cannot be used for any item that would normally be provided by a county or municipality. Eligible projects must take place between January 1, 2026, and December 31, 2026. For more information click here.
-Submitted by the Town of Seabrook Island
The Seabrook Island Turtle Patrol has scheduled the first inventory of the year for Sunday, July 13 at 6:30 pm. Nest 4 is located about seven houses north of boardwalk 7. The nearest beach access are boardwalks 6 or 7.
Click here to see a map showing the location of the boardwalks.
Scheduled inventories can be accessed here.
The timing of this inventory may be modified without notice in the event of inclement weather.
Turtle hatchlings typically emerge from the nest during the night to avoid exposure to daytime predators such as seagulls. This is called a boil because it really does look like a boiling event when the baby turtles emerge all at once from the nest, which is a hole in the sand.
About three days after the boil, the Turtle Patrol team performs an inventory. They count the empty shells as well as the eggs that have not hatched for a report to DNR. Sometimes, some of the hatchlings are still at the bottom of the nest and haven’t made it out yet. The inventory team helps these hatchlings down to the water’s edge where they can gather strength for their journey across the ocean. We can’t always promise there will be hatchlings to see, but when there are, it is very exciting!
-Submitted by Jane Magioncalda for SI Turtle Patrol
(Image credit: Seabrook Island Turtle Patrol)
One mission of the Seabrook Island Photography Club (SIPC) is to visually document the great events that happen on Seabrook Island. Much of this effort is done in support of local organizations such as the Town of Seabrook Island, SIPOA and the Seabrook Island Club. Last week, teams of photographers from the Photography Club captured over 1,000 high quality images of the Fourth of July festivities documenting the fun run, the fireworks party and the parade.
While photographers were shooting, many Seabrookers asked “where can I see these pictures?”. In response, the Photography Club has created an online photo gallery of these photos where you can view and download these images.
To access the link to the gallery, click here.
As a measure to monitor and control access, you will be required to enter your email to view the galleries or download images. (We will not spam you or sell your information.) Please note that the images are separated into three separate collections: fun run, fireworks, and parade. You can navigate between these collections using the menu bar in the top left. The original photographer, whose name appears in the photo’s file name, maintains ownership of these images. The Photography Club asks that you not use them for any commercial purpose prior to discussing with the photographer.
If for some reason, you do not want pictures of yourself or your family shared online in this collection and prefer for them to be removed, contact the Photography Club at seabrookphotographyclub22@gmail.com and they will make every effort for that to happen quickly.
Sincere thanks to the photographers who provided their work for this gallery: Bill Bruensbach, Patricia Schaefer, Alan Fink, Valerie Doane, Rick Heilman, Gina Sanders, and Jeffrey J Davis.
-Submitted by Jeff Davis for the Seabrook Island Photography Club
Simply stated, Vinification is the process that’s employed by the winemaker to turn harvested grapes into bottled wine. But it’s hardly simple and can employ many varied steps.
Harvesting: Timing is critical and varies year to year due to growing season and harvest-time weather, the grape variety itself and ripeness. Harvesting can be by machine or by hand.
Crushing: If you’ve ever seen the funny grape crushing scene with Lucille Ball on “I Love Lucy,” from 1956 or many similar clips on YouTube of crushing grapes in large vats by foot, it really was the common method historically. Today it’s accomplished often using large, sophisticated machines that can remove stems and seeds and achieve the primary goal of breaking the skins to release the juice.
Fermentation: The juice from the crushing goes into tanks made of either stainless steel, concrete or wood, either with or without the skins, where the natural yeast from the grapes or added yeast, converts the sugar into alcohol. Fermentation usually takes from one to two weeks but can last much longer. Red wines often go through maceration (a soaking process) during fermentation to release color, tannins and flavor compounds from the skins.
Pressing: For red wines, the fermented juice usually goes through pressing to release more juice and flavors but for white wines, pressing normally is done before fermentation.
Aging: Wine can be aged for long or short periods of time in wood barrels, usually oak, stainless steel or sometimes cement. It depends on red vs. white and many other factors based on what the winemaker wants to achieve. Chemical changes occur during aging, softening tannins and supporting flavor development. Aging takes place in a dark area with an environment of stable temperature and humidity.
Filtration: This is usually done before bottling to improve clarity by removing any remaining sediment and particles but some producers may choose to leave their wine unfiltered.
Bottling: The final step in the vinification process is bottling. While most wines remain in the bottle for further aging for short periods of time, some, depending on the wine type, regional requirements and the winemaker’s specific goals, may remain in the bottle for many months or even years of additional aging before being released for sale.
Cheers!
-Submitted by Jim Wolitarsky
(Image credit: Pixabay.com and Vinepair.com)
Due to impending uncertain weather, tonight’s beach bonfire is canceled.
Please put the following dates for the full moon bonfires on your calendar:
We look forward to seeing you at next month’s bonfire!
-Submitted by Mollie Korski
Please use caution when driving on Seabrook Island Road in front of Seafields. That portion of the roadway is covered in water in all lanes. The bike and pedestrian pathway is completely flooded out in front of Seafields and cannot be used right now.
-Submitted by the Town of Seabrook Island
Backpack Buddies Seabrook Island is dedicated to fighting childhood hunger among students in Charleston County, SC public schools. Each Thursday, we provide nutritious weekend food to children living below the poverty line, helping them return to school ready to learn.
Founded in May 2014, our all-volunteer 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizes a weekly operation at the Oyster Catcher Community Center. Volunteers shop for food, set up packing stations, assemble 13-item food bags, and deliver them to schools. For the 2024–2025 school year, we served 352 children at Mt. Zion Elementary, St. Johns High, and Lambs Elementary—distributing over 13,000 bags of food.
In 2025–2026, with Mt. Zion’s closure and the opening of Johns Island Elementary, our program will expand to support 425 children at Angel Oak, Johns Island, and Lambs Elementary. Backpack Buddies Kiawah will take over support of St. Johns High.
Continue reading “Seabrook Organizations and Clubs: Backpack Buddies”