Oil sheen creeps into Perdido Bay, Alabama
By Debbie Williams
Published: Mon, June 07, 2010 – 7:20 pm CST GULF SHORES, Alabama – Pilot David Walter flew us west over Wolf Bay, Bay La Launch to Bear Point Marina. From the air we could see a thin film of sheen in Perdido Bay. What we didn’t see was a whole lot of protection for sensitive areas. The oil sheen is creeping in from Perdido Pass. The sheen is thicker there. Boats cut through it leaving a trail behind in the water. As we headed down the beach we saw clean up crews, beach goers and a few swimmers and then, Little Lagoon Pass. It has been blocked off from the Gulf for about a week. Seaweed hugs the boom along with everything from a work glove to plastic bottles and lots of oil. The barriers have apparently kept the oil out of Little Lagoon, at least for now. We headed north to check Mobile Bay and some good and bad news about boom. The absorbent boom Baldwin County bought as an extra layer of protection was scattered about in places but what little boom there is in the bay, seems to be helping. Streaming off the end of one section a thin sheen, intercepted by the boom and at least for now kept out of Navy Cove.
