2 gators spotted in surf at Carolina beaches just days apart in rare sight

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — In a rare sight, two alligators were spotted in the surf just days apart at Carolina beaches after storms with heavy rains pounded the North and South Carolina coastal areas over several days.

Just a couple of days before police wrangled a beached alligator at a North Carolina island,

The first gator was spotted at Huntington Beach State Park on Monday evening, just south of Myrtle Beach near Murrells Inlet, according to Tim Yauger, an associate pastor at Bread of Life Tabernacle in Uniontown, Pennsylvania.

Yauger was taking an anniversary vacation with his wife, Samantha, along with their two children, when they visited the state park on their first day in South Carolina.

Just three days later, on Thursday, about 50 miles north — just over the line in North Carolina — police in Sunset Beach were called just after 1:45 p.m. about an alligator spotted along the island’s beach in the surf.

After many beachgoers gathered to take photos, a Sunset Beach officer took the gator from the ocean using a “catch pole,” a police news release said.

The Sunset Beach alligator — one of at least 22 caught and relocated in Brunswick County in the five weeks — was then taken to a nearby pond and released.

Southport near Wilmington has broken two weekly records in the last month for captured alligators officers later relocated.

The Yauger family had only been in the Myrtle Beach area for a few hours when they spotted the gator just before 8 p.m. Monday on the beach — a rare sight.

Samantha Yauger said a woman who also saw the gator told the couple she had been walking the stretch of beach for 10 years, hoping to spot an alligator in the surf or on the 3-mile stretch of undeveloped beach.

The couple’s two children were apparently not concerned about the gator.

“They went right in the water after they saw the alligator,” Samantha Yauger said about Timmy and Gabby, who were soon swimming in the ocean.

In fact, one of the Yauger’s children was excited to see the animal.

“My son’s favorite animal is an alligator,” said Tim Yauger, who added the family stayed far from the reptile.

Soon, the South Carolina alligator walked back to the hundreds of acres of marshland that are part of the 2,500-acre state park — and vanished.

“It was a blessing from the Lord for sure,” Tim Yauger said.

Alligators are primarily freshwater animals, preferring swamps, lakes or ponds, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. They are not often found near the ocean.

Wildlife experts say gators sometimes end up in the ocean due to strong currents, storms, or getting disoriented in brackish water. There were several days in the last 10 days in which strong storms dumped heavy rain on areas in and around Myrtle Beach and Sunset Beach.

The Yauger family drove back to Pennsylvania on Saturday. The couple said that after the first day with the gator sighting, the rest of the week was calm.

“The gator was enough adventure for us for the week,” Tim Yauger said. “It was nice to relax and spend time with the family.”