Oil Reaches Florida Beaches but Doesn’t Mean Cancel Your Vacation
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Last month we blogged about the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and how it had not reached Florida’s beaches. At the time of this blog post, the spill which was caused by an April 20, 2010, explosion of an offshore drilling platform, is still leaking oil and sadly, the impact is being seen on Louisiana’s, Alabama’s, Mississippi’s, and Florida’s beaches but this does not mean vacations need to be canceled.
Be an educated traveler before canceling or changing your Florida summer vacation plans. At the time of this post, tarballs ranging in size between a dime and a quarter, have washed up on some of Northwest Florida’s beaches (often referred as the Panhandle) between the Alabama-Florida state line to Bay County and are being collected as they wash ashore. Skimmers have also been deployed to gather them in the Gulf. Impact to more of Florida’s shoreline is anticipated and should be in the form of weathered oil of tarballs, tar mats, oil sheen or mousse (a pudding-like oil/water mixture).
Currently, there are no Florida beaches closed and Florida’s state waters remain open to recreational fishing.
No one can predict if, when and where the oil will land but if planning a Southwest Florida vacation in Naples, realize as the crow flies, Naples is more than 380 miles from Bay County, Florida, where highly weathered oil is washing up. If a Key West summer vacation is on schedule, keep in mind Key West is more than 450 miles from Bay County. Daytona Beach on Florida’s Atlantic coast is even further from where weathered oil is washing up.
Before embarking on your Florida summer vacation, here are some planning resources:
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill response website,
Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) site,
VISIT FLORIDA, the official source for Florida travel planning, with destination updates and advisories,
NOAA for official trajectory and forecast information.
Image Source: Naples, Marco Island, Everglades Convention and Visitors Bureau
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