Surfrider Foungation is sponsoring Beach Oil Testing this weekend - Baldwin County NOW - A Gulf Coast Information Source for South Alabama

Surfrider Foundation is sponsoring Volunteer oil testing on Florida beaches this weekend. The Testing is to take place in South Walton County and Pensacola Beach.

Surfrider Foundation would like to invite any and all volunteers from the surrounding area's to assist in this second phase of testing our area Water and Beaches for oil along Gulf since last year’s oil spill.

The second phase consists of digging three trenches along beaches on April 10 in Pensacola and South Walton County and taking core samples of the sand to submit for results, according to the nonprofit group’s news release.

“Based on our initial results we are seeing heavy settling of oil in our beaches that are not being cleaned up but rather just grinded into place,” the news release stated.

The Surfrider Foundation is a nonprofit environmental group dedicated to protection of the world’s oceans, waves and beaches, according to the release.

For more information, visit the group’s website at http://www.surfrideremeraldcoast.org/ or contact Mike Sturdivant at 850-225-1747 or emeraldcoast@surfrider.org.

Crazy as it sounds we have fresh tarballs washing in on this onshore flow that developed today. They were dotting the beach every 10-15 feet in Perdido Key, FL. This is the exact location where we water tested on 11-4-2010. Photos included.



Water Conditions



This is smaller Quarter Sized Tarball, what worries me about this one is that it is very black and soft (not weathered at all). Therefore concievably it could be more toxic.




Larger Red Weathered Tarball size of a Dollar Coin. My size 10.5 footprint is next to it.

Todays Water Testing

11-4-10 Testing Sites

I was able to test four sites today. Mike Sturdivant suggested I try to work alot of the most heavily impacted areas from the June and July blackouts.

The four sites we settled on are as follows:

Fort Morgan, AL (Bon Secour Wildlife Refuge Beach Access Site)


View Unnamed Rd in a larger map


Gulf Shores, AL (Gulf Shores Public Beach East Access)

View 30.246908, -87.687979 in a larger map">

Orange Beach, AL (Cotton Bayou State Park Beach Access)

View 30.269094, -87.581871 Cotton Bayou State Park Beach Access in a larger map

Perdido Key, FL (River Rd Public Beach Access Site)

View 30.293109, -87.45136 Perdido Key, FL River Rd. Public Beach Access in a larger map