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Comment by Tripatini on July 6, 2010 at 10:53am

From Gulf Shores/Orange Beach, Alabama CVB Facebook page July 6:

Morgan Chase Jeter: "My family and I made it here yesterday, and the beaches are still beautiful. If anybody is thinking about cancelling, DON'T, come down and see for yourself that they aren't as bad as the news people make it out to be." 2 hours ago

Kerry Daw Barton: "I agree beaches are beautiful! I am so glad we came wish others would not believe what the news is saying! I don't think I have ever felt so welcome!!!!! The people here are awesome!" 11 minutes ago

Comment by Tripatini on July 5, 2010 at 8:09pm

From Houston Chronicle July 5 re Galveston, Texas:

Tar Balls From Oil Spill Found on Bolivar Coastline
By Harvey Rice and Purva Patel

"Officials have confirmed that tar balls discovered over the holiday weekend on Crystal Beach in the Bolivar Peninsula are from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, marking the first time oil from the spill has been found on Texas beaches.

About 10-12 tar balls washed up on Crystal Beach on Saturday. On Sunday, 5 gallons of oil were also found on the same beach. The tar balls ranged from the size of a dime to a golf ball.

After workers cleaned the beach, the tar balls and oil were sent to labs to be analyzed. Officials confirmed that the oil was from the Deepwater Horizon spill. However, officials said the makeup of the oil was not consistent with having traveled 400 miles in the ocean. Investigators are looking it into the possibility that the oil might have been carried on the side of a ship or in the bilge of a ship that had taken in water."

Comment by Tripatini on July 5, 2010 at 6:03pm

Comment by Tripatini on July 5, 2010 at 2:41pm

From Miami Herald, July 5:

"Florida's top emergency response official on Sunday downplayed a recent study that suggested oil from the gulf spill could get sucked into the loop current and be dragged through Florida's Keys and up the state's east coast.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Friday estimated the likelihood of oil hitting South Florida's beaches at between 61 and 80 percent -- albeit with minimal or no environmental damage.

On Sunday, David Halstead, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said the study was based on computer models that do not reflect an eddy off Florida's gulf coast that is keeping the oil out of the loop current.

The study underscored the idea that -- even if the oil reached the east coast -- it was unlikely to have a serious environmental impact.

'Any oil reaching this area would have spent considerable time degrading and dispersing and would be in the form of scattered tar balls and not a large surface slick of oil,' the agency wrote in a release."

Comment by Tripatini on July 5, 2010 at 2:30pm

From Orbitz.com blog July 5:

"Louisiana – Grand Isle beaches remain closed to the public. All other beaches are open to the public. A health advisory exists for all gulf waters from Martin Beach on the LA/TX state line to Fontainebleau State park near the LA/MS state line."

Comment by Tripatini on July 5, 2010 at 1:26pm

From Sun Herald (Biloxi-Gulfport, Mississippi), July 5:

"WAVELAND — Cleanup crews gathered on the beach Sunday morning to remove tarry substance that had washed up to the shoreline overnight.

'We had some more scattered tar patties,' said Bryan Adam, emergency manager for Hancock County.

Adam said a patrol explored the beaches around 2 a.m. Shoreline Cleanup Assessment Teams were sent to the beach Sunday morning for cleanup.

Adam said most of the substance was concentrated around the Waveland Pier and to its west and east. The tar patties ranged in size from dime-sized to about 3 inches, he said.

According to a joint news release from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources, sparsely scattered tar balls and tar patties were seen on the beaches in Waveland and Bay St. Louis late Saturday night. Approximately 20 tar balls were also found on West Belle Fontaine beach.

However, the beaches were still open for the Independence Day holiday.

'Most of the tar balls are on the water line,” Adam said. “There’s plenty of beach for folks to enjoy.'"

Comment by Tripatini on July 5, 2010 at 1:16pm

Update from Gulf Shores/Orange Beach CVB Facebook page July 5:

Rick Smith "Arrived yesterday afternoon and got to enjoy the beach for a few hours. At Martinique there were scattered tar balls, but still plenty of pure white sand! Our family of 19 came from Oklahoma and Arkansas and are so glad we didn't cancel! Will be shopping today and hoping the rain will end tomorrow!"

Comment by Tripatini on July 5, 2010 at 10:48am

From Panama City Beach CVB Facebook page July 5:

Gregory Johnsen "This weekend was great, water clear and clean on the west end of PCB."

Comment by Tripatini on July 5, 2010 at 10:44am

From Pensacola News Journal, July 4:

More Than Ever Before, Blues Show Must Go On
by Troy Moon tmoon@pnj.com

"The Blue Angels, the U.S. Naval flight demonstration team, performs its annual Pensacola Beach Air Show on Saturday, with a full dress rehearsal on Friday. The flight team also will perform circle and arrival maneuvers on Wednesday and fly another practice session on Thursday.

Blues spokesman Chief Petty Officer Kurt Anderson said the team does not plan to let oil interfere with the show.

The show may go on, but beach businesses said the spill is still putting a damper on one of their busiest weekends.

"It's traditionally the largest weekend of the year for us," said Julian MacQueen, founder and CEO of Innisfree Hotels, which manages two hotels on Pensacola Beach — a Hilton and a Hampton Inn. "But a lot of people are canceling."

"The Blue Angels is even a little bit bigger than the Fourth of July," said Tom Carmichael, co-owner of Capt'n Fun Beach Club on the Portofino Boardwalk at the beach. "It's extremely important to us. Especially this year."

"Look around at what's happened," he said, as he glanced east and west across the lonely boardwalk. "It's destroyed the day business on Pensacola Beach. Our night business is still good, but we've lost all the revenue from the day."

But it's not always just perception. Carmichael noted that a few hundred yards away, swarms of workers and heavy machinery were marching and rolling across the beach picking oil from sand.

"It looks like a war zone," he said. "It really does."

Blue Angels events

-- The week kicks off with Blues performing circle and arrival maneuvers at 8 a.m. Wednesday.

-- A practice session is slated for 2 p.m. Thursday.

-- The full dress rehearsal begins at noon Friday and includes civilian and other military aircraft with the Blues.

-- The main event kicks off at noon Saturday, with the Blues flying at 2 p.m."

Comment by Tripatini on July 5, 2010 at 8:25am

From Miami Herald, July 5:

"Even with tourism taking a devastating hit this holiday weekend, the besieged beaches on Florida's Gulf Coast can still draw a crowd.

Thousands of people lined the sand here Sunday afternoon, basking under a cloudless sky and braving both strong surf and a local health advisory warning against swimming in the Gulf.

Asked why they still come to a now-notorious destination, and tourists offered a range of motivations from duty during hard times to skepticism that oil could be that big of a problem.

On a recent afternoon at the Naval Aviation Museum at the Pensacola air base, Jim and Tracy McManus were on their way to the museum gift shop with their two young sons. They traveled from Eau Claire, Wis., to Dauphin Island, Ala. Jim said they wrestled over canceling the trip as the oil crisis worsened.

``Then we just said, `Forget it,' '' Jim recalled. ``We're just going to spend some money down there because they need it.''

Kathy Sheridan held a pair of flip-flops as she walked barefoot through the surf here last week, indifferent to the congealed tar squishing beneath her.

``I've got oil on my feet,'' the sixth-grade teacher from Alabama explained as she revealed two rusty blotches on her heel and the bottom of one foot. ``It's still beach, and I still love it.'

Companies that rent vacation homes -- the most popular form of lodging here -- report bookings are off by as much as 50 percent.

`It's definitely getting worse,'' said Ira Mae Bruce, owner of Century 21 Island View Realty and one of Navarre's biggest vacation-home managers. Bookings are off by half this summer, Bruce said, making returning customers even more appreciated."

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