He and his dad, Duncan, saw a manatee in Pawleys Creek at around 6:30 p.m. on Monday.
“I was just throwing my cast net and trying to catch shrimp, and my dad called me over,” Hawkins said. They’re spending the summer on the island with Hawkins’ maternal grandparents, Dr. and Mrs. James Forrester.
They were on the dock at the house when Duncan spotted the manatee.
“It was brownish-white and had splotches,” Hawkins described. While he was observing, his dad was taking pictures with his cell phone.
The sighting was a first for them both, though Hawkins has been coming to Pawleys his whole life and Duncan’s visits started 25 years ago, when he married his wife, Terry.
“I had to stare and blink a couple of times,” Duncan said. “We live right on a salt water river in Savannah, and I’ve never seen a manatee there or here. The only place I’ve ever seen one is on business trips to south Florida.”
It was an exciting experience, according to the Pindars, and one folks have been curious about.
“People have been asking how big it was. It’s hard to say — I would say 6 feet or more. But he wasn’t bothered by us at all,” Duncan said.