Gulf Coast Oil Spill Part 2

Since we arrived mid afternoon to our condo on our first day at the beach, we decided to spend those few afternoon hours by the pool instead of on the beach.  It was the second day that we were ready to lay out in our blue rental chairs.  Emily got up early and walked down to the beach to choose our chairs.  The rental guy told her that the media's coverage of the oil spill had nearly ruined his rental business.  We were about to find out how true that was.  The first photo was taken from the balcony.  You can see the discoloration.

The next three photos are of what is being called "oil mousse."  It was clearly visible from the balcony of our condo, but I wanted a close up view as soon as we hit the beach.

This is a tar ball that was near the oil mousse.

More photos to come!

Gulf Coast Oil Spill- Part 1

Wow, I cannot believe that I haven't updated my blog since FEBRUARY! Ok, yes I can. Life is busy and crazy. My friend Emily and I planned our first beach trip to Gulf Shores. We'd been watching the oil spill closely and thus far, the effects had not been severe in Gulf Shores. However, noaa.gov's website did predict that the oil would reach the gulf within days of our arrival.  Before we left I kept in regular contact with the realty company I'd booked our condo through.  I was also doing beach sessions while I was there, so having up to date knowledge of the oil spill was crucial to me.  Before we left our realty company offered us an extra night for basically nothing.  So, we left on Wednesday instead of Thursday.  Here are pics from our first day, June 9th. It was really surreal to see, in person, images I'd been seeing on the news and internet.

Most days, the crews were finished by mid morning and moved on to another part of the beach.  They worked hard to clean the sand and tiny tar balls that washed up.