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A dolphin named Lucky lived up to her name this weekend as she was saved from a shallow, Bluffton-area lagoon and returned to the May River to swim free. Local officials and marine experts alike said the rescue was like nothing they had ever seen.

Passerby found the approximately 8-foot dolphin stranded around 10:30 a.m. Saturday in a tidal lagoon inside the Hampton Lake private community. In the hours that followed, an eclectic rescue team helped carry the mammal up a steep embankment before she was driven to a private dock and released around 6 p.m. that evening.

Experts believe Lucky swam into the lagoon through a culvert connected to the May River as heavy rainstorms covered Beaufort County on Thursday. As the tide receded, the dolphin became trapped in water that was only a few feet deep.

When Amber Kuehn, a local sea turtle expert and volunteer logistics coordinator with the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network, was called to the scene, it quickly became clear that Lucky had gotten herself into a very unlucky situation. Somehow, the dolphin had navigated through Stoney Creek, through a culvert and into the drainage ditch before getting trapped as the water began to drain out.

Two LMMN employees began driving down from Charleston. But as Kuehn looked around, she realized that getting a dolphin weighing more than 400 lbs up the steep embankment and back to the May River would require more manpower.

She called the Bluffton Fire department and and explained the situation to the man at the end of the line.

“This young kid answers the phone and I was like, ‘Hey, my name is Amber Kuehn. I have a dolphin at Hampton Lakes that I need help removing from one of their water catchment ditches,’” Kuehn said. “And he said, ‘Ma’am, I’m gonna have to call my supervisor.’”

Stephen Combs, a spokesperson for the Bluffton Township Fire District, said this was the department’s first-ever rescue of its type. Kuehn said this is the first time she and the LMMN responded to a situation like this one.

A team made up of Bluffton firefighters, Hampton Lake neighbors and experts with the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network assembled to capture the dolphin and transport Lucky out of the drainage ditch. The LMMN staff deployed from Charleston are federally authorized to handle marine mammals.

Lucky initially swam further into the lagoon, but rescuers eventually guided her onto a specialized marine rescue tarp attached to stabilizing poles.

They navigated the dolphin to Kuehn’s trailer, where she set up a half-deflated inner tube. With the help of a firefighter escort, they drove down S.C. 46 ( May River Road) to a nearby dock, walked the dolphin down the steep ramp and released her into the water.

“It was just such a local effort,” Kuehn said.

The team was able to identify the dolphin as Lucky, a year-round resident of the May River, based on her dorsal fin, Kuehn said. The dolphin has had three calves since researchers at the University of South Carolina-Beaufort first started tracking her. Fortunately, she didn’t have a calf who could have followed her into the drainage ditch this year.

The Bluffton fire department advised residents who see a marine mammal in distress to call 911 and allow authorities to respond. Approaching and attempting to help the animal, even if well-intentioned, “can put both people and the animals at risk.” How Beaufort County residents can help protect marine mammals

The Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network encourages the public to follow these guidelines to protect dolphins and other marine mammals in our region: * REPORT stranded or injured marine mammals (alive or deceased) to the SCDNR Wildlife Stranding Hotline: 1-800-922-5431 * DO NOT APPROACH or try to push a stranded dolphin back into the water. These are wild, potentially sick animals. * DO NOT HARASS marine mammals. Disturbing a dolphin—even unintentionally—can result in federal fines of up to $100,000. * KEEP YOUR DISTANCE: Stay at least 50 yards away by boat and 15 yards on land. * NEVER FEED marine mammals. It disrupts natural behaviors and can lead to injury or death. * CLEAN UP trash and marine debris. Marine mammals can mistake litter for food, leading to illness or death.

© 2025 The Island Packet (Hilton Head, S.C.). Visit www.islandpacket.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A dolphin named Lucky lived up to her name this weekend as she was saved from a shallow, Bluffton-area lagoon and returned to the May River to swim free. Local officials and marine experts alike said the rescue was like nothing they had ever seen.

Passerby found the approximately 8-foot dolphin stranded around 10:30 a.m. Saturday in a tidal lagoon inside the Hampton Lake private community. In the hours that followed, an eclectic rescue team helped carry the mammal up a steep embankment before she was driven to a private dock and released around 6 p.m. that evening.

Experts believe Lucky swam into the lagoon through a culvert connected to the May River as heavy rainstorms covered Beaufort County on Thursday. As the tide receded, the dolphin became trapped in water that was only a few feet deep.

When Amber Kuehn, a local sea turtle expert and volunteer logistics coordinator with the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network, was called to the scene, it quickly became clear that Lucky had gotten herself into a very unlucky situation. Somehow, the dolphin had navigated through Stoney Creek, through a culvert and into the drainage ditch before getting trapped as the water began to drain out.

Two LMMN employees began driving down from Charleston. But as Kuehn looked around, she realized that getting a dolphin weighing more than 400 lbs up the steep embankment and back to the May River would require more manpower.

She called the Bluffton Fire department and and explained the situation to the man at the end of the line.

“This young kid answers the phone and I was like, ‘Hey, my name is Amber Kuehn. I have a dolphin at Hampton Lakes that I need help removing from one of their water catchment ditches,’” Kuehn said. “And he said, ‘Ma’am, I’m gonna have to call my supervisor.’”

Stephen Combs, a spokesperson for the Bluffton Township Fire District, said this was the department’s first-ever rescue of its type. Kuehn said this is the first time she and the LMMN responded to a situation like this one.

A team made up of Bluffton firefighters, Hampton Lake neighbors and experts with the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network assembled to capture the dolphin and transport Lucky out of the drainage ditch. The LMMN staff deployed from Charleston are federally authorized to handle marine mammals.

Lucky initially swam further into the lagoon, but rescuers eventually guided her onto a specialized marine rescue tarp attached to stabilizing poles.

They navigated the dolphin to Kuehn’s trailer, where she set up a half-deflated inner tube. With the help of a firefighter escort, they drove down S.C. 46 (May River Road) to a nearby dock, walked the dolphin down the steep ramp and released her into the water.

“It was just such a local effort,” Kuehn said.

The team was able to identify the dolphin as Lucky, a year-round resident of the May River, based on her dorsal fin, Kuehn said. The dolphin has had three calves since researchers at the University of South Carolina-Beaufort first started tracking her. Fortunately, she didn’t have a calf who could have followed her into the drainage ditch this year.

The Bluffton fire department advised residents who see a marine mammal in distress to call 911 and allow authorities to respond. Approaching and attempting to help the animal, even if well-intentioned, “can put both people and the animals at risk.”

The Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network encourages the public to follow these guidelines to protect dolphins and other marine mammals in our region:

“Today’s event marks a milestone not just in construction, but in our commitment to bringing exceptional, specialized health care closer to home,” said Tom Crawford, chief operating officer of MUSC Health. “This facility is a testament to collaboration, innovation and hope. Together, we are building a healthier future for generations to come.”

The three-story 54,000-square-foot medical office building will be located at 700 Buckwalter Towne Blvd. The new facility will consolidate existing services in the Bluffton area into one location and provide new specialties for the community. The new services to be provided include:

As part of the topping-out ceremony tradition, key stakeholders and the project team signed the final beam to symbolize the success of their collaboration and celebrate the progress of the structure that will benefit the surrounding community.“Today’s topping-out ceremony demonstrates what can happen when owner, architect and builder operate as one team. We’ve maintained an aggressive schedule, kept safety first and are one step closer to delivering a first-class medical facility for the Bluffton community,” said Jamie Shipman, project executive for Frampton Construction.

The MUSC Health Bluffton Medical Pavilion project is on schedule and expected to open in spring 2026. For more information about this project, please visit MUSCHealth.org/BMP.

About MUSC

Founded in 1824 in Charleston, MUSC is the state’s only comprehensive academic health system, with a mission to preserve and optimize human life in South Carolina through education, research and patient care. Each year, MUSC educates over 3,100 students in six colleges and trains 950+ residents and fellows across its health system. MUSC leads the state in federal and National Institutes of Health and research funding. For information on our academic programs, visitmusc.edu.

As the health care system of the Medical University of South Carolina, MUSC Health is dedicated to delivering the highest-quality and safest patient care while educating and training generations of outstanding health care providers and leaders to serve the people of South Carolina and beyond. In 2024, for the 10th consecutive year, U.S. News & World Report named MUSC Health University Medical Center in Charleston the No. 1 hospital in South Carolina. To learn more about clinical patient services, visitmuschealth.org.

MUSC has a total enterprise annual operating budget of $7.1 billion. The 31,000 MUSC members include world-class faculty, physicians, specialty providers, scientists, contract employees, affiliates and care team members who deliver groundbreaking education, research, and patient care.

About Frampton Construction Company, LLC

Frampton Construction is a full-service firm offering planning and design support, preconstruction, and construction services. Its dedicated team of professionals takes pride in building meaningful, lasting relationships with clients while providing the highest quality of service. Frampton delivers executive leadership and personal oversight throughout the building process while working diligently to exceed each client's expectations. With offices in Charleston, South Carolina; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Tampa, Florida, the company is positioned to manage projects in the Southeast and beyond. Learn more at frampton.construction and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and X.

The Nature Conservancy of South Carolina purchased Chelsea Plantation in Jasper County May 14 to ensure it would be preserved and secures seven miles of frontage along Hazzard Creek.

Bluffton Today

(This story was updated to change or add a photo or video.)

Jasper County’s Chelsea Plantation, the site of a proposed development that drew widespread, vocal opposition from citizens throughout the Lowcountry, has been purchased for conservation.

The Nature Conservancy in South Carolina (TNC-SC) announced May 14 the acquisition of the 2,737-acre property, identified as a high priority for conservation and under significant threat of development.

"Chelsea's fate was one of this region's major tipping points for the future of its wildlife habitat, historical character, and water quality," said Dale Threatt-Taylor, executive director, TNC-SC. "Developing Chelsea would have ushered in a new era of expansion in an already fast-growing region. We weren't willing to leave it to chance."

The purchase of Chelsea secures more than seven miles of frontage along Hazzard Creek, which drains into the Broad River and is part of Port Royal Sound watershed. The water frontage also acts as a critical saltwater marsh migration corridor that will help the area adapt to future ecosystem changes and protect the water quality in Port Royal Sound. The property also expands an existing corridor of protected longleaf pine forests, which are vital for game and non-game wildlife.

The property was highly targeted for development, due to its prime location in the US Highway 278 corridor that connects Hilton Head to I-95 and significant developable water frontage. Residents of the small communities that dot the area and citizens of nearby Beaufort County were largely against those plans.

“Buying Chelsea was a true community effort,” David Bishop, coastal and midlands director of conservation, TNC-SC, said. “Groups like ‘Keep Chelsea Rural’ went door-to-door with flyers against developing the property, there were local billboards saying folks wanted to preserve their rural community, and of course, we’re incredibly grateful for the many donors who stepped up and helped fund this acquisition.”

The acquisition of Chelsea was made possible through generous donations from the Gleason Family Foundation, Marshall Field V, Chloe Field, Stephanie Harris and Family, Abby and Lloyd Gerry, Lowcountry Land Trust Capacity Fund, many residents from the Spring Island community, and several anonymous donors; and loan funds from Friends of Chelsea LLC, Newcastle Foundation and Trustees Tim Barberich and Eileen Gebrian, Beaufort County residents Dan and Marty Boone, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, South Carolina Office of Resilience, and Coastal Community Foundation.

Future plans for Chelsea include TNC-SC placing a conservation easement on the property with Open Land Trust to permanently limit development, then transferring the property to the South Carolina Forestry Commission to create a new state forest open for public access.

The purchase of Chelsea Plantation is the latest effort by TNC-SC to create a conservation corridor between the famed ACE Basin and protected properties along the Savannah River. Other recent projects in the area have included the protection of the 7,300-acre Buckfield Plantation (now part of the new Coosawhatchie Wildlife Management Area) in July 2022 in partnership with Open Space Institute and the 4,409-acre Gregorie Neck property in February 2024.