The O'Keefe Family

Information may not be reliable

The Sunset Beach Pontoon Bridge
Photos of many of 198 species of the Shells of Sunset Beach, NC
*****Official Painting of the Sunset Beach Pontoon Bridge

Family information, recipes, pets, etc. have been moved to http://www.okeefes.info.

For anything you imagine made with jingle shells contact studio@maidstonejewelry.com

This is an extensive marine website. It includes sponges, soft corals such as sea whips and sea pansies, star coral, sea anemones, and fish photos including sharks, Butterfly Rays and stingrays. It includes alligators, hydroids and bryozoa. Also pictured are numerous colonial tunicates, solitary tunicates and octopi. There are multiple species of jellyfish.
The most popular webpage is crabs. It has 18 species of crabs and also features the Horseshoe Crab, Limulus polyphemus. The Echinoderm webpage has nine species of sea stars, brittle stars, sea cucumbers, sea urchins and sand dollars along with Aristotle's Lanterns.
There is a list of 183 species of mollusks -- gastropods and bivalves -- from Sunset Beach, NC. There are photos of 117 of them with more to come. There are many microscope photos of microshells, crab eyes, sand dollar tube feet and lunules, amphipods and isopods.
There are photos of life aboard a trawler or shrimp boat, the Hurricane Shrimper. Pictures of guitarfish, sharks, by-catch, nets and of a Turtle Exclusion Device (TED) are included.
Bird Photos are on 10 webpages, ranging from small yard birds to massive sea birds. There are special webpages for some birds such as Terns, Pelicans, a Rufous Hummingbird and Ruby-throated Hummingbirds.
Barrier islands in Brunswick County, NC, are featured. There are hundreds of photos from Sunset Beach, NC. There are photos from Bird Island, Oak Island, Holden Beach. There also are photos from Cherry Grove Beach, SC, Horry County (Myrtle Beach and North Myrtle Beach), SC, Southport and Calabash, NC.
Sunset Beach is highlighted. The mini-website for the 3-mile-long barrier island -- http://okeefes.org/Barrier_Islands/Sunset_Beach/Sunset_Beach_Home_Page/Sunset_Beach_Home_Page.htm -- contains a list of 260 species of birds found on Sunset Beach and Bird Island, NC. There are hundreds of images such as beach textures, visitors, sunrises and sunsets and marine life. They include both common and unusual species such as Busycon carica, Phyllorhiza punctata, Physalia physalis, Mustelus canis, Stomolophus meleagris, Alligator mississippiensis, Astropectin articulatus, and Bunodosoma cavernata. For those who love marine life, the best part of the island is the far east end. Many invertebrates can be found there because it is covered by high tide twice daily. Invertebrates range from barely visible amphipods and isopods in seaweed and on sponges to massive jellyfish. Photos of invertebrates that I have found are on numerous webpages on this website.
Visitors love Sunset Beach and adjoining Bird Island for their tranquility. They enjoy the peaceful walk to the jetty at the NC/SC state line on the far western end, finding sand dollars along that stretch. They visit the Kindred Spirit Mailbox, leaving journal entries and reading those written by others. Visitors and residents are fascinated by the goats of nearby Goat Island, by the pontoon bridge, and by construction of the new high-rise bridge. Probably the greatest tourist attraction is the Wood Stork. Hundreds of them have chosen Sunset Beach for their home for decades. A recently deceased Sunset Beach Wood Stork is now at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences for scientists and researchers to study.

Woman reading a journal from the Kindred Spirit Mailbox

There are special marine webpages for the Portuguese Man-o'-War, for Megabalanus coccopoma, Bunodosoma cavernata and Chirospsalmus quadrumanus, the box jellyfish. There are webpages for goats, whelks, beach textures, favorite photos, other wildlife and for funny animal photos..
There are webpages for two special, highly-skilled persons. One is my daughter, Joy O'Keefe, Ph.D., a biologist specializing in bats. The other is the website of award-winning Charlotte photographer Brad Kuntz.
A new business, Blind Dog Surf Boards, is linked to this site. A sister website, sunsetbeachandbirdislandnc.com, is based on the Sunset Beach, NC, portion of this website.
The Carolina Shores Quilters Quild is hosted through this website. Its direct address is http://www.carolinashoresquiltersguild.com.