When my family and I first arrived here on Okaloosa Island, everything was more than we expected. We had a beautiful condominium, handfuls of tourist attractions, and a more than gorgeous beach with white sand, clear waters, and a beautiful sunset.
I am originally from Florida and the beach has always been one of my favorite places to visit, and because I lived here for almost 10 years of my life, I was hesitant to step foot in the water because the temperature of the water in June is usually a little chilly. I stepped one foot in and the water was warm. I was a little confused by this but didn't really think much of it. The second thing that really through me off was the color of the seaweed, it was lime green, almost the same color as if you visited a sushi restaurant and ordered seaweed salad. Also, the seaweed was not all connected, it was chopped up and scattered across the water.
By the second day, the water was still warm but the seaweed had all been washed up to the shore. Everything seemed to be going great. We all took a walk down to the pier and saw sharks, barracudas, and even had the experience of watching a man catch a fish called a Cobia. Which is supposedly very delicious.
The third day, which is today, my father and my brother visited the pier once again so that my brother could fish. Within 5 minutes, my mom received a call from my dad saying that the oil has washed up to the shore.
The first picture of the oil on the shore was taken today at 12:33 pm, the one below was taken at 1:47 pm. What is the beach going to look like by the end of the day when high tide kicks in?
There are 2 1/2 million gallons of oil spilling into the Gulf PER DAY, estimates are raising.
I walked down to the shore and was highly disturbed. Tar balls were covering the shore, oil was resting on top of the water, dead fish were washing up, and birds dove in for food and never came out. The lives of these animals are going to be lost because no one is doing anything to clean up this mess. Do I believe that they are trying all they can to cap it? Yes, possibly, but no actions are being taken to clean it up.
Dolphins were about 50 feet from shore struggling to swim, in a group of about 15. The coast guard informed me that sharks are usually found about 10 miles out, now they are being found about a mile. He also said that seaweed is being cooked by the temperature of the oil, which was why it was scattered instead of all connected.
When my mom and I returned to the condo, we turned on the local news to see what was being said about the oil on the beach. The weather man was standing in front of a picture of the beach where you could clearly see the oil on the shore, about 5 seconds later, he moved over so that could no longer see the snapshot of the oil. Also, the beach provides warning flags: Green means everything is ok, yellow is warning, red means bad water conditions, purple means dangerous fish, and double red means that the beach is closed. If the beach is closed, all of the people who rented a condo get their money back. There is oil all over our beach and there is still not a double red flag, why? Money.
Anyways, I want to save my rantings for later on tonight when things get worse.
Later on tonight, we will be going to dinner at Floyd's on the pier, so we'll see how thins go. The pictures at the very top were taken 2 days before the oil snapshots. It continues to get worse by every passing hour.
When are we going to put an end to this?
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