Dauphin Island, AL- It was another beautiful weekend on Dauphin Island. With hardly any clouds overhead, we were thankful for the steady seabreeze. There were a lot of surfers out, since the waves were running higher than usual, due to the strong breeze and full moon.
I was in the "Ship 'n' Shore" on Sunday, which is the general store here on the Island, and as I was standing in the check-out line, I overheard an amusing conversation; it seems the couple ahead of me in line were actually trying to find some oil or tarballs to take pictures of, and they were frustrated because they couldn't find any. I'm not surprised; I've been staying in one of our beachhouses that has been vacant due to cancellations for two months now, and I have only seen a handful of tarballs during that time.
Funny thing- on the same day the above conversation took place, the Birmingham, AL newspaper was reporting that a large qualtity of oil had been removed from the west end of the Island! This is directly contradicted by the folks I know who were actually out there working on the West End Beach- they told me that they found nothing but seaweed all weekend.
I believe the newspaper may have been talking about the uninhabited part of the Island that was cut off from the rest of Dauphin Island by hurricane Katrina in 2005. That part of the Island is about 6 miles long, and is separated from Dauphin Island by a mile-wide cut, which is referred to as the "Katrina Cut". They have found oil/tar there in the past, perhaps it is back again. I can definitely report that we have had nothing but tar balls so far on Dauphin Island, at least the inhabited part!
Here is the latest NOAA Oil Spill chart. They are still showing Dauphin Island on the on the edge of the "light oil" but we have not seen any real oil, just tarnalls, so far.
Posted by David Meyer on 6/28/2010 11:58:18 AM 0 Comments