Coast Guard gives unexpected Port Royal Plantation guest a ride to Charleston

It looks like buoy No. 31 A’s vacation is a wrap.

The big, green buoy that washed up on the beach on Sunday was gone from Hilton Head Island on Tuesday, a U.S. Coastal Guard spokesman said.

Lt. J.B. Zorn said Wednesday the buoy had been missing for a while.

“It got off station last year,” he said. The Coast Guard had since put a replacement in the waters off Port Royal Sound.

The breakaway buoy remained adrift in the Atlantic Ocean until it found refuge on Hilton Head.

A crew came to remove it Tuesday and take it to the Coast Guard station in Charleston, Zorn said.

It was Shore Beach Services and passersby who first got the word out about the buoy’s Hilton Head landing spot and called the Coast Guard.

It was hard to miss. After all, it was about 6 feet all, weighted thousands of pounds and — until Tuesday — was totally immobile.

“A big ‘thank you’ to the locals,” Zorn said.

The bulky green buoy washed up on the beach at Port Royal Plantation less than a year after a large red one washed up on South Forest Beach. It, too, was something of a short-term tourist attraction before it was returned to Charleston.

Buoys are important navigational tools, and any time one goes missing, Zorn said, the Coast Guard notifies crew members and works to replace it.

“We try to stay on top of (buoys) as much as we can,” he said.

While many buoys are navigational aids, some are “data buoys” that provide other information such as wind speed or wave height.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)‘s National Data Buoy Center has these tips for mariners:

• Don’t board or tie up to a data buoy.
• Give buoys at least 20 yards of space to avoid equipment that may be beneath it.
• Report damaged buoys to the Coast Guard.
• Report people or vessels boarding or tied up to weather buoys.

This story was originally published July 18, 2018 at 11:25 AM.