Tuesday, June 08, 2010

Update

I spent the morning in a dentist's chair. UGH!

The afternoon was spent trying to find a camera repair shop which could help remove a catawampus lens hood from my Canon 40D which hit the floorboard of my car Sunday afternoon when a car suddenly pulled out in front of me near the core area. Luckily I have good brakes.

Consequently, I didn't have a chance to check out the beach today. I can, however, share good news from the Santa Rosa Island Authority's update on the oil spill this morning:

Charter Report From Dr. Dive, June 07, 2010

Captain Jim Meyers of Dr. Dive took media representatives out on a boat trip today and found no oil, no sheen and no tar balls in the water. They travelled more than five miles southwest of Pensacola Pass and circled back to Pensacola Beach. They then cruised west along Pensacola Beach to return to the Pass and saw many beach-goers enjoying the beach, as well as clean-up crews, but no apparent oil on the beach or active clean-up activities. The beaches look "clear" and the water was "spectacular" according to Captain Meyers.

In addition, Captain Meyers took a group of divers out to the Russian Freighter (about 9 miles SSE of Pensacola Pass) yesterday and reported good visibility and plenty of healthy red snapper and amberjack. No oil was spotted. Images have been posted on the oil update page of VisitPensacolaBeach.com.

5 comments:

Sharon said...

That is some great news!!!!

Marcus said...

I spent part of the afternoon at the Perdido Key portion of GINS. The water was perfect, and the beaches looked great. However, there were quite a few folks from the cleanup crews there working on collecting tiny, fingernail-size pieces of oil that were prevalent right along the area where waves were breaking on the shore. They were not noticeable until specifically hunted for. Sadly, they were more noticeable around the bathrooms & picnic pavilions, as they were being carried up on people's feet & clothing. But, my whole family spent a lot of time in the water, and there was no evidence of oil there, and no smell of oil in the air. It seems that the worst of this first wave has passed!

Jeff Wignall said...

Did you get the lens hood off? If not, here are two things to try that help me get jammed filters off: 1) don't squeeze it as you try to get it off, that often makes it tighter (duh) and 2) try twisting it in the "wrong" direction (assuming it's a twist off), as if to tighten, rather than loosen it. Often that loosens it, oddly enough (it realigns the threads). You probably got if off already.

Or you could just rub some oil on the threads. I'm kidding! An oil joke, get it? :)

Sadly the worst is yet to come with the oil, but it's nice to read some upbeat news on your blog.

jeff

Barrier Island Girl said...

Jeff, no such luck. I had to leave it at the Custom Camera Repair shop to be CUT OFF! Yikes! At least my 17-85mm lens appears to be okay -- except for the big black blob which appears at the edge of photos in 20-something mm shots and wider. :-( I really want the camera for tonight's Fiesta All-Krewe Ball and he's promised to have it ready this morning.


Marcus, let's hope the oil stays offshore until at least we have a better handle on the clean-up efforts. I noted in this morning's Pensacola News Journal that the SRIA has obtained permission to use beach-cleaning machines to pick up the tar balls. But who knows how effective it would be:

http://www.pnj.com/article/20100609/NEWS01/6090327/1006/NEWS01/Escambia-gets-permit-for-beach-cleaning-machines

Pat Harris said...

I'm praying for you all and for our beautiful beaches. You would think hurricanes would be enough damage to get over. Still I'm relieved that it isn't as bad as it could be. Sometimes I think man is determined to contaminate the whole world and is so far doing a great job of it. Think of the research they could have done to prevent this from happening with the money they'll be spending on cleanup. What happened to being proactive???