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PAWLEYS ISLAND — A Hammock Coast beach just netted a statewide honor for the second year in a row.

Pawleys Island, one of the country's oldest seaside resorts, has been named “Best Beach in South Carolina” by the USA Today/10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards. It first won in 2024.

Three Georgetown County destinations — Huntington Beach State Park, Litchfield Beach and Pawleys Island — were among the beaches in the contest. Huntington (No. 4) and Litchfield (No. 3) also placed in the Top 5 again.

"It shows that you don’t have to be the biggest to be the best," said Beth Stedman, president of the Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce. "The natural beauty of our area and its history bring visitors here throughout the year and they return again and again."

To the north, Horry County also saw several winners. North Myrtle Beach and its Cherry Grove Beach also placed in the Top 5, and Myrtle Beach State Park came in at No. 8.

The remaining Top 10 included: Hunting Island State Park (Hunting Island, No. 6), Edisto Beach State Park (Edisto Island, No. 7), Coligny Beach Park (Hilton Head Island, No. 9) and Bloody Point Beach (Daufuskie Island, No. 10).

The list was narrowed from 17 initial nominees. It was part of a series to name the best beaches in South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Texas, California, New Jersey and Michigan, according to tourism officials.

Other Palmetto State beaches in the running included: Myrtle Beach, Folly Beach, Folly Field Beach Park (Hilton Head Island), Isle of Palms, Kiawah Beachwalker Park (Kiawah Island), Sullivan’s Island and Surfside Beach.

The voting period ran from April 21 to May 19, and the beach with the most votes won. Winners were announced May 28.

"I couldn’t be more excited about this news," said Mark Stevens, the chamber's director of tourism development. "Clearly the Hammock Coast’s beaches are beloved by residents and vacationers. Our beaches are adored for their pristine shores and mild crowds, and we wouldn’t have it any other way."

Locations along the Hammock Coast have been featured in the USA Today’s 10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards in previous years. Huntington Beach and Brookgreen Gardens have been nominated in several categories, while Georgetown topped the list for the Best Coastal Small Town in 2018.

Murrells Inlet placed sixth earlier this year in the contest for the Best Small Town in the South, according to the Georgetown County Chamber of Commerce.

Also, Caledonia Golf and Fish Club in Pawleys Island placed fourth this year in "America's Best Public Golf Course" poll from USA Today/10Best.

The USA Today/10 Best Readers’ Choice Awards highlight “top-notch attractions and businesses, providing readers with trusted recommendations,” according to a news release.

A panel of judges chose the South Carolina beaches in the running. The judges included travel writers Jamie Davis Smith and Marla Cimini and USA Today Top 10's coordinator Catherine Smith, according to USA Today.

Tomorrow's the kick-off for a three-day July 4th weekend, and you know what that means: Beach trips, cookouts with friends, sea turtles choking on a plastic string cheese wrapper and fireworks!

Litter is an issue on Charleston's beaches and waterfronts year-round. But July 4th can be one of the trashiest times of the year, as crowds flock to the beaches for holiday festivities and leave behind piles of garbage.

"There's a direct correlation (between) spikes in tourism (and) the amount of litter that we find on the beach," said Zach Watkin, chair of the Charleston Surfrider Foundation, a nonprofit that arranges beach sweeps.

The sheer scale of the garbage left behind can be overwhelming.

"Last year, two of our top volunteers actually started to cry when they arrived the morning of July 5th and saw the horrendous mess that had been left behind," Susan Hill Smith, the cofounder of the Isle of Palms Cleanup Crew, wrote in an email.

Linda Rowe, the lead coordinator of conservation at the South Carolina Aquarium, said some of the worst refuse this time of year is food and drink packaging. If it's not swept up, picked up or extracted quickly enough, that garbage can have a serious impact on local wildlife.

"Litter can degrade water quality, and we know for sure that it's being ingested by every animal at all levels of the food web," she said. "It's definitely a major threat to ecological health."

One of the most-beloved victims of litter are South Carolina's sea turtles. Nesting season for sea turtles runs May 1 to Oct. 31, which means they're present on the state's beaches and in nearby waters during all of the major, and most trashy, beach holidays.

Rowe said that in the roughly 25 years that the aquarium has been treating and rehabilitating sea turtles, they've seen about 45 that have ingested plastics or been entangled by garbage.

"That may not seem like a huge number, but the vast majority of them have been within the last 10 years," she said.

"So we know that it's a problem that has increased over time," she added. "And they're just a tiny fraction of the population, so it's kind of a canary-in-the-coal-mine situation."

Once litter gets washed out to sea or mired in a salt marsh, it's functionally impossible to completely extract it. In Charleston's brackish and salty waters, some plastic garbage can break down in as little as eight weeks, leading to a proliferation of microplastics that permeate the region's waters.

"South Carolina is blessed with some of the best beaches and rivers and creeks and marshes in the United States, and I think we ought to treat them like that," said Andrew Wunderley, executive director of Charleston Waterkeeper. "It's just a matter of respect, right? I don't come to your front yard and set up my lawn chairs and leave all my garbage in your yard, so don't do it in South Carolina's collective front yard."

So what can you do to help?

Hill Smith said the first step should be limiting what gets brought to the beach. It's likely that trash cans will fill up quickly with the surge of holiday beachgoers, so the key is to create as little trash as possible.

"As we say, 'pack in, pack out,' to make sure trash and other left-behind items, including toys, towels and clothes, don’t wind up polluting the ecosystem," she said.

Her group is planning a litter sweep on Isle of Palms from 6-7 p.m. July 7 at the beach walkover in the 1100 block of Ocean Boulevard. Charleston Surfrider Foundation is hosting a clean-up on Folly Beach July 6.

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCIV) — As turtle nesting season progresses, Folly Beach is experiencing a slower start than anticipated. Dave Miller of the Folly Beach Turtle Watch reported that the first nest of the season was discovered on April 29, marking the first in South Carolina. However, since then, the number of nests has decreased significantly.

As turtle nesting season progresses, Folly Beach is experiencing a slower start than anticipated. (WCIV)

"But since then it’s been kind of slow. Slow here and slow all around South Carolina," said Miller.

Last year's beach renourishment project resulted in a lower-than-normal number of nests, with only 44 recorded. Despite the slower pace this year, 38 nests have already been discovered, indicating a potentially promising season.

Miller expressed the group's unwavering enthusiasm for their conservation efforts, saying, "But when we see that crawl, something special, special feelings that this creature was here in the middle of the night, doing what it’s evolved to do over millions of years."

The turtle nesting season, which runs from May to October, keeps the group busy daily. Volunteers are dedicated to finding, marking, and caring for the nests, eagerly awaiting the hatching of the turtles.

"Rain, shine we’re out there at dawn every day. We’ve got seven miles of beach. Some fifty volunteers and we cover that seven miles every day," said Miller.

A positive development this season is the increased compliance with turtle safety rules, particularly the "lights out" policy on beachfront properties. Miller noted, "We’ve seen a large improvement. Decreased number of lighting violations. We have a number of beach front homeowners who now going to the city asking how can I comply."

As for when the hatchlings will emerge, Miller suggested it could be in the next few days.

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCSC) - A ranking by the Federal Emergency Management Agency is giving Folly Beach homeowners the second-highest discount for flood insurance.

About 1,500 communities nationwide voluntarily participate in the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program’s Community Rating System. The program works to lower flood damages to homeowners, renters and businesses by encouraging floodplain management practices across communities.

The program cycles communities through a ranking system every three years on a scale of the highest class ranking from one to 10, with 10 being the lowest. Each class gives flood insurance discounts to community residents.

The City of Folly Beach received a Class 3 ranking in the program, which is the second highest in the Lowcountry. The ranking falls under Charleston County, which received a Class 2 in October of 2023. A Class 3 rank offers residents in the area a 35% discount on flood insurance policies.

City Flood Plan Administrator Eric Lutz says their rank comes from the city’s work towards flood prevention, such as adding pervious material to driveways and revising the flood damage prevention ordinance in 2021.

“Increased our freeboard requirement, which is four feet above base flood,” Lutz says. “Out here, [it] used to be two. That means all the houses out here are elevated a little bit higher. That helps along with marsh regulations, protecting the marsh, protecting open surfaces.”

Lutz says flooding events happen more frequently as the years go by, which impacts areas such as marshes and homes around the back of the island.

“Basically, we have king tide flooding on a regular basis now, we have rain bomb flooding, what we call like sunny day flooding,” Lutz says. “There’s a lot going on, and sometimes when those combine together we have worse flooding, a lot like downtown Charleston, where we’ve got the rain and the tides working together to really flood everything out.”

The city administrator says they are continuing to work on flood prevention efforts that offer these discounts to residents.

The policy is currently in effect for homeowners who get a new policy or renew.

Copyright 2025 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Surfers and enthusiasts gathered at Folly Beach Saturday to celebrate International Surf Day, an event organized by the Surfrider Foundation and other local groups. (WCIV)

FOLLY BEACH, S.C. (WCIV) — Surfers and enthusiasts gathered at Folly Beach Saturday to celebrate International Surf Day, an event organized by the Surfrider Foundation and other local groups. The day was marked by a focus on community, inclusivity, and the joy of surfing.

The day also featured a litter pick up walk around the beach, as well as free yoga sessions for those who wanted to join.

"We're out here today to celebrate International Surf Day with Surfrider Foundation," said Theo Hair, who works with the nonprofit. "We take International Surfing Day to focus on the surfing element of that by making it more about the local community."

Sarah Butler, Executive Director of Waves 4 Women, emphasized the importance of creating a welcoming environment. "We really focus on building a community and making a space where every woman belongs," she said.

The Warrior Surf Foundation also played a significant role in the day's activities. "The Warrior Surf Program is a 12-week program. We include yoga, surfing, and wellness for veterans, active duty, and their families," said Clayton Merritt.

And for veterans like Merritt, surfing is a healing activity after getting out of the military.

"It was really beneficial for me and gave me surfing in my life and gave me a lot of clarity in my life. So it’s really cool to be able to pass that along to other veterans," he said.

Veterans like Joshua Suggs highlighted the sense of community that surfing provides. "It means more to us than it does most people. I mean we’re used to being around our friends all the time. Most of us lived in the barracks at some point," Suggs said. "When you move on from the military you don’t have that brother next door that you can lean on in times of struggle you can feel alone."

Suggs noted that the Warrior Surf Foundation helps reconnect veterans. "So showing up here on Saturdays and having 25-50 people that you see helps you either hold space for them," he said.

For those interested in joining, Suggs mentioned that the largest open surf groups meet on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Folly Beach and there is no experience needed.