Gulf coast status?

ronc98 · Post by **ronc98** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 9:00 am

How are all of our Gulf Coast sailors doing? Is it as bad as they are reporting it to be?

EE and PartyDog If you need anything shout!!!!

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 9:42 am

Thanks, I sent Partydog a PM last night congratulating us both on being restrained and not totally going all aflame over the whole stupid thing. So I'll try to post carefully, although my red neck might show thru if I get worked up too much.

Been devastating on Louisiana's coast for the seafood industry. As an example P & J's Oysters have been in business for 134 years, and now have no product to process.
They are in turn supplied mostly by family businesses that have been doing this for generations. So it is somewhat small companies and everyday people being hurt badly. That of course is one small aspect of the damage being done down on the Louisiana coast. Some links from today.

http://videos.nola.com/times-picayune/2 ... st_oy.html

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill ... rs_fe.html

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill ... _in_f.html

Over Partydog's way it is tourism folks that's getting whacked, and at high season too. Plus a lot of his area has sensitive areas eco-wise, but I'll let him chime in.

I've been a gentleman about as much as I can for now. Be a shame to bust up my own no-flame policy on the board.

CaptainScott · Post by **CaptainScott** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 9:56 am

That's very sad.
It really sucks.

Don't know what else to say.

Hey EE, Fly up here and sail Puget Sound!
So far no oil here!

Scott

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Fri Jun 11, 2010 10:19 am

Thanks Scott. It's definately on the list to make a trip up !

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 12:53 am

Don't know where to start, but since you did actually ask. I moved to the Panhandle of Florida in 1982 at 12 years old, and I have family and friends along the coast from Mobile to Port St. Joe. That's also the service area for my part time mobile dj business, so I know the Panhandle intimately.

Dauphin Island/Fort Morgan. One of our favorite places to go, despite the natural gas rigs everywhere. No, really, from any point on Dauphin Island's shore looking out at the water, you will see no less than 5 rigs. Ask EE, he will tell you. The ferry across the mouth of Mobile bay is a favorite of the kids. OK, I think its kinda cool too. We have also visited Fort Morgan and Fort Gains many times. Our oldest son spent the night at Fort Morgan last year for a civil war reenactment, and has participated in a few "Historical Days" there. I haven't been over there yet to see, but I'm not hearing anything good. Tar balls on the beach, tar mats, and more to come. The beaches near the mouth of Mobile bay have health warnings against swimming.

The Perdido pass has some of the world's most beautiful water, especially on an incoming tide. In my humble opinion it is second only to Destin's pass (I cross Destin's pass every time I go to work). One of the local papers I read is http://www.pnj.com (Pensacola news journal). If you go to the spill pictures labeled "Pensacola oil aerials June 10" the first picture in the slide show is Perdido pass. Since most of you haven't seen Perdido pass on a good day, the picture probably won't bring tears like it did for me. I almost made it out there to see for myself yesterday afternoon, but after three blownout tires, I called it a day. The beaches have tar balls and tar mats. One article called it "ankle deep". There are health warnings about swimming in the water.

Moving east, there is this article http://www.pnj.com/article/20100612/NEW ... acola-Pass, the next gulf pass east of Pensacola's is the Destin pass, and that is the center of my day job's business. This is a scary article http://www.pnj.com/article/20100611/NEW ... ck-to-come. This quote "But even the trawlers that were actively skimming didn't seem to be doing much. Water and oil would swirl in their wake for a few minutes, before the oily sheen slid back together, erasing their path like footsteps in a blizzard.", makes me the most nervous. If you read the full article, the reporter mentions Fort Pickens which is on the eastern shore of the Pensacola pass. I've spent days exploring the fort and the other coastal defenses in the park there. Just inside the pass on the mainland side are Fort Barancas and the Navail Aviation Museum, both family favorites. Tar balls, small tar mats, and more to come. No health warning, tho.

East of Pensacola beach is Navarre Beach. Navarre Beach is the western most section of my day job's market. Navarre beach isn't very big or heavily developed. We sell our units there as a "getaway from the crowds". This past Saturday, in Navarre, the longest pier in Florida opened. They have this to look forward to a week later (http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/miles- ... south.html). The last pier was destroyed by the Ivan/Dennis hurricane combo punch, and it took them years to get a new one funded, designed, and built. Some of our condo's in Navarre Beach were also closed for years for repairs, and had just been back in operation about 10 months. There are some tar balls there, but not much yet. No health warnings.

East of Navarre beach is about 20 miles of Air Force Reservation beach. It is part of Hurlbert Field (special ops) and Eglin AFB. They will take care of that. They are sharp, and have tons of resources. Plus the top brass like having bases on "The Worlds Most Beautiful Beaches". Some tarballs have been reported.

East of the Air Force beach, is Fort Walton Beach. Fort Walton beach is the start of a heavily developed section of beach that doesn't really end until Shell Island on the other side of Panama City Beach. The section of beach from FWB to Panama City Beach is a section of "serious tourism" spelled with a capital B. Light tar balls here so far.

East of Fort Walton Beach is Destin Fl, "The worlds luckiest fishing village". Some of the charter boats are still catching fish by going east in the gulf, but there are less and less fishing tourists. There is a pass, which legend says was dug by two men, one with the last name of Destin. When the tide is coming in, the water is breathtaking. You won't want to leave. Greens and Bluegreens. I never tire of driving across the bridge. The county has hired the Air Force's experts to deploy the booms there. There is a sand bar on the north end of the pass called Crab Island. During the summer, this is THE on the water gathering place. There is usually at least one "Bar/Grill" barge anchored there, and hundreds of boats. This article cover it mostly http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/worrie ... iness.html, except FudPuckers is having a much better June than we are. Very very light tar balls.

East of Destin is South Walton County. Some of the most expensive dirt on the planet. It is also home to about 15 coastal dune lakes. Because these lakes are open to the gulf when their water levels are high enough, they are very unique ecosystems. Their uniqueness also makes them very fragile. Here is an article about these lakes http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/specia ... beach.html. Walton county closed their lake openings to the gulf on Friday.

East of South Walton, is Panama City Beach. I'm pretty sure that most of you have heard of Panama City Beach. I graduated from High School in Panama City, and attended GCCC there. St Andrews bay and East Bay are where I learned to love sailing. A friend and I once tried to swim across East Bay. Luckily, we had an inflatable raft with us. I can't count the number of times I have been to Shell Island for snorkeling, fishing, shell hunting, and a bonfire or two. I spent a few years of my early twenties living out on Panama City Beach. There is a pass here also. No reports of tar balls or oil.

East of Panama City is Mexico Beach/Port St Joe, and then the big bend. If the oil reaches that far, I hope you don't like oysters, because the oil will ruin them, and the world will be a dimmer place without Apalachicola oysters. Geographically, that is about where the oil impact ends for me.

At work, we've been fighting the bad press since May 1. Our revenue charts did a Pike's Peak on that day. Meetings to coordinate and support marketing efforts across multiple media and venues. Meetings to cut costs to offset lost revenue. Meetings to collaborate on making operations more efficient. Meetings to coordinate and collate the paperwork needed to file claims with BP, no only for our company, but also for owners of rentals on our program past and present. We aren't totally vacant, but we are way down, and the bookings we are now getting are mostly "short notice" bookings for the near future, instead of bookings for July/August. We are discounting deeply. And to add injury to injury, our raises and evaluations happen mid May. Yup, no raises, not even a return to last year's pay level (we took pay cuts last fall due to the economy). So, a continuation of more work less pay.

Reading all of that made me realize how much of my life this oil spill is having an effect on. It also makes me want to give a big fat special you're number one "thank you" to BP and the cast of clowns in charge of this mess. Sorry for that short flame, I tried to keep this a status report, didn't work.

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Sat Jun 12, 2010 3:28 am

Well said, thank you.

Here's a pic of Perdido Pass Bridge as partydog was mentioning.

ronc98 · Post by **ronc98** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 4:28 am

I fell in love with Destin a few years back and the pass is one of the reasons. It is amazing to see all the boats out there at any given time just relaxing.

I am sick over this whole mess and I planed on spending some time sailing around that area.

Thanks guys for the update.

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 6:42 am

Ronc,

Don't give us up yet for sailing. All of the inter-coastal waterway is open and oil free. Except for maybe a little 2 cycle oil, but that wasn't really my fault, the bottle was slippery, just kidding I do my fuel mixing on shore. We also have some excellent bays, that are great for sailing. You see more sailboats on the bays than in the Gulf anyways. And there are always go carts, shopping, the Gulfarium, water parks, golf courses, mini golf, and kayaks on the bays and rivers and inlets.

Plus, the oil isn't on Destin's beaches today, so if you hurry...

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 6:44 am

Did I mention that the City of FWB has a dock you can overnight at for free? Right on the Inter-Coastal Waterway. No power, water, nearby showers, or pump out, tho.

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 6:48 am

By the way the last two posts follow the State Tourism Board and local Tourist Development Council's plans to mitigate the effects of the oil spill disaster. The state actually circulated an email where the plan was called "Redefining our Product". That was a scary one to read.

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 6:52 am

Attaboy, partydog ! Good positive points !

First mate and I are doing all our retirement lot shopping on the inlands anyway ! Weeks Bay, Wolf Bay, Peridio Bay, St. John's Bayou, Moccassin Bayou, Bon Secour Bay, Magnolia River (where you still get mail by boat!). All beautiful and all a short ride to the open waters.

We would look over your way at Defuniak Springs, but they get big round holes in the ground every now and then

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 7:57 am

The big round holes are a feature, not a bug. Instant pond right there on your property, or living room, If your are lucky, you might even get a water fall. It is the limestone, not so bad in Defuniak. Mariana has caves, and the State's largest waterfall is into a sink hole between Defuniak and Mariana.

Gus · Post by **Gus** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:58 am

I'm so f*cking pissed at this whole thing.

Going from BP to our weak ass 'Commander in Chief'

A total disaster.

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:09 pm

We're not happy down here either, but let's keep it civil and non political tho.

And thanks Gus, we do appreciate the support and passion from all.

tgentry · Post by **tgentry** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:19 pm

I'm a Great Lakes sailor, but we are planning a trip down there, maybe as soon as next year if they can get all that oil cleaned up. Of course cleaning it up might be easier if they would turn off the flow...

Hang in there guys.

Gus · Post by **Gus** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 12:21 pm

EmergencyExit wrote:We're not happy down here either, but let's keep it civil and non political tho.

And thanks Gus, we do appreciate the support and passion from all.

I'm trying to keep the politics out of all this, but when Mr. Obama's plan is to 'go down there to make another speech' kinda pisses me off (a lot).

shunt1 · Post by **shunt1** » Mon Jun 14, 2010 3:44 pm

My specialty for over 30 years now has been in multispectral image analysis and I work for a company that builds very high quality aerial photography camera systems.

Three weeks ago, we were hired by BP to map this oil spill each day in high detail and have been very busy. We try to obtain two flights and average 2,000 square miles each day at 0.5 meter resolution.

Our aircraft in Louisiana had an engine problem this weekend, so we few another aircraft down from Minnesota on Sunday. Today (Monday) it was flying a mission along the coast between Mobile and Pensacola.

For grins, you may be interested in tracking our daily flights as we map the highest priority areas. This website will allow you to follow the aircraft live, as it flies a mapping pattern. You can also bring up the historical mapping patterns and see how the priority targets have moved over time.

If you go to www.flightaware.com, you will see a section along the left side of the webpage under the PRIVATE FLIGHT TRACKER section.

Try these two aircraft:

N719P - our primary aircraft.
N8487F - today's backup.

With over 2,000 miles per day, this has been hard for both the aircraft and crew. In fact, we have had to hire eight new people to fly and operate the equipment, not to mention computer processing of the raw data into maps.

Anyway, just wanted y'all to know that this Minnesota sailor is doing his duty...

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Wed Jun 16, 2010 11:19 pm

More update. Orange beach in Alabama isn't having a good week, more oil is encroaching on Pensacola pass, oil was spotted 3.5 miles south of FWB, with more tarballs washing ashore in FWB this morning and afternoon. The Destin Pass is now closed during the incoming tide.

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 4:24 am

Thanks Partydog. Mississippi Gulf Coast isn't doing too bad, although to be factual I have to note that there's not a lot of coast mile wise. Plus we do have a few barrier islands blocking a few miles out. The Mississippi coast is more a sound than pure Gulf front like Fort Morgan, Orange Beach, and points east.

Louisiana is just a mess with oil all up in the marshes in Barataria Bay, or what's left of them anyway after all the years of attrition.

shunt1 · Post by **shunt1** » Thu Jun 17, 2010 7:52 pm

I have found it rather interesting that Mobile bay is the major focus this week.

Having spent each summer at Ft. Walton beach for too many years to count, this area of the Gulf coast is rather special to me.

However, anyone that tells me that they have never seen tar balls along those beaches before, is simply lying.

The first time that I saw a tar ball, I thought it was some critter which had been washed ashore. It was not until I poked it with my finger, that I realized that it was some form of oil.

Each and every year, I could find at least one tar ball to take home and show my wife.

Today's flight dropped down to an altitude of 5,000 feet. That is close enough to the beach, that individual tar balls can be identified with our cameras.

I am doing my absolute best in tracking this horrific oil spill.

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Fri Jun 18, 2010 1:29 am

That has got to be interesting work !!! The Gulf does naturally leak an occasional lump of oil naturally, as well as gas bubbles. I've found a few lumps on the beach over the years. Oh wait those were tourists, sorry

Oil I've only found once, and I thought it was a baby jellyfish.

ronc98 · Post by **ronc98** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 7:55 am

how about a gulf status update guys how are things down there?

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Tue Jun 29, 2010 4:11 pm

Ron, thanks for asking..

Now that it's finallly gotten past the barrier islands and onto the Mississippi beaches we've changed our tourism mantra from:

"The water's fine"

to

"The water's unrefined"

Keeping my sense of humor best I can.

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Thu Jul 01, 2010 1:16 am

I promise to keep my sense of humor, too, just like BP promised to make us whole. Don't get me started about the claim process. It's only doubled my work load, preparing our monthly financial statements, not only for our company, but for our condo owners as well. Then doing it again, because the claims adjuster needs different paperwork. Ugh.....enough of that.

The Florida Panhandle beaches are getting tarballs, tar mats, and oil sheen every two or three days. They are being cleaned up fairly quickly, and the beaches aren't being closed to swimming unless the "product" gets heavy. Here is a link to the Florida SERT("State Emergency Response Team") map: http://map.floridadisaster.org. It is updated constantly with oil sightings and response data.

Destin and the Destin Pass have been the luckiest so far. Pensacola, not so lucky. South Walton, not so lucky either, plus there the rain is rapidly over filling the dune lakes, causing issues with the berms they built to protect them.

Time to take this tourist season off the grill, cause it's done. Did I mention that we have discounted the 4th of July weekend 25%+. That is unheard of. We are going to feel lucky if reach 60% occupancy. For the summer as a whole, we are going to be less than 50% of last year. It doesn't sound too bad, until you compare our booking pace for the first 4 months of the year. We are going to end up around 140% off that trend. And we really needed a good year. Hurricanes and the economy haven't been kind to this area over the last 4 years.

If you ever wanted to stay in Destin, now is the time. DEEP discounts are the norm, as condo owners and management companies try to save as much of the season as they can. The weather is nice, the water is mostly water, and most of the beaches are open to swimming most days. Plus every beach offers the opportunity to fill your gas tank for free.

CaptainScott · Post by **CaptainScott** » Thu Jul 01, 2010 5:43 am

SAD.

Sundowner · Post by **Sundowner** » Thu Jul 01, 2010 9:31 am

Doing a Triathlon at Panama City Beach in November.
Very concerned about the swim.
I would hate to have a tourist related business in the Gulf. Small business is hard enough without "manmade disasters".

thepartydog · Post by **thepartydog** » Thu Jul 01, 2010 12:54 pm

Sundowner,

I wouldn't worry too much about the water quality in Panama City in November, BP should be capturing at least 10% of the escaping oil at the wellhead by then. (sarcasm). Or better yet, even here the water is cold in November, the oil will act as an insulator for you. Or think of the wind resistance advantage you will have in the run and bike portions of the race with the extra slipperiness from the oil.

Hey, PM me if you are still looking for accommodations. I'm "in charge of IT", so if I can't bully a big enough discount, I can change the records and make it look like someone else discounted it. (BOFH joke, discounts abound.)

Sundowner · Post by **Sundowner** » Thu Jul 01, 2010 1:25 pm

How do I PM?
I'm old.
Already booked at the Boardwalk hotel. Hope it's ok.
I am taking some Dawn Dishwashing Detergent so I can get clean up like
one of those birds you see on TV.

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Thu Jul 01, 2010 1:48 pm

Sundowner wrote:How do I PM?

Should be an little icon with "PM" on it below your post, just click there and you'll send a note to partydog.

EmergencyExit · Post by **EmergencyExit** » Thu Jul 01, 2010 1:58 pm

thepartydog wrote:BP should be capturing at least 10% of the escaping oil at the wellhead by then. (sarcasm).

lol.