Report from the Gulf Coast

The first in a series of of reports from HHU member Judy of ConfectionsInGlass

Since this is the first in a series of reports on the Gulf Coast Oil Spill, I’d like to start with the Florida connection.

As many of you know, I live on the Northwest Florida Gulf Coast, in Navarre, just 9/10’s of a mile from the water. We are just seeing occasional tar balls and rarely some light oil sheen in the Northwest Florida waters, but so far our beaches have fared really well, from Panama City, Destin, Fort Walton Beach, Navarre Beach to Pensacola.

A portion of coastal state waters are closed to harvesting of fish, crabs and shrimp, but the fishing is fine otherwise. Bays and estuaries are open, as are our Fishing Piers. Heavy equipment and clean up crews are protecting our beaches 24 hours a day and booms are protecting our inland waters. Sand and water samples are being taken and laboratory tested. It has been 12 days since the well containment cap stopped oil from leaking into our Gulf. More than 24,800 personnel are working on and off shore and nearly 34.7 million gallons of oil-water mix have been recovered.

Come on down and enjoy our beautiful beaches on the Northwest Florida Gulf Coast. The beaches are gorgeous and open for business and our seafood in our restaurants and markets are safe and delicious. See you on the Florida Gulf Coast!