Welcome home, Hilton! 1,300-pound great white shark swimming off Lowcountry coast

This great white shark is 12 feet long and 1,326 pounds, and he appears ready to celebrate homecoming off the Lowcountry coast.

Hilton the shark was tagged by Ocearch researchers last March off of Hilton Head Island, for which he was named.

On Wednesday at 8:30 a.m., he was located off the coast of Savannah, and his current path looks like he’s heading toward the coast.

Hilton was tagged as part of the mission dubbed “Expedition Lowcountry” last year. He was equipped with a tracker that sends a signal to a satellite — “pings” — when his dorsal fin breaks the surface of the water.

His tracker has pinged eight times this month already, according to Ocearch global shark tracker.

Just a little over two months ago, Hilton was off the waters of Nova Scotia in an area thought by researchers to be prime mating territory. The shark has traveled more than 7,400 miles up and down the east coast, as far south as Vero Beach, Florida, and as far north as Sonora, Nova Scotia.

“Hmmm ... Maybe I should go visit the M/V @OCEARCH?” HiltonTheShark posted Wednesday on Twitter.

The M/V Ocearch is the organization’s research vessel that currently is docked in Savannah.

Hilton isn’t the only Lowcountry great white shark making its position known this week off the S.C. coast.

Amy, a 10-foot great white tagged of Hilton Head’s coast in December by “shark whisperer” Capt. Chip Michalove, pinged Tuesday morning off Myrtle Beach.

Amy was named by the Hilton Head charter captain for his neighbor Amy Key Prater, a breast cancer survivor.

Amy is being tracked by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.

This story was originally published February 7, 2018 at 4:02 PM with the headline "Welcome home, Hilton! 1,300-pound great white shark swimming off Lowcountry coast."