[proctorfarm]

Husband and I are at Lakewood Campground, South Myrtle Beach near Surfside. On Monday, November 14 around noon we saw something strange out in the ocean (looking from oceanfront camper). About 100-200 yards out, we saw a dark, low, fast moving object heading north. Was NOT a boat.. Couldn't see any wake. We estimated it about 17'-20' long...moving fast and steady, not arcing like dolphins (saw them all day today). We watched it move north on a straight path untill it just disapeared.. Guess it went under. Any idea what it was? Thought we could see dorsel fin but not sure. 'Mary Lee' the shark? whale? Russian submarine?? The shark pinged recently Hilton Head and Lowcountry areas...? Anyone have any suggestions or see this thing?

 

[ChefRobb]

If it was not moving up and down you might have seen a submarine, which sometimes travel the coast here, or possibly a whale.

 

[steelerfan]

A few years back, early one morning there was a group of people gathered on the beach. I walked down to see what was going on and it was a beached pygmie sperm whale. The marine group came and euthanized it not long after. They said it was probably sick and disoriented. It was truly sad to see. I never knew they were off the coast in Myrtle beach. The first and only one I'd ever seen there.

 

[SloppyTilapia]

Pilot whale?

 

[proctorfarm]

Thanks for the replies. It did not move up and down-no arcing/splashing. Seemed fairly 'level moving'..and FAST. I wondered if it could have possibly been a sub.. that's what it really seemed like, but I didn't know if they'd actually be around here. We watched it for a minute or so and then it was gone- figured it submerged. I just looked out the window and it was there, so we didn't see it's approach. Wish we'd have had binoculars.. was really strange...tried looking up sharks, whales, and submarines on youtube but nothing I found really matched what we saw.
Does anyone know if whales can swim partially out of the water with very 'level' movement, or do they usually have a lot of motion/arcing? -and this thing was fast.

 

[MadDawgJ]

Lots of subs around here, Kings Bay, GA is home to the Atlantic fleet of subs.

 

[RFloyd]

 

[RFloyd]

Seriously, not sure it could be a sub at 100-200 yards out.... at that distance from shore I don't know how there would be enough draft for a sub of any size to submerge, not anything in current service. Looking at a nautical chart with the bottom topography, at that distance from shore you're looking at maybe 20 foot depth. I remember fishing Paradise Reef 3 miles offshore and it being maybe 30 feet deep. Just not enough draft for any kind of military sub, I don't think. Civilian? who knows. My guess would be whale. Or aliens.

 

[Jollymon]

Rosie O'DONNELL going north to Canada, like she said she would

 

[Garboman]

Shark if it did not surface, if it came up for air either a whale or Rosie O'Donnell

All of the following get big enough

Tiger
Basking
White

Being SC I would venture Tiger first

I have seen some Basking Sharks up close on the OBX 20-30 Ft. they swim rather slowly and steadily feeding on plankton.

 

[oldguy]

Could have possibly seen an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). They are utilized in increasing numbers for oceanographic research. They can be programed with GPS/route courses, equipped with various types of sensors and carry side scan sonar. As with anything of this nature, it could have been off course, lost, etc. and will surface independently when their programmed "run time" has ended. Just my 2 cents.

 

[RFloyd]

Ya know, the AUV idea may be a strong candidate. 2 weekends ago we were fishing the inlet and there was what I presume a NOAA aircraft, some variant of a P-3 Orion, that was flying a pattern back and forth over Murrells Inlet. It made multiple passes parallel, worked its way from N to S, then did the exact same thing but in a perpendicular path, crossing all of its previous paths, back to the N until it flew off. I presumed it was doing some sort of mapping of the inlet and beaches post Hurricane Matthew since it had what appeared to be a green laser emanating from an opening in the bottom rear of the fuselage. I wonder if they're using AUVs to do the same thing to the ocean floor in the coastal waters....


I still prefer my aliens theory better, though.

 

[proctorfarm]

It was definitely NOT Rosie... way too small ��
Appreciate all the input..in all the time I've spent staring at the ocean(which is not much compared to some..)-I've never seen anything like this.

 

[ncdead]

Strange......I've seen some weird stuff on the beach particularly at night back in the day. It was especially prevalent after fishing for two days straight without any sleep. Sometimes it's better not to know. Those mysteries make life more interesting.

 

[proctorfarm]

Could have possibly seen an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). They are utilized in increasing numbers for oceanographic research. They can be programed with GPS/route courses, equipped with various types of sensors and carry side scan sonar. As with anything of this nature, it could have been off course, lost, etc. and will surface independently when their programmed "run time" has ended. Just my 2 cents.[/QUOTE
... I looked AUVs up on youtube. I'll bet that's what it was thanks : )

 

[SloppyTilapia]

Strange......I've seen some weird stuff on the beach particularly at night back in the day. It was especially prevalent after fishing for two days straight without any sleep. Sometimes it's better not to know. Those mysteries make life more interesting.

Let's open up this can of worms on this thread.............what types of things did you see?

 

[1BadF350]

Swamp gas.

 

[MadDawgJ]

Rofl

 

[oldguy]

In regard to the post above about the aircraft, sometimes surveys are made by NOAA with lasers from aircraft to record land elevations after coastal storms to determine beach/dune erosion Also, NOAA and NASA have teamed up with an unmanned aircraft program for climate research.

 

[ncdead]

Weird lights in the sky that just dance....something with a huge burning trail behind it moving very fast through the sky. Not a meteorite...Turn to your buddies to see if they saw it but they are distracted so just keep your mouth shut cause they would look at at you like you are nuts and wouldn't believe you anyway.....again, sleep deprivation may have played a part. Interesting occurrences though.