First Hand account: Florida Beaches Are Polluted With Oil (I was wrong)

Here is Alligator Point in April of 2009 Same chocolate water. Same seaweed. Same everything.

At the very least, the OP is not being honest when he claims before the oil spill he could see 20 feet down in crystal clear water.

It's just not honest.

reply to post by Come Clean


I watched that video yesterday, but I watched it again just now, just for you. Within 5 seconds I can see a pretty blue tint to the water. I also don't see any film on top of or mixing into the water. The water looks fresh and clean albeit with seaweed. Seaweed has never bothered me before.

If you look at my video, or if you go look in person, you will see that the water is not blue. The water is also not crisp and clear. It has an odd film throughout it. Almost like the water sticks together instead of rolling off of you.

The water yesterday had a brown, coffee colored tint, and within that tint were bands of darker colored oily mixture. On the video where I dig in with my foot, you will see tinted water fill in, and you will also see a darker, heavier liquid seep in from the bottom.

I apologize again for not having better video equipment. My video was taken with an Android Verizon Phone. I will try to go back and get better video, but I can tell within seconds that your video from 2009 has a prettier, bluer water than what I saw yesterday.

Alligator Point in 2008. Don't tell me these beaches were pristine before the spill. That's not being honest with us.

From Florida's 16 August 2010 update on the oil spill situation:

Quote:
Approximately 672 miles of Gulf Coast shoreline is currently oiled: 108 miles in Florida, 375 miles in Louisiana, 117 miles in Mississippi and 72 miles in Alabama.
Unquote.

www.thegovmonitor.com...

I guess that means there is oil on the beaches, according to the official Florida release.

Also this article includes statements by a local fisherman who disputes the official line.

www.thedailybeast.com...:mainpromo2

Originally posted by Come Clean
At the very least, the OP is not being honest when he claims before the oil spill he could see 20 feet down in crystal clear water.

It's just not honest.

How is that not honest?

I have often snorkeled in 40-50 feet of water directly off shore and had a clear view of the bottom! I scuba dived in Panama City with visibility straight down of probably 90 feet!

Have you ever visited the Panhandle of Florida?

My favorite spot is the Okaloosa Island Bridge in Ft. Walton Beach. As you cross that bridge you can see water in 3 different directions. It glows Emerald Green, the Sand looks like Snow, you can't look directly at it without sunglasses! This particular stretch of beach is nicer than anything I have ever experienced in the World! Better than South Beach, Hawaii, Cozumel, Cancun, Jamaica, or Bahamas, and I have been to all the above plus a few!

IMO I still go with the OP. A youtube video does not capture the scent and sensation. the OP has every reason to state the opposite and has only grudgingly admitted that he felt there was contamination. The OP knows the area and was there to see it first hand.

OP...maybe a dumb idea, but I would take water from digging in the sand and strain it through a cofee filter until you have sufficient residue to determine what is causing the discoloration and sheen on the water.

This should concentrate it enough to solidify things.

My guess is if it is oil, the residue will smell like oil and will be flamable.

reply to post by Come Clean


Again, nice video. Alligator Point is not usually that rough. What you are seeing is either an incoming Tide, or a very windy day with a storm off shore somewhere. The water is very clear compared to my video. The kids are waist deep and you can still see the bottom. There is sand churning up from the wave action, in my video there was no wave action, and yet the water was less clear. Also, they are running and frolicking in the water and enjoying themselves. Yesterday, people were quietly standing off shore, and even the die hards like me only waded in, and waded directly back out.

Your video only serves to prove there IS a drastic difference. As I said many times, it won't be immediately apparent to a novice. Seaweed and sand is typical, but film and murkiness are not typical.

Originally posted by wcitizen
From Florida's 16 August 2010 update on the oil spill situation:

Quote:
Approximately 672 miles of Gulf Coast shoreline is currently oiled: 108 miles in Florida, 375 miles in Louisiana, 117 miles in Mississippi and 72 miles in Alabama.
Unquote.

www.thegovmonitor.com...

I guess that means there is oil on the beaches, according to the official Florida release.

Also this article includes statements by a local fisherman who disputes the official line.

www.thedailybeast.com...:mainpromo2

Got a link to a dot state site? A dot state site where they say the exact same thing? I don't trust unknown websites. Unknown websites tend to scare me. They like to steal IP addresses.

So provide the dot state website so I can see which state official makes the claim you are fear mongering.

reply to post by Come Clean

had you watched, what you posted?? there was life, but where have you seen nice birds(for e.x.) on the new videos????

reply to post by maybereal11


Thank you and great idea.

I will go back to the beach on Friday or Saturday, I will use a better camera, I will take a shovel and dig further off the water line, I will take some coffee filters and glass jars, and I will see what we get.

Cloudsinthesky is also sending me some test kits for his project. I will send those samples into the lab as well.

BTW, my wife is a life long resident of Tallahassee. She has been frequenting this beach for 30 years, and she did not want to go in the water yesterday. I talked her into it (by letting the kids run in), and then we were both shocked.

I don't know if the skeptics are just pessimistic or sour, but I would never have made this thread, called the hotline for Franklin County, posted videos to youtube, and maintained my presence in this thread if there was a shred of doubt in my mind. I have swam in some pretty nasty water. I have surfed Storm Surges where waves were crashing over the FWB Pier. I have been slammed in the washing machine wave action and raspberried my whole chest. I have swam alongside Nurse sharks, and even a Hammerhead once! Never in any of my experiences was I afraid to go into the water until yesterday!

Here is what I find odd.

edit on by SkepticOverlord because: altered thread title by permission from the author

Now, why did Overlord feel a need to hijack the OP's original thoughts?

So now it's Overlords post and not the OP's? The OP was debunked but Overlord stepped in to save the day.

I find it sad and amusing at the same time. If you can't win the debate shape the debate. The original post is nothing like what it looks like now. The OP made outlandish claims that couldn't be supported.

In walks Overlord...

reply to post by patriot jim


Don't shoot yourself:
Only 120,000 barrels of 'oil' hit the Gulf? (what crude oil actually is)


reply to post by getreadyalready


Did you actually find carcasses in the conch shells? Shells wash up constantly, and if there aren't scores of people there to collect them then they will accumulate.

reply to post by Come Clean


Overlord emailed me complimenting the thread and asking to change the title when there were only about 3 replies.

He actually changed it twice. He took out the "I was wrong" part, but then he put it back. All of this happened within this happened by U2U within the first 30 minutes of the thread going up. For whatever reason, he didn't actually change the title until a couple of hours later.

All of this happened long before your participation.

I am starting to wonder? What is your motivation? I love a lively debate, but now you are really grasping at straws?

Originally posted by Come Clean
Here is what I find odd.

edit on by SkepticOverlord because: altered thread title by permission from the author

Now, why did Overlord feel a need to hijack the OP's original thoughts?

So now it's Overlords post and not the OP's? The OP was debunked but Overlord stepped in to save the day.

I find it sad and amusing at the same time. If you can't win the debate shape the debate. The original post is nothing like what it looks like now. The OP made outlandish claims that couldn't be supported.

In walks Overlord...

just ans me, please: if there're no troubles, what's problem, for govt, to prove it????

reply to post by Come Clean


Come Clean ....Are you and Justadood brothers??

I have only seen a couple posters on this thread much less all the other BP threads that have actually gone out and provided information or attempted to do something other than sit behind a keyboard..........Myself, those members who are monitoring the live feed thread and now Getallready..........

I personally talked to Getallready on the phone this afternoon inviting him to join our team at Test The Rain Project.

One of the issues we discussed is to take samples all up and down the gulf coast (including Alligator Point) and adding this type of testing to our project.

This says a lot about Getallready and that he’s not the typical ATS poster……

99.9% of the members here on ATS sit on there A## and do nothing.

Out of all the volunteers who have joined our project only a few have come from ATS………

Hats off to Getallready……….He’s not like the rest of you!! As one new volunteer put it to me………”he’s a walker, not a talker”

reply to post by IgnoranceIsntBlisss


Yes. As someone said earlier, there were also a large number of Hermit Crabs. More than I have ever seen, but many of the conch shells still had rotting flesh inside. Some of them were very clean, while some others were covered in baby oysters. There was also some dried up sea sponge along the beach. I have never seen this here in the summer time. I have seen it once or twice in December and January, but never in the summer.

The Horshoe crabs were the most disturbing. I usually enjoy watching them skim along and eat, and there are always a few dried up shells of them, but yesterday there were several of them doing a weird convulsion-like dance in the water. If I got near them, they would come aggressively toward me, whereas they normally don't even notice a presence. Within probably 50 feet of beach there were 3 dead shells and 3 dying Horshoe crabs. Out in the water along the sandbars were more of the Horshoe crabs kind of lifting themselves up out of the water and back down. They would turn their bodies, like they wanted to roll over? It was very odd, and a little disturbing.

Originally posted by getreadyalready

Originally posted by Scalded Frog

This was my biggest concern when the whole fiasco started. The press will be tired of this and moved on before the real effects are beginning to become apparent. The real devastation will never make the MSM.

Isn't this statement the real agenda? Isn't this the real reason you posted the video's? According to you, the real effects are not here yet. According to you, the real effects will never make the MSM.

Isn't this your original agenda? Keep DIS-HOPE alive. Safe beaches and safe seafood is not a MSM talking point is it?

Keeping the economy stagnant is a legit political strategy. It's really sad to see Americans engaged in their own self interest.

Originally posted by getreadyalready
reply to post by Come Clean

 

Overlord emailed me complimenting the thread and asking to change the title when there were only about 3 replies.

He actually changed it twice. He took out the "I was wrong" part, but then he put it back. All of this happened within this happened by U2U within the first 30 minutes of the thread going up. For whatever reason, he didn't actually change the title until a couple of hours later.

All of this happened long before your participation.

I am starting to wonder? What is your motivation? I love a lively debate, but now you are really grasping at straws?

We'll never know what all he changed will we?

reply to post by Come Clean


Have you read any of my posts? If the tourism stops, I am out of a job! I work for the state, and the state has no income tax. We make it or break it on Sales Tax alone! In case you missed it, I have two young boys, and I need my job.

Agenda?

I have been hyping up the beaches the whole summer, and I have been frequenting the beaches myself to show my commitment (plus I just love to go to the beach).

Why, would I admit I was wrong for the last 3 months, post a personal video of myself, and suddenly change my recommendation for coming to our state?