Day 3

Day three.

Get up time 2:30am. Out of the hotel at 3am to get to the boat. Still hot
and humid even at this time of the day.

Today was spent out on the water looking at the problem from the water level
into both the marshes and wetland areas, and the again, the enormity of the
issue. In every direction there are oil rigs, and boats servicing these
structures. In the distance you could see the oil tankers lined up and
docking at the offshore centers. Under the water, by watching the sonar, you
could see all of the pipeline structures in place as well for moving oil
from the wellhead to the processing and shipping sites. We saw one patch of
water that may have had suspended oil droplets in it, but up until that
evening we had not seen any oil. That changed when we made a visit, after
docking, to Grand Isle. This beach had been heavily oiled and was in the
process of being cleaned. There is no smell associated with this oil as it
has weathered and all the “light ends” have been lost. So essentially it is
a tarry substance either coating areas on the beach or in tar balls.

Today I saw up close the marshland and birds. Birds everywhere; snowy
egrets, laughing gulls, shore birds, cattle egrets, red-winged blackbirds,
boat tailed grackles, frigate birds, pelicans, terns, great blue herons, …
it was fantastic with a number of firsts for me.

Bed time: 2am!!!