# Any eye witnesses?



## Lyin Too (Aug 31, 2009)

Weve heard so many conflicting stories since the start of this thing it would be nice to hear from someone who has been to the sight and/or some VOO captains. How much oil is being found by the vessels working our areas? Is the leak completely stopped or are there other leaks in the area of the well site. I know there are members here who are on VOO teams and others who work in the drilling business who have first hand knowledge of these things. Anybody willing to share that knowledge?


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## JoshH (Sep 28, 2007)

I know boats out of BGM all go out and vacuum up around 400 gals off the bottom per boat per day in the bay. The pump it up, run it to port ops and pump it into trucks.


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

joshh said:


> i know boats out of bgm all go out and vacuum up around 400 gals off the bottom per boat per day in the bay. The pump it up, run it to port ops and pump it into trucks.


bgm????


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## BeachBlues (Oct 12, 2007)

I have a call into a friend that flies helicopters back and forth from the rigs for Chevron out of Pascagoula. I'll post an update after I hear from him.


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## BeachBlues (Oct 12, 2007)

Just got a report from my pilot friend. He just landed on a rig. Basically, there is no oil to speak of in the gulf. Maybe a streak here and there, but all west of the Mississippi River. The strong water flow keeps whatever is there in check. TS Bonnie played the biggest part in dispersing the oil, coming thru on a perfect course to blow everything south and break it all up. So, the only question to ask is......Where's the news media now? Where are all the reports for Pensacola Beach that the island is in great shape and that there never was any oil to speak of?


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## wld1985 (Oct 2, 2007)

They have posted up that there pulling boom is AL.


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## Diesel (Jan 9, 2008)

BeachBlues said:


> Just got a report from my pilot friend. He just landed on a rig. Basically, there is no oil to speak of in the gulf. Maybe a streak here and there, but all west of the Mississippi River. The strong water flow keeps whatever is there in check. TS Bonnie played the biggest part in dispersing the oil, coming thru on a perfect course to blow everything south and break it all up. So, the only question to ask is......Where's the news media now? Where are all the reports for Pensacola Beach that the island is in great shape and that there never was any oil to speak of?


Told you guys the media would screw us, and were only interested in reporting the sensational news. Not the truth. Check my old posts, hate to say I told you so...Keep the faith we are on the path to recovery, now we just need an upturn in the economy, so people will have the disposable income to spend on vacations. Maybe Obama and congress can work on that instead of going on the "View" and on vacation, but remember I also said the government would give us the big old shaft too.


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## JoshH (Sep 28, 2007)

BGM= bayou grande marina. The oil is all settling on the bottom.


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## standrew (Dec 15, 2009)

VoO is just a PR farce. Over here in PC the VoO guys would locate the oil, maybe skim a little and report back to their boss. Private contractors running out of Watson Bayou get that report and do dispersant runs at night. This went on for a long time. All of that oil still exists..... Myself and other captains that are on the water everyday have seen oil in our bay over here up until last week although it is rare. I've seen dead barnicles on the bottom of boats, captains with weird rashy looking breakouts on their legs, swollen eyes and other "symptoms". Like I've said before, we are not even close to being out of the woods. I believe the food chain is going to be impacted for a while down the road. Our most prevalent baitfish (menhaden), is a filter feeder. Between filter feeders and some benthic organisms, bioaccumulation in larger and apex predators in the food chain will be a possible toxic cause for concern down the road. One pogie might not have much oil or corexit in it but when a larger fish eats 10 lbs of them a day and a big ass shark eats what ever is eating those menhaden.... Ya'll get the picture. The out of site, out of mind mentality works for a lot of the public but the ones who make their $ on the water are going to have issues down the road.


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## fisherick (Oct 2, 2007)

Damn right. I caught a cobia last week. Been feeding it to my ole lady's cats. One of 'em started peeing on my clothes hamper, but I thin k that's cause she don't like me. Anyways, I froze the fish and will watch the cats for awhile.


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## Realtor (Oct 1, 2007)

JoshH said:


> BGM= bayou grande marina. The oil is all settling on the bottom.


Thats what I was thinking, where in the bay are these guys sucking up the oil at? may be out there tomorrow night.


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## Nopierpressure (Jul 27, 2010)

We are no where near "outta the woods" yet!


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## JoshH (Sep 28, 2007)

They work during the day if your worried about traffic, mostly in carolina skiffs. They say they just bounce around in the bay cleaning one area at a time. You should be fine running at night, just take it easy there are a lot of low profile and dark colored buoys pretty far from the booms they are attached to.


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## Bodacious (Oct 2, 2007)

Its pretty crowded around the pass. We came in the other night and there was about 10 plus boats all around the pass and some in the bay as well. Just take your time.


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## Kim (Aug 5, 2008)

I have to say that sucking oil up off the bottom of the bay is nothing more that here say/rumor. None of the government agencies or scientific groups have found any oil on the bottom and they have been looking for weeks. You can pretty much bet that if some yahoo found a quart of oil from the spill on the bottom of a bay off the GOM, it would be splashed all across the major networks as a spill catastrophe.


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## yakfish (Mar 5, 2009)

fisherick said:


> Damn right. I caught a cobia last week. Been feeding it to my ole lady's cats. One of 'em started peeing on my clothes hamper, but I thin k that's cause she don't like me. Anyways, I froze the fish and will watch the cats for awhile.


 
the funniest post in months.


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## off route II (Sep 28, 2007)

JoshH said:


> BGM= bayou grande marina. The oil is all settling on the bottom.


would somebody explain to me at what point the laws of nature changed to the point that oil is no longer lighter than water?


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## Orion45 (Jun 26, 2008)

off route II said:


> would somebody explain to me at what point the laws of nature changed to the point that oil is no longer lighter than water?


Interesting read.

http://oils.gpa.unep.org/facts/fate.htm


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## tightlinessportfishing (May 18, 2008)

Hi I am a Supply Boat Captain in La . I live in PCB,fl. My boat started here in Theodore on May 20th with the oil spill cleanup. I had 75 shrimp trawlers and approx 25 sportfishers that were all in the VOO program. The Voo program was for fulltime fisherman who were in the closed areas for fishing. Or lie in PCB alot of the pontoon guys jumped on the search effort. Our Voos were treated very good. Released a little sooner than I thought they should be. But as the pilot friends on here are reporting Alex and Bonnie broke it all up and we cant find any except right at the spill sight. If any of the Voos are on here that worked with the M/V SEA CECILE I would like to Thank Ya'll for your hard work. Some of the boats local to Pensacola and destin were the,,HOGWILD,SUNRISE,DAYBREAK,ENTERTAINER,SEA HUNTER AND TWILIGHT. My hats off to ya guys Capt Joe


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## tightlinessportfishing (May 18, 2008)

shoot should have proof read"or like in PCB"not lie


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## SteveFL (Aug 2, 2010)

"would somebody explain to me at what point the laws of nature changed to the point that oil is no longer lighter than water?"

Thanks for that bit of common sense off route II. There will be many silly claims going forward but nature is what it is. Now put 18 inches of oil in an area 18 inches deep and you'll have oil on the bottom. I suspect we'll be seeing that as proof that oil sinks in water. Just like the news showing floating algae as oil here a week or so ago.


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## hogdogs (Apr 19, 2010)

You can easily "sink" oil with Dawn dish washing detergent... it breaks the surface tension enuff that the oil will "fall" under the surface... If you don't believe me, call the EPA and ask them what the fines are for "soaping" an oil spill rather than report it...

Brent


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## tightlinessportfishing (May 18, 2008)

Yes The dispersants join to the oil molecules and make it heavier than ater and the "theory or science" of it is the bacterias in the GULFS high salinity water will eat or cosume the dispersed oil. I didnt like this idea from day one.


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## SteveFL (Aug 2, 2010)

Ok, so you guys explain to me why there was "zero" oil "at the well." There at the epicenter of the spill and no oil. If what you say is true, visibility would have been "zero" at the well head. Understand the currents took that oil back and fourth and back and fourth all over that well head the entire time it leaked. Dispersants were shot directly into the oil at the well head yet visibility remained crystal clear??

Although I agree the molecular break up, wind and wave actions will cause the oil to be less buoyant as it degrades, I do not believe it sinks to the bottom. Where are all the photos & videos of the oil covered ocean floor?? With all the technology available today, divers all over visiting all the time, where are the pics??


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## tightlinessportfishing (May 18, 2008)

Yeaah Steve I agree,especially in saltwater,because of its already increased buoyancy ,I believe a lot will be suspended as it gets caught in the loop current and heads to the Gulf stream. And I believe it will mostly now be diluted. It is a lot of oil but as it travels from the Gulf through the Oceans there is a LOT of water to help dilute it. Seems La and Miss recieved the worst of the beach landing oil in their marshes. I am in Theodore as I type and they are steady removing boom,decontaminating it and putting it away.


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## JoeyWelch (Sep 25, 2009)

You mean there's not going to be a tsunami? WTF?


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## Kim (Aug 5, 2008)

Crude oil is biodegradable. The DWH spill was light sweet crude and it's estimated that 40% of it evaporated, a lot washed up in LA marshes, a little bit got cleaned up and a lot of it was broken up into droplets suspended in the water column. The reason for that is to give a lot of surface area for the natural bacteria in the ocean to eat the oil droplets. It appears that the bacteria have done their job well. It's hard to find oil out there now and the oxygen levels are lower than normal because the bacteria eat oxygen as they eat the oil. With the exception of the marshlands I think that the situation is pretty much under control and we are past the bad stuff. It only gets better from here on out.


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## tightlinessportfishing (May 18, 2008)

Well said Kim and that my feelings also. We should be able to move forward now.


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## Captain Woody Woods (Oct 2, 2007)

SteveFL said:


> Now put 18 inches of oil in an area 18 inches deep and you'll have oil on the bottom.



Oil volume cannot be measured in inches.


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## tightlinessportfishing (May 18, 2008)

Sure it can ,all things being relative I measure my fuel oil(diesel) and my lube oil with a stick every day. Without going crazy we all now what he means.


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## SteveFL (Aug 2, 2010)

Captain Woody Woods said:


> Oil volume cannot be measured in inches.


???

Not sure what volume has to do with the post. I'm merely saying if the oil present is sufficient to displace water all the way to the bottom (such as an 18" deep marsh area), then of coarse oil will be on the bottom. Or if wave or current action pushes it down (such as on the beach), it will exist at the depth of that action. To date, I've seen nothing showing oil 100 feet deep on the ocean floor. It simply cannot be there without a physical force to put it there.


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## tightlinessportfishing (May 18, 2008)

Yeah Steve I agreee, I dont know where it all went,but the dispersed stuff seems to be making the water a little darker than usual. I was 20 miles south of the ram powell and we saw tuna and whales "seemingly" unaffected. We acually had a curious school of yellowfin show up at the boat while we were fueling up thesportfish boats working with us. That what I need when I run that far offshore,,,a supply boat with 60,000 gallons of fuel,,LOL


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## redeyes (Jan 14, 2008)

It is no longer "oil" it is now tar. And from what I've witnessed, the tar doesn't float on top of the water. The tar seems to have a nuetral bouyancy, so it could be near the surface and then the current my swirl it towards the bottom where it could get a bunch of sand stuck in it, making it heavier and sinking it. But I've seen the tar on the top and at the bottom near shore. I have not been out in the gulf diving so I don't know about out there. As more areas reopen fishing and people get out and dive and spear fish we will then possibly hear about tar on the bottom in deeper water....but I hope not.


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## auwhaler (Oct 7, 2007)

I have wondered if the dark area between the first and second sand bar in the Gulf has any tar balls in the area. I know the algea tends to collect there as it settles and causes a dark appearance. If tar balls are also settling in that area they could show up on shore or taken deeper with strong winds and waves.


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## Pourman1 (Oct 4, 2007)

OIL showed up BIG time in O.B. and Gulf Shores the past 2 days  ... all over the Beaches


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## OBsession (Feb 13, 2008)

Kim said:


> I have to say that sucking oil up off the bottom of the bay is nothing more that here say/rumor. None of the government agencies or scientific groups have found any oil on the bottom and they have been looking for weeks. You can pretty much bet that if some yahoo found a quart of oil from the spill on the bottom of a bay off the GOM, it would be splashed all across the major networks as a spill catastrophe.


 
Hearsay? Rumor? Just found a 22 mile long streak which comes as no suprise to those of us who have been out there and keep finding big patches of oil on the bottom screen. Good point was made, the filters feeders ingest the oil and so on up the food chain. More likely the filter feeders will die and there will be no food chain. We are a long long iime away from seeing the end of this, and mark my words, before the end of this BP will file bankruptcy and walk away. However not before they transfer a shitload of assets to another company and invenst heavily in their stock. Am
America, prepared to get screwed...again.


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## SteveFL (Aug 2, 2010)

This is no different than anything else in the United States as of late. Those that stand to make money will say and/or do anything necessary to protect the income. Some will believe anything they're told, leaving common sense out to pasture. Some don't care either way with zero interest but have an opinion. The few without a financial interest, enjoy the sport and hold at least a little common sense are wondering what the heck is going on??

Is there oil left?? You Bet! Is it invisible? Please.... Does it magically sink to the bottom on it's own.... no ... it can no more sink to the bottom on it's own than we can waive our arms to fly through the air. That's why there have been no videos, why it keeps coming on shore and why they're saying it's invisible. But still there are those believe in all this hogwash ... hook, line and sinker (pun intended).


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## SteveFL (Aug 2, 2010)

Another thing; I was in Destin when there was a sheen around the docks. We go there every once in a while and feed the bait fish there at AJ's. We could see the fish all over but if a piece of food was thrown in the sheen, the bait fish would not touch it. But find a spot without sheen and they readily took it. Just like we won't eat something if it doesn't taste right, neither will those fish, crabs or anything else. And if they do, they'll either pass it or have a short life. Everything out there has natural foods they eat and crude ain't one of em'. I don't see us eating rocks or dirt if we get hungry. We're surrounded by petroleum products every day of our lives. The crap is burned and expelled through exhaust pipes constantly all around where we live, work and play. If it was that horrific, we would have all been gone long, long ago. Ok, I'm done.


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