Destination Gulf Coast - New News

[zeehag]

seems th eicw from mobile bay to pensacola will be closed to traffic--poor lulus....
seems there will be sand placeds between many of the barrier islands in mississippi sound. anyone trying to cruise the oil spill for the next many months may want to seek local knowledge as the charts will NOT be accurate for a while.


i learned this from local businessmans' knowledge.....those facing losing their customer base. i hope that this is solved befo0re the entire area is destroyed---which is a dire pprobability... prayers with all who are residents here and business folks here........and their families.....

[AnchorageGuy]

Its not nice to spread unsubstantiated rumors. We have been in close contact with the 8TH District Coast Guard monitoring the situation and as of 12:15 eastern time, today 5/03/10 there is absolutely no plans to shut down the ICW along the Gulf Coast or fill in anything with sand or anything else. If anyone has a question or concern they can contact the Coast Guard responsible for monitoring this area at 985-902-5247 for accurate up to date information.

[markpj23]

Not quite unsubstantiated.... evening news last night showed huge sand piles being pre-staged in order to close off at least one canal in the area. Can't remember where but they were definitely movin' dirt......

[AnchorageGuy]

The Coast Guard, Homeland Security, Fema and everyone involved says nothing is getting filled and nothing is getting closed on the ICW. Don't know about piling dirt but zeahags post is not correct according to everyone involved. Of course you could call the number I provided to get verification. Closing one canal is not quite the same as closing the ICW from Mobile to Pensecola and filling in the barrier islands. So pretty much unsubstantiated so far.

[slomotion]

Having applied my my sometimes questionable analytical skills to a weather map of the region a couple of days ago, I expected that the low pressure system would be moving off by now and its back side together with the associated high would bring strong off-shore winds. However, the official forecast is for continued on-shore winds through Friday. This is not good news.

[Jim D]

The prevailing wind along the mid to upper Texas coast is always onshore. To get a north wind almost always (maybe it really is always) requires a front passing through.

Ocean Girl has mentioned this elsewhere, in describing sailing out into the Gulf headed away from the U.S.: as soon as you leave the jetties, you're clawing your way off a lee shore.

~

[slomotion]

Well, it is a front - it's causing flooding in Nashville because it's stalled. Don't know much about Louisiana, but in the eastern Gulf we should be getting north winds if this thing ever moves - unless we get another low first.

[Jim D]

Hhmm, north winds in Florida in the summer. I just wouldn't have thought that. It would be interesting to see real data on wind directions along the coast by month. I would not expect to see the Texas coast ever getting much north wind after about May 1 or so.

Yesterday hit 92 degrees here, and we are not surprised by that. The typical weather system for us is the land heats up (and stays hot!), the hot air above it rises, and the cooler, humid air from the Gulf is sucked in, creating the prevailing southerly wind, with a fair component of SW direction as well.

I don't know how to find such historical wind direction data. Gotta go googling next ...

Jim
~

[s/v 'Faith']

Originally Posted by markpj23

Not quite unsubstantiated.... evening news last night showed huge sand piles being pre-staged in order to close off at least one canal in the area. Can't remember where but they were definitely movin' dirt......

It was a small man made inlet with a max depth of 5'.... mainly a 'local traffic' pass used by a large condo development..... and some wildlife in Little Lagoon.

Gulf Shores Pass... here is a link to the story as covered by the local news.

It was on the news from Mobile, absolutely a non-cruiser related event.

There was talk of using booms across the Pensacola Pass, but at worst they were going to be in place for 8 hours at a time... I have been following this closely (specifically the Pensacola-Mobile area) and there have been ZERO discussions of blocking traffic other then the plan to boom the pass for 8 hours at a time.....

[sailorgal]

The following is part of an email from our marina owner who has been keeping a close eye on developments here in Pensacola. As of yesterday 5-4-2010:



If all goes well oil may never reach Pensacola and the spill cleanup will be in Louisiana, Mississippi, and off shore. If things don’t go well the oil could reach Pensacola pass. In that case the first line of defense is a set of booms that will form a barrier which will funnel oil into a skimmer that will extract the oil from the water and not let any oil into the intercoastal water way. The booms and skimmers are already at NAS standing by for deployment. The pass will remain open to vessels but a series of booms will stop the oil.


In the very, very unlikely event oil gets past the Pensacola pass barrier in any quantity Unified Command will deploy booms to protect Bayou Chico. In addition to the master plan we have contingency plans and additional boom standing by to keep oil out of the Bayou. It is extremely unlikely that any oil will ever make it to any of our marinas unless it hitches a ride on boat.

The most likely situation is that we will have limited access to the gulf until the oil flow is stopped and the clean up begins in earnest. Fishing in the Gulf may be suspended west of Pensacola on and off over the next few months but you will still be able to go into the Gulf. Boating should remain normal within the intercoastal areas. We do not expect the Bayou to ever be closed and access should never be denied. The worst case scenario would require boats to weave around some booms at the mouth of the Bayou to get in and out. We have no intention of allowing any oil to enter the Bayou and enter any of the marinas. Your boats will be in one of the safest spots around. You will most likely be limited in your offshore boating for some time but intercoastal cruising should not be substantially effected.

Boating in Bayou Chico will remain oil free. Boating in Pensacola Bay and Santa Rosa Sound should remain oil free except for some small amounts of oil that will be skimmed and cleaned as found if the oil gets as far as the pass. Boats are starting to come from Louisiana to escape the oil. We are hopeful that we will have only minimal effects.

[stevensc]

This morning a New Orleans TV station showed a BP spokesman anouncing one of the three leaks has been capped, the same total amount of oil is still flowing out of the other two leaks but it gives them one less to work on. They plan to lower a collection dome over another leak very soon hopefully that will work also.

Steve

[slomotion]

Originally Posted by Jim D

Hhmm, north winds in Florida in the summer. I just wouldn't have thought that. ~

Well, it's not summer and NW winds are now forecast for Friday - Sunday. But, the situation has changed because the front has moved south across the Florida peninsula and another low is approaching from the west.

[AnchorageGuy]

NOAA Closes Commercial and Recreational Fishing in Oil-Affected Portion of Gulf of Mexico NOAA Fisheries Service has announced fishing restrictions for a minimum of ten days in Federal waters most affected by the BP oil spill. The closure is effective immediately. The map and full details are available on the on the NMFS Southeast Region website.

[s/v 'Faith']

Originally Posted by zeehag

i am sooo oglad folks are listening to propagandsa filed by homeless insecurity and others--the only info i could find that was accurate was that of local knowledge--i wasnt even given a picture of the spill by dept of hi or anyone else. i was advised by th elocal businesses and local shrimpers and fishers as to what to expect then i watched as booms were put in ready to go staging along the way. i am soooo glad you are a believer in propaganda. there are booms in place ready to go at the hwy 90 bridge in louisianna--goood luck after friday or whatever day they feel it important to place them---rigolets will be nontraversable. hjave fun.
we got home just in time. local knowledge beats the daylights out of propaganda every time. LOL

Wow, yea. I am sure your 'local knowledge' from Louisiana is MUCH more accurate about Pensacola to Mobile then what I am getting here from the news,,, and the guys handling the containment booms.

[zeehag]

the icw from lulus to pensacola IS only one canal ..lol...local knowledge is better than propaganda any day---we got home on local knowledge as the homeless insecurity and other propagandites were unable to send any info useful to those underway.
\ the booms we watched put into place pending use are in many places--the last one we saw was at rigolets under the hwy 90 bridge--there is going to be a big impaction on cruising and other forms of recreation in the gulf coast area--get real and if ye believes in propaganda ye deserves what ye gets.
the local knowledge we obtained was from the pensacola to mobile bay area wherein we were traversing. have fun playing in goo--the only cleanup so far is being done by the local shrimpers and fishers. this from eyeball witnesses. maybe iff ye pay attention to wherein folks are cruising ye will actually be aware of the local knowledge in use.
we have spent an entire year sailing the gulf from mississippi sound to tip of florida--we have spoken with fishers , shrimpers and others locally for one year. everywhere on the gulf coast east of teejass..lol.....