We got to witness one of nature’s more amazing occurrences at the beach yesterday. We are on the Isle of Palms (French: Isle des Palmiers) in South Carolina. On the beach this morning as we were walking we encountered two of the palms that had migrated back to the shore of their birth to spawn and lie exhausted in the sands. This little seen phenomenon occurs in the month of November on election years. The palms must fight ocean currents, waves, sea weed entrapments, fig and coconut harvesters across miles of open water driven by a primal instinct to return to the sands of thieir youth. Plus there are hungry land sharks waiting to grab them at the last moment. These two magnificent examples may be the only ones this year to reach the shore but Palm Watchers are optimistic that a few more might yet make it “home.”
Land sharks are never far away during migration.