My latest painting of three Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins strand feeding at Captain Sam’s Inlet on Kiawah Island, was a collaborative effort between me and a good friend and art collector Allan Stewart. Allan and his wife Pam were longtime residents of Kiawah Island. When he saw my photos of Kiawah dolphins strand feeding he was as excited for me as I was. He said, “Do you know how lucky you were? National Geographic spent almost 2 years back in 2013 filming this rare phenomenon unique to Kiawah and very few other places on earth!”

***Brunch at Captain Sam’s Inlet*** by William R. Beebe, 30 x 30, Oil on canvas

I had heard that if you go to Beachwalker Park beach and walk all the way down to the end where the Kiawah River spills out into the Atlantic Ocean (Captain Sam’s Inlet), at roughly 2 hours either side of low-tide, that you might luck out and see the dolphins strand feeding.

Strand feeding is a risky, predatory action dolphins perform as a group to corral fish and drive them up onto the mudflats along the banks of the Kiawah River and local tidal creeks. One dolphin usually scouts out the beach landing area and gives the all clear to the others. Some believe that they communicate via sonar to start the herding process, in which they encircle a school of fish, usually striped mullet, and simultaneously 3 or 4 dolphins will, with tremendous power, produce a large wake of water with their tails and intentionally strand themselves on the banks of the river.

It all happens in a flash! Mullets are snapped out of mid-air and picked off the beach as the tide washes them back into the dolphins awaiting mouths. It is risky because as the wake of water recedes dolphins can get stuck on dry land. They learn how to wiggle and shimmy their way back down the bank. They strand feed every day but not always in the same location or at the same time.

There are 25 Bottlenose Dolphins that make Kiawah Island and Seabrook Island home. Of those 25 only 12 are known to strand feed.

Calves that don’t learn how to strand feed from their mothers at an early age never learn. There are three Kiawah dolphins that have been observed strand feeding on a regular basis, Koko, Kai, and Step. Koko is the mother of Kai (male calf) and Step is another female adult dolphin.

On our first and only visit to Captain Sam’s Inlet, our timing was off. The two hours either side of low-tide had come and gone. As we walked to the end of Beachwalker Beach there was only one photographer there. He informed us that we had just missed a strand feeding!

We were disappointed but there were other shorebirds all around, Brown Pelicans, seagulls, Black Skimmers, etc… so there was plenty of opportunity to photograph the wonderful birdlife.

The birds became very active, and all of a sudden we saw a dorsal fin coming right at us! The water was circling with wave action. The seagulls and pelicans always want to get in on the action of a strand feeding, hoping to get the remnants of fish left behind.

With sheer power four dolphins drove themselves onto the bank of the river, mullets were flying everywhere trying to escape the jaws of the mighty mammals. It was a feeding frenzy. This happened 3 times in a relatively short span of time. All three times were at the exact same location on the beach right in front of us. We were stunned by what we had just witnessed.

We totally lucked out and experienced something magical that most people never get to see.

Allan, too, had witnessed a strand feeding many years ago while kayaking and it had left a lasting impression on him. He approached me and wondered if I’d enjoy painting a strand feeding scene. He mentioned that every photograph he had seen of strand feeding was looking down at the dolphins, with grayish murky water, and not something that he thought would make a good painting.

His vision was to be more at ground level with the dolphins, bringing the horizon line into the picture consisting of the sandy beach and dunes on the other side of the river, along with the Kiawah maritime forest as the very backdrop. In other words, making the scene more aesthetically pleasing and helping to identify the location as Captain Sam’s Inlet.

He pictured 3 dolphins centered in the painting turned on their right side as they always are, with expressive faces. Also, one should feel the intensity of the moment, and get a sense of the action.

I loved the idea and developed a simple sketch using my photographs as reference material along with his creative ideas, to make sure we were on the same page.

In my painting I imagine Koko is in the middle, her calf Kai is on the left, and Step is on the right. The famous Kiawah threesome is having a field day filling their bellies with striped mullet, as they begin to prepare for colder weather coming by adding layers of blubber. The mullets will end up heading out to deeper water and head south as the cooler weather approaches, so the dolphins want to make sure they get while the getting is good!

The late afternoon sun glows in the distance, as the dark brooding clouds on the right drift off to the north. The remaining blue sky reflects off the river’s surface helping to add color and brighten up the normally murky water.

I want to thank my good friend Allan for commissioning me to paint a scene that will always bring back special memories of an event that left such a lasting impression on me.

Brunch at Captain Sam’s Inlet is a seafood buffet like none other! :)

Thank you for reading my blog and for your interest in my artwork and photography. Please check back soon to see what is next on the easel!

“One of the joys of being an artist is having the freedom to follow my passion….”

— William R. Beebe

Brunch at Captain Sam’s Inlet ~ Dolphins strand feeding on Kiawah Island!