CRUISING THROUGH OIL: Sun reporter has a close encounter of the worst kind

[highplainsdem]

http://www.waltonsun.com/news/oil-4766-ship-sail.html

CRUISING THROUGH OIL: Sun reporter has a close encounter of the worst kind

May 20, 2010 11:27 AM
Debbie Wheeler, Florida Freedom Newspapers

-snip-

My birthday cruise out of Port New Orleans on May 8 had been planned months before the spill. But as the sail date got closer and with the news getting worse by the day, I began to wonder if my ship would actually sail.

Early last week, in addition to watching news reports, I also started keeping a close watch on Carnival Cruise Line's website. I only found a single post informing cruisers that its ship would sail out of Mobile's port as planned. As the week wore on, I got on the phone for some assurance that mine was also still a go.

-snip-

We did occasionally see large splotches, the color of tea. I asked an older man standing nearby if the splotches were oil. He nodded a solemn “yes.”

It was close to midnight when we finally left the mouth of the Mississippi and entered the Gulf of Mexico. A look over the side the next morning didn't reveal anything obviously amiss except a possible overall gray tinge to the color of the water. Otherwise, all was well, as far as we knew.
With two days at sea, the initial murky gray color graduated into the Caribbean's famously beautiful cerulean blue.

For those three days in the Caribbean, the horrors of the oil spill and its effects were pushed to the back of our minds.

All was well.

Each night before I went to bed, I'd open the balcony door of the cabin and fall asleep. The sounds of waves hitting the side of the ship was my lullaby. That treat was my ritual until the last night of the cruise.

As I started to bed that last night on May 14, reality returned. The balcony door had to be closed. The smell of oil was overpowering as we neared the mouth of the Mississippi. The dark of night had already fallen and nothing could be seen from a quick trip out on the balcony, except what appeared to be the same grayish water as before and lights from large boats nearby sparkled in the distance.

-snip-

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Tragic...just tragic in so many ways...

[highplainsdem]

2. I agree. And when I think of Hayward dismissing the impact as "very, very modest"...

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Sure..from over there in London..it does not look too bad............

[highplainsdem]

4. Bill Nye, on CNN the other day, predicted some of this oil could reach the UK.

He also made it clear then that he didn't believe BP's estimate of the size of the spill.

[1955doubledie]

5. K&R

:kick:

[lonestarnot]

6. Drill Baby Drill!