Which videos captivated Lowcountry readers in 2017? There’s a theme.

The biggest event for Beaufort County in 2017 was, without a doubt, Tropical Storm Irma.

While the storm itself didn’t exactly devastate the Lowcountry, the massive system still caused a substantial amount of damage — especially to our barrier islands that were already weakened by Hurricane Matthew.

So it’s no surprise that almost half of The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette’s most-viewed videos of 2017 were related to Irma — including that giant, red buoy the storm left behind.

But what was the most-viewed video of the year?

Surprisingly enough, it had nothing to do with Tropical Storm Irma.

Great white sharks — and other sea ‘monsters’

This video captured another “monster” — at least according to Fox News.

Hilton Head’s very own “shark whisperer,” Chip Michalove of Outcast Sport Fishing, shared a video with the newspapers over the weekend of a 15-foot great white shark circling his boat.

The video was picked up by Fox News, who gave it the headline, “Monster shark scares fishing party by circling boat in dramatic video.” It’s since gained more than 300,000 views.

There’s certainly been no shortage of shark videos in the Lowcountry this year. Michalove’s provided numerous videos to the newspapers, including:

▪ Amazing video records 2,000 pound great white caught off Hilton Head Island

▪ Unreal! That moment when you catch a great white shark... and it chomps

He also shared this video of a massive manta ray.

And because this is the “untamed Lowcountry,” sea creatures aren’t the only critters that captivated readers this year.

There was also a video of a rattlesnake on a Hilton Head beach that picked up national attention in August.

A shooting spree in popular SC beach town

Until Michalove’s great white shark video came along, the most-viewed video was of a shooting on Myrtle Beach’s Ocean Boulevard.

The video was originally captured on Facebook Live, posted by a tourist watching what quickly turned into a mass shooting in the popular South Carolina beach town.

The tourist, Bubba Hinson, said he started filming what he thought were people dancing in the street.

“Then, they started fighting,” he said. “Then, they started shooting.”

At least seven people were injured in the shooting. Two other shootings were reported in the area that evening.

Sharks, shootings and tropical storms — these were the main events that captivated Lowcountry viewers this year.

Another theme? A lot of these were reader-submitted videos.

If you think you’ve captured something worth sharing, send us a video at online@islandpacket.com.

This story was originally published December 27, 2017 at 9:32 AM with the headline "Which videos captivated Lowcountry readers in 2017? There’s a theme.."