Giant Canebrake Rattlesnake Enjoying the Beach

Occurred on July 26, 2022 / Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, USA

Info from Licensor: "I relocated to Myrtle Beach from Maryland in 2005. I love going to the beach to watch the sunrise or to look for sea glass. I’m a fine artist and paint portraits, and murals, and I was the exclusive body paint artist for the NFL Washington Redskins Cheerleaders for 15 years. I love nature, animals, and yoga! I decided to stop at the Myrtle Beach State Park for an early evening beach walk. I was walking in the shallow water looking for sea glass when something in the surf caught my eye. I was shocked to see it was a very large snake. I quickly moved away from the water to higher dry sand and watched. In all of the years, I’ve walked the beach I’ve never seen or even heard of a snake being in the ocean. At first, I thought it was maybe injured or dead. But as I watched, it actually seemed to be enjoying it. After getting tossed around and washed to shore it would head back to the water. It did not seem to be distressed but actually enjoying it. The park rangers were alerted about the snake and a professional snake handler was called to remove the snake. He identified it as a canebrake rattlesnake also known as a timber rattlesnake. He relocated the snake to a more appropriate environment.