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Funeral for a Friend

Funeral for a Friend

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Today surface oil was washing up in the form of brown, oily froth or mousse. Tidal pools along the shore were filled with the smothering, choking, toxic soup.

As I peered into one particular pool, I saw a tiny fish trying to escape the thickening sludge. His efforts became more and more frantic as he attempted to break the surface of the ooze. I had no way to help him escape as everything around him was toxic so I did the only thing I knew to do–I stood with him, in his last moments of life, as a friend.

As he flopped and wiggled to extract himself from his dilemma, his tiny eye peered out and he looked upward, not just to me but to all humanity, for help. Let us be present with our younger brothers and sisters in their hour of need. Let us rise together and create a better world.

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast

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It was a stormy day but the dramatic clouds and wind added to the rugged beauty of my visit to Gulf Islands National Seashore. I visited Ft. Pickens and Perdido Key areas and both places were jazzed with contract employees working to clean beaches. Workers were even using brooms to clean areas. I was very impressed.

Least terns were nesting on the open sand, seemingly content with their newly hatched babies. Pelicans foraged offshore. It was a wonderful visit to these pristine areas.

Then I arrived back in Alabama. Less than 10 miles from the super-busy-bees in the National Seashore, Gulf State Park beaches at Alabama Point were covered in tar balls the size of my fist. And worse, an oily sheen covered the surface and oil mousse was washing on shore.

I traveled another 5 miles or so to the beach pavilion at Gulf State Park and when I arrived at the end of the boardwalk, the hot, heavy smell of diesel hit me. It was so strong I could taste it on my tongue. The oily froth was thick there and I stood, choking on fumes and sobs.

So why are tar balls littering Alabama’s beaches and Florida has crews that are organized, energetic and are literally sweeping the beaches? Can someone please explain the difference?

And…WHY ARE PEOPLE ALLOWED TO SWIM ON THE BEACHES IN FRONT OF CONDOS IN GULF SHORES, ALABAMA? There was oily froth washing ashore and people were swimming in it. I suppose we can assume people are basically self-destructive or naive but is the health department so afraid of angry, hurting merchants that they turn their heads when people are being coated in oil? Come on! Let’s show some intelligent responsibility and protect those too ignorant to protect themselves. They trust ‘officials’ to keep them safe! I think their lives are worth more than their money!

BP Takes Over Alabama Point?

BP Takes Over Alabama Point?

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Talk about your strange encounters….today my brother and I walked out on Alabama Point. The huge parking lot was chained off and fenced off for BP equipment and workers. We went around it, no problem.

We noticed the beach had been cleaned…YEAH!!!…and we noticed tar balls continuing to wash up…but smallish ones. There were active ghost crab burrows, which is a good sign but we witnessed one crab that was pretty messed up, perhaps neurologically….very spastic behavior and obviously not right. But overall the beach looked better than we expected.

The water was dark in spots and fish were constantly breaking the surface, which is a little different. Don’t know if the low oxygen levels were creating the problem. And yes…a few people were swimming. Scary.

After walking around the point we saw a boardwalk leading back to the road. There was no ‘do not enter’ sign so we decided to use the boardwalk to walk back to the access road.

Upon arriving at the end of the quarter-mile long boardwalk a guard approached us and said we couldn’t be in the parking lot. We tried to explain there was no sign or directions from the other end of the long boardwalk. He told us BP had taken over and this was their territory but they couldn’t walk to the end of the boardwalk and place a sign stating the boardwalk was closed to the public because they weren’t allowed to go out there unless they were cleaning the beach.

I don’t think he every understood that we were just trying to get off the beach, without walking through the dunes. We were not the angry protestors he was waiting for who want to destroy BP’s equipment (that’s what he said). We just wanted to get back to our vehicle.

Might I suggest that SOMEbody post a DO NOT ENTER sign on boardwalks they don’t want ‘civilians’–again, his words–on? Please?? And please stop giving BP territory before they take over the world.

Back to the Coast

Back to the Coast

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After almost two weeks away from the Gulf Coast, I’m headed back this weekend. My brother and I talked today (he lives there) and he spoke with a guy who lives two miles from Ft Morgan on the Gulf. He told of watching the Gulf die a little more every day. In front of his home he said there is hardly anything alive.

Oxygen levels measured at Ft. Morgan, Alabama, are the lowest they have ever been. A huge fish kill is expected. And so it begins….

It has been difficult being away from the unfolding disaster yet I feel I am given small periods of grace where I can come back to my mountain home, take some deep breaths and then dive back into my work in my birthplace.

I dread going back yet it is there is where my heart lies and where my mind is almost constantly. To help myself cope I visualize the well capped and clean. I see the water being cleaned and healed. I hold a space for the wildlife and plants to heal…all this in my mind and heart. Who knows if it will help the situation. But it does help me. By holding a positive vision for the future I can grasp a thread of hope for recovery, if not in my lifetime, at some point. I want my grandchildren to see the Gulf as I have known it prior to this sad event.

Sea Turtle Dreams in an Oil Spill Nightmare

Sea Turtle Dreams in an Oil Spill Nightmare

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It’s 4am and I just awoke for the second time tonight dreaming of sea turtles. In both dreams I had found a young loggerhead sea turtle with a small bit of oil on it. I cleaned it and put it in a bathtub until rescue workers arrived to further care for it.

As I looked out the window in the dream I saw a huge loggerhead sea turtle crawling up on the oil-soaked beach. This grandmother turtle was coated in oil. I ran outside to help her but by the time I got there rescue workers already had her on a stretcher taking her for cleaning and rehabilitation.

Every night I wake up with nightmares about the creatures of the Gulf Coast. Sleep hasn’t been great but tonight a therapist friend of mine was staying at my mom’s home–in the dream. He remained invisible yet I could hear him in the other room. It seems my psyche is working out my stress about this disaster by having the wildlife rescue theme tonight and implanting a live-in therapist in my dreams.

My mom and I chatted last night and she tearfully expressed her love and concern for the ocean. She said, And I don’t know it like you do. Scuba diving has given me the opportunity to claim the ocean as my first home, my true home. I have had intimate encounters with huge sea turtles, tiny arrow crabs, yellow-headed jaw fish and bicolor damselfish…to name just a few. So yes, I am taking the black cloud of oil and the colorless yet more-toxic dispersant filling the Gulf very personally. These are my friends and teachers that are dying.