Refrigerated Trailer for Rent in Hilton Head, SC

Another prehistoric visitor has washed ashore in Beaufort County, marking at least the third Atlantic sturgeon sighting in the area in recent months.

On Sunday, Jan. 11, Fripp Island resident Pete Sload was taking an afternoon walk along the beach when he discovered the rare fish washed up on the shoreline. Sload reported the find to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, and a staff member arrived the following day to retrieve the sturgeon.

Ellen Waldrop, a biologist with SCDNR’s Diadromous Fishes Program, previously told The Island Packet that once the fish is collected, it will be measured, photographed and sampled before the agency submits a record to the National Marine Fisheries Service.

The Atlantic sturgeon is one of two species found in South Carolina waters, alongside the smaller shortnose sturgeon. Both species are federally protected, making it illegal to harm or keep them. Even a dead or stranded sturgeon must be reported.

Even though sturgeon sightings are few and far between, this is not the first time Beaufort County residents have recently encountered an Atlantic sturgeon.

Back in November, a juvenile one was found on Islanders Beach on Hilton Head Island, and another was spotted by residents on Melrose Beach on Daufuskie Island.

What to know about the modern dinosaur

Atlantic sturgeon are known for their impressive lifespan and size.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says that sturgeons have a long fossil record, dating back 120 million years. Some even roamed the earth with dinosaurs 245 million years ago.

Adults can reach up to 14 feet and weigh up to 800 pounds, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries.

South Carolina’s populations tend to live anywhere from 25 to 30 years long and take five to 19 years to mature. These fish hatch in freshwater rivers, then spend much of their lives in coastal waters and return to their birthplace to spawn.

NOAA states that tagging data indicate that young Atlantic sturgeon travel widely up and down the East Coast.

The two types of sturgeons can appear similar, but Atlantic sturgeons can be distinguished by their larger size, smaller mouth, different snout shape and tail scute pattern.

About sturgeon populations

Sturgeon populations were once abundant, but their numbers have plummeted due to overfishing and habitat loss. During the late 1800s, in what’s sometimes known as the “Black Gold Rush,” sturgeon eggs were a prized find and fueled a booming caviar trade.

Today, all U.S. Atlantic sturgeon population segments are protected under the Endangered Species Act.

Sturgeons are bottom feeders, sifting through riverbeds and coastal shallows for crustaceans, worms, mollusks and bottom-dwelling fish.

Officials urge anyone who finds a dead or stranded sturgeon — or catches one accidentally — to report it to NOAA or the SCDNR.

Have you spotted any rare beach finds in South Carolina this winter? Share your photos and beach location to amiller@islandpacket.com.

This is a developing story. Information will be added as it becomes available.

A Beaufort County pediatrician and founder of Palmetto Pediatrics of the Lowcountry was taken into custody Friday for driving under the influence.

Dr. Lance Lowe was arrested by South Carolina Highway Patrol Friday night, booked into the Beaufort County Detention Center just after 9:30 p.m. and released the following afternoon, according to jail records. While his author page has since been removed from the medical practice’s website, his employment status was unknown at the time of publication.

Lowe was one of the drivers involved in a car collision Friday night near Highway 170 and Okatie Center Blvd., according to Trooper Nick Pye of the South Carolina Highway Patrol. He then refused to take breathalyzer test, Pye confirmed with the newspaper.

The accident took place less than two miles from the provider’s Okatie office located in the Legacy Medical Plaza off Highway 170. Their Hilton Head office is on Main Street.

Lowe was charged with driving under license suspension and for driving under the influence, and his cash bond was set at about $1,664, according to court records. The charge suggests his license was not suspended due to a DUI charge.

A history of DUIs

This was not the first time the pediatrician was charged with driving while under the influence in the Lowcountry.

On Dec. 13, 2014, Lowe was charged with a DUI, child endangerment and open containers of beer and liquor in Charleston, according to an order from the South Carolina Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation and State Board of Medical Examiners.

A month later, Lowe’s license to practice medicine was temporarily suspended by the department. He was reinstated to practice medicine on May 7 of that year, according to Lowe’s public action history with the department. In 2016, he was fined $200 and was publicly reprimanded for the incident, according to department documents.

He was issued his original license to practice medicine in 2001, which is set to expire in mid-2027. As of Monday, Lowe’s license to practice medicine remained in good standing with the state’s department.

Lowe’s employment status was unknown at the time of initial publication. While he is still listed as a doctor on the practice’s website, his biography page is missing. The Wayback Machine, an online archive that captures previous versions of web pages somewhat randomly, suggests that his author page was active as recently as November.

The provider’s office told the newspaper they were working on a prepared statement Monday afternoon.

The newspaper attempted to contact Lowe through three local landline phone numbers attached with his name but were unsuccessful in reaching him.

The Island Packet does not publish the names of individuals who were charged with misdemeanor crimes unless the accused is a public figure or if revealing their name is a matter of public interest.

Several great white sharks have recently pinged off the South Carolina coast, according to the latest tracking data from OCEARCH, an ocean research nonprofit that tracks hundreds of marine animals.

Many great white sharks in the west Atlantic make their way south to spend the winter months off the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida waters.

Of all the sharks tracked by OCEARCH in the last few days, three have recently pinged off the South Carolina coast, stretching from the Grand Strand all the way down to the Lowcountry.

Where are these sharks swimming?

Among the most notable is Webster, one of the largest of the group. The adult male white shark, weighing 1,008 pounds and measuring 12 feet, 2 inches, pinged near Charleston at 8:25 a.m. on Jan. 6.

Webster was first tagged on Sept. 29 in Nova Scotia and has spent much of the fall swimming off South Carolina waters. His previous ping was just north of the state line on Dec. 2.

Also drawing attention is Cayo, a 10-foot-3-inch juvenile female white shark weighing 689 pounds, who last pinged around 1 a.m. on Jan. 7 outside Myrtle Beach.

Cayo was first tagged on July 29, and her previous ping off South Carolina was on Dec. 15 near Georgetown.

Lastly, Bella, had her most recent ping on Dec. 29 near Georgetown. Bella is a juvenile female, measuring 10 feet, 2 inches and weighing 729 pounds. She was tagged on July 18, also near Nova Scotia.

Have there been other shark sightings in SC this winter?

Back in December, a few more of these sharp-toothed friends were pinged swimming out in the Palmetto State’s waters, bringing the state’s total number of visitors this winter to seven. Recent updates included:

Cross, a 9-foot-1-inch, 377-pound juvenile male, last pinged near Myrtle Beach on Dec. 28. Swimming nearby, Brookes, an 8-foot-10-inch, 456-pound juvenile female, had her last ping near Georgetown on Dec. 28, too.

Nori, an 8-foot-1-inch juvenile female weighing 423 pounds, last pinged near Edisto Island on Dec. 22 after previously pinging off near Georgetown on Nov. 30. Nori began her southbound journey in early October.

The biggest of the bunch, Baker, a 12-foot-10-inch white shark weighing 1,429 pounds, had his last ping near Charleston on Dec. 11.

Seasonal migration continues

White sharks commonly migrate south during the colder months, following food sources and warmer waters along the Atlantic coast. South Carolina’s coastline often sees increased great white shark activity from winter through March.

Some areas of the Palmetto State got an early sighting of the great whites this year, too, when one was spotted on Nov. 30 off of Hilton Head Island.

Shark populations have also increased this year, meaning that more sightings and pings may be on the way.

Folks can continue to keep an eye on Webster, Bella, Cayo and all the other South Carolina-bound sharks on OCEARCH’s online tracker.

In the beginning, all Chip Michalove wanted was to see one, just once.

The charismatic charter captain had built a career on Hilton Head Island by reeling in eight-foot sharks for tourists. But in 2014, a hunch, a lifelong obsession and years of trial and error made him the first person in the region to hook a great white shark.

Since then, he has caught almost 100 white sharks in South Carolina’s waters, and his first big catch came as white shark populations began to rebound.

In partnership with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, Michalove’s obsession with the notorious and misunderstood creatures have put South Carolina’s sharks on the map. The alliance is part of a growing group of researchers who aim to better understand the habits and migration patterns of these elusive creatures.

Most recently, a different research group published a study examining shark migrations and found that white sharks typically return to the same locations over the course of their migration each year. The findings are similar to earlier observations made by the Atlantic Shark Conservancy.

‘Better chance of finding Sasquatch’

Hailing from land-locked Kentucky, Michalove’s enthusiasm for sharks began at 4-years-old. On a vacation in Hilton Head, charter captain Fuzzy Davis helped him hook a six-foot shark. From that point on, Michalove knew he wanted a career on the water.

Years later, turtles washed up on the Hilton Head Island beaches with massive half-moon bites taken out of them. Locals thought a tiger shark was the culprit, but the turtles appeared in the winter when Michalove knew tiger sharks weren’t around.

“I just kept thinking, we've got one great white out there,” Michalove said.

While other shark species are common in the area, no one thought white sharks were anywhere near. But under the surface, great white populations were rebounding after federal protections came into effect, said Megan Winton, a researcher with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy who works with Michalove.

Michalove started spending his winter months searching for a white shark, even as other fishermen told him there was a “better chance of seeing Sasquatch.”

“I studied them like I was preparing for life or death,” Michalove said.

He tried different locations, methods and bait until it all lined up one January day when a great white shouldered up to his boat. Michalove managed to get the shark on a hook briefly, but it got away.

He kept at it, finding and losing white sharks while he devised a system that could hold the massive fish before using a “dehooker” to release it. When he finally caught a white shark, the local newspaper told him it was too far-fetched and chose not to run the story. A photo he took of his hand on the shark’s nose proved otherwise. National news came calling, and so did The Atlantic Shark Conservancy.

A boon for science

Winton and her colleagues had been studying white sharks in the northeast Atlantic. Now they saw an opportunity to study white sharks during their winter migration south. They asked Mitchalove if he would consider tagging white sharks. He said yes.

The tags are attached to the shark, and they relay information either to satellites or acoustic sensors placed in the water.

“I was nervous because these tags are, like, $5,000,” Michalove said.

He tagged his first shark, and the partnership was formed. The data collected by the tags allowed scientists to better understand how the shark population migrates up and down the coast, specifically how often the species used Atlantic waters off Canada. He’s even tagged sharks that Winton’s team identified in Cape Cod, including one named Mushroom that researchers hadn’t seen in years.

The sharks that Michalove tagged tended to travel to the waters of the Canada’s Atlantic coast instead of Cape Cod, one of the first clues that the area was important to white sharks. Further tracking revealed that sharks tend to return to similar areas year after year. The finding is echoed in a recent study from OSEARCH, which found that sharks move within a range between Newfoundland and the Gulf of Mexico over the course of a year. (You can track the sharks here.)

Michalove also has helped deploy the first camera tags on white sharks in Southeast waters, which are attached to the shark’s fin after Michalove reels them to the boat. The footage helps scientists understand how the animals spend their time in an understudied region.

“A lot of times people think that fishermen and shark scientists are at odds, that we fundamentally don't like each other and want different things,” Winton said. “But he has been such a testament to the fact that a lot of fishermen are very invested in these resources.”

Hilton Head Restaurant Week, an annual event that gives local eateries a boost during the post-holiday lull, is back this month.

More than 80 restaurants in Bluffton and Hilton Head are expected to participate in this year’s event, scheduled for Jan. 31 to Feb. 7, according to the Hilton Head Island and Bluffton Chamber of Commerce. Restaurants traditionally offer prix-fixe menus, so patrons can enjoy a taste of what the area has to offer for a less-than-usual price.

With so many options, it can be a little confusing to know where to start. In no particular order, here are the 10 best Restaurant Week deals at eateries in and around Hilton Head as of Jan. 5.

Crab galore for $38 at Carolina Crab Company

Carolina Crab Company in Palmetto Bay Marina is offering a prix-fixe menu for $38 — and, to no one’s surprise, crab is prominently featured.

Crab cakes and crab-stuffed tiger shrimp are featured entrées, and poblano crab queso, crab salad crostini and crab and chorizo chowder are possible appetizers. But non-crab lovers also have some options, like red wine pear salad to start and short ribs or blackened shrimp and scallops for an entrée.

Dessert offerings include brownie sundaes, key lime pie and blueberry bread pudding.

All-you-can-eat meats at Cowboy Brazilian Steakhouse for $42.50

Sixteen “prime” meats. Thirty fresh salads. Six hot dishes. Endless portions. Kids under five eat free, kids ages six-12 pay their age and adults pay $42.50 per person.

That’s how Cowboy Brazilian Steakhouse at 1000 William Hilton Parkway in the Village at Wexford is advertising its Restaurant Week deal. Who can argue with that?

Three courses for $25 at Fish Casual Coastal Seafood

An entrée at this Coligny Plaza restaurant can cost up to $36. But during Restaurant Week, patrons can get an appetizer, dinner and dessert for $11 less.

Customers can choose a house salad, a Caesar salad or crab and shrimp bisque to start, followed by either Lowcountry boil, fish and chips or pesto shrimp pasta for dinner. Dessert options include key lime crumble, Snickers brownies or banana pudding. Not bad for $25.

Luxe three-course meal at Driftwood Rum Bar

You won’t find rum on the prix-fixe menu at this restaurant inside the Sonesta Resort Hilton Head Island, but you can still get a three-course meal for $36.

Diners can start with whipped ricotta, drunken mussels or she-crab soup, choose from entrées like wild mushroom risotto, braised chicken leg, ahi tuna steak or beef ragu and end with either mango crème brûlée or flourless chocolate torte for dessert.

For that price, adding on a $13 mai tai or painkiller doesn’t seem so bad.

$20.99 pizza and wings at Local Pie

Pizza and wings for under $25? In this economy? Unheard of. But customers at Local Pie in Hilton Head and Bluffton can get any large, one-to-two topping pizza and an order of wings for $20.99 during restaurant week.

If wings aren’t your thing, that’s OK too. Local Pie is offering any two medium pies for $15.99, any two large pizzas for $29.99, any two large one-topping pizzas for $21.99 and any 10-inch pie and a salad for $17.99. The deals are available for both dine-in and takeout customers.

Lots of options for $43 at Nunzio Restaurant + Bar — plus $30 wine flight

Nunzio Restaurant + Bar at 18 New Orleans Road might win the prize for most options on its $43 per person Restaurant Week menu.

The menu includes six appetizers like beef carpaccio and mozzarella caprese salad, seven dinners like tagliatelle alla bolognese and branzino puttanesca and five desserts like tiramisu, affogato borghetti and Sicilian cannoli.

Diners can add a “tour of Italy” wine flight for an additional $29.99. The deal starts Jan. 11, a full 20 days before Restaurant Week officially begins.

$14 meal at Slow Country BBQ & Grill

Sometimes you just need a sandwich, fries and a Coke, and at Slow Country BBQ & Grill, that’s what you’ll get during Restaurant Week.

The Coligny Plaza eatery will offer diners a sandwich, side and a drink for $14. Customers can choose from “any” sandwich on the menu, whether that’s a burger or a fried chicken, brisket or pulled pork sandwich, and sides like potato salad, coleslaw, fries and mac and cheese. Simple, yet effective.

Three courses for $22 at Street Meet

Street Meet’s prix-fixe menu is one of the lowest priced at $22, and its offerings are simple but just flashy enough to give them the extra Restaurant Week pizzazz.

Diners at the Port Royal Plaza restaurant can choose a Caesar salad, garden salad or Italian wedding soup to start, followed by prime rib cheesesteak, a gyro or a Cuban sandwich. Everyone gets a mini brownie sundae for dessert, drizzled with hot fudge.

Cool weather drinks at Origin Coffee Bar

Origin Coffee Bar at 35 Main St. on the island says it is participating in Restaurant Week and offers a list of seasonal drinks for its menu. It’s unclear if this is just the regular winter menu or exclusive to the chamber event.

Drinks include the 12-ounce nitro brown butter mocha for $6, the peppermint mocha for $6, the “crosby” which is pistachio, white chocolate, espresso and milk for $5.75 and the filthy animal with cranberry, rosemary, sage, espresso and tonic for $6.25.

Free soup or dessert with purchase at the Patio Bar & Deck

The Patio Bar & Deck at the Sonesta will offer diners a free soup or dessert with a purchase of a burger, sandwich or “patio favorite.” Qualifying dishes include short rib chili, four cheese pizza, chicken bacon croissants and redfish sandwiches.

See another great restaurant week deal that we missed? Email lfinaldi@islandpacket.com to have it added.