You have to live here a while to understand the abundance of

life in the Gulf of Mexico. When I came here only as a tourist I missed a lot of it. I live in the most densely populated county in Florida. Many times I have watched three foot long snook swim within a foot of a person's legs right along the shoreline without them ever noticing what was swimming around their feet. I've followed manatees for hundreds of yards down the beach and seen them swim a few feet away from people who never were aware they were sharing the water with an animal as big as a cow. I've often seen kitchen table sized rays leap entirely clear of the water. I've watched schools of hundreds of jacks swim along in undulating snake-like schools a hundred yards long chasing bait, moving so fast that one cast was the only chance I'd get before they were gone. In the fall I could throw a three foot cast net (and not very well) and catch so much bait I could barely lift it. I've had dolphins swim up and expect to be given a fish I just caught and ospreys sometimes swooped down and stole fish from me. I've routinely caught coolers full of fish on one of the busiest beaches in the country, just down from the high-rises, in front of the million dollar homes. Some days were just fish watching days-I stood in water so clear I could see the fish at considerable distances and they me-very few were foolish enough to bite in those conditions, although small sharks, in their incredible stupidity, would.

All that could be gone in a week or so. Thanks BP, thanks Halliburton, thanks Bush and Cheney, you miserable fucks.

I hope it can be saved. Sounds heavenly.

:cry:

there's a lot of overreaction going on, though Ms. Optimism over here isn't so optimistic. :(

The score two: "We're fucked" and one more polite "We are screwed."

A law passed in response to the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska makes BP responsible for cleanup costs. But the law sets a $75 million limit on other kinds of damages.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i-Bq4GrZpMDSMrtPh6TBPh6-bHdAD9FFM2A80

is renting a small house on Ana Maria Island, loading up the kids, snorkel gear and just floating. You can not move and just watch the parade of life flit past in those gorgeous clear waters over soft, sugar white sands.

A lot of the sea grass is gone :-( but even conservative jerks along that area keep an eye on the tourists to make sure they don't mess with the turtle nests, as they are wont to do.

I can't even think about all the wading birds covered in filth, the manatees covered in goo. The fish washing up in numbers that will make a red tide look tame.

Its tough to imagine. It makes me sad.

this is a tragedy of incomprehensible proportions.

a storm....

the estuaries will be hit, tho, I would imagine.

I was wondering if the flooding from the Cumberland would help to keep the oil away from the shoreline.

wishful thinking, I assume, but it would be nice if something worked to help the situation.

our politicians fooling?

it probably seems that I would not understand but as a scuba diver, one who lives for the rare chances to get to the ocean and into it I am heartbroken. I can only imagine how it must feel being a part of it on a daily basis and seeing it die. I hope that does not happen but then that is only a hope and one I would not hang any real chance on. I am so sorry. This has cast a pall on this house, all the way up in Kansas as we morn the loss of what we have always felt was one of the finest things on the planet, the oceans and the life there-in. What it means to you is far greater than that. Hugs to all of you, it is all I really have to offer.

caught at the last full moon. If this spill hits the gulfstream and circles up the east coast of Fl as they are saying on the local news it will....
I do wildlife rehab and we are gearing up. I am beside myself over this.

I get it. It's like your soul and now it feels like it's going to be ripped away.

...erhm or it was.

like trying to conserve more and save it doesn't even matter.. The oil just ruined it... We'll have oil globs for years.. It sucks so bad.... Crying doesn't even express how upsetting this is.