‘I Can Still Smell It On Me': Unexpected oil encounter for dive group near the jetties

[Robbien]

Source: Destin biweekly

On Wednesday, MaryAnn Epp, an instructor with Scuba Tech in Destin, was out on a group dive near the jetties. When they came up, they were coated in more than salt water.

She was assisting a group of 14 snorkelers and nine divers when “the tide started hitting the jetties” and customers started coming back on the boat with an extra layer of film, which smelled distinctly like oil.

. . .

Epp said that the customers, despite being covered in crude oil, were very understanding.

“They were aware of it and were actually nice about it,” said Epp. “They felt bad for us. They understood that it was our last trip.”

On Thursday, Epp and Moore sat in the store, as information continued to roll in about plans for the East Pass.

“I think I can still smell it on me,” said Epp.

Read more: http://www.thedestinlog.com/news/group-14206-jetties-dive.html

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Another story from that area:

The first wave of tar balls, some as big as dinner plates, reached the beach at the western tip of Okaloosa Island early in the morning. A second wave was reported about 3 p.m.

. .

A reporter and photographer for the Northwest Florida Daily News went up in an airplane Wednesday afternoon and saw huge masses of oil hovering 3.5 miles off the Okaloosa County coast.

The worst-looking "product," as it has come to be called, extended west from the western end of Okaloosa Island to about the Santa Rosa County line.

The slick appeared to be drifting slowly eastward. Its eastward reach extended to an area about 4 miles south and west of the Destin Pass.

Okaloosa County Administrator Jim Curry said projections indicate it will continue to move slowly eastward for the foreseeable future.

lots more details . . .

http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewiStockNews/articleid/4224410


huge masses of oil slowing drifting closer

stuff nightmares are made of

[Dappleganger]

1. All I can think of is to

:cry: :cry: :cry:

[Yuugal]

2. K&R

[Doremus]

3. The burning question is why they sit on their hands and let this stuff hit land.

They watch it coming in and do absolutely nothing.

Why don't they send skimmers out ahead of it before it makes landfall?

As long as I live I will never understand the lack of response, all along the southern coastline. :cry:

[Robbien]

5. These are the guys who weren't sitting on their hands

They are the ones who were willing to be arresting for defying BP and the Coast Guard.

The problem is the oil got there a whole lot faster than predicted, even before the "non BP approved barriers" did.

Another article said the barriers are expected to be going up over the weekend.

[aquart]

4. “They felt bad for us. They understood that it was our last trip.”

Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn.

The end of income. The end of lifestyle. The end of feeling any control of their own destinies. Nothing but fear from here on in.

Of course they were nice. They knew they were at a funeral.

[Robbien]

7. For them this is day one and there are over fifty days more of the stuff

on its way.

With even more waiting its turn to gush out of the hole in the seabed.

Yes, a funeral.

[reggie the dog]

6. horrible

just horrible...