There Is Not An Ocean Big Enough To Hold My Tears

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News about the Gulf oil spill. If you want, just skip the description below. It's easy to get over-loaded or tired of the news. I so hope that the predictions of the scientists are wrong, and that all will be safe.

What the scientists have predicted, (see first photo in the first comment) has started to happen. The oil spill is now flowing into the loop current. Within 5 to 10 days, the loop current will bring the oil spill and the chemicals added to the water, down all the way around the western Florida coast and the Florida Keys, through the straits of Florida, and up the eastern seacoast, all the way to Virginia and beyond, and eventually to Europe. The loop current moves very fast. It cleans out the Gulf. Eventually it flows into the gulf stream, and over to Europe. Maybe, maybe, there is some way to mop up the oil and the chemicals, and still to prevent some of the impending threatened damage.

These beautiful clear waters, that you see above, may be gone forever. Let us hope not. It's simply overwhelmingly scary to me. In the photo you see the play of sun on the gentle waves of Florida Bay in the Florida Everglades. There is seagrass growing on the bottom, which gives the water it's lovely green and sometimes turquoise tint. Everyday is like a different painting on the water, with different colors, different wave motions, different beauty, but always clear water. The seagrass is the main food for manatees. The mangroves which line our shores in the Florida Keys, filter and keep the water clean, and are nurseries for all of the plant and animal sea life. Fish grow here, starfish, scallops, etc.. Birds feed on the fish. I fear that the already fragile and stressed environment is not resilient enough to withstand the onslaught of the loop current carrying oil products (tar balls) and chemicals used to disperse it, to our area. Maybe it can recover, if it goes on for a day or two, but this looks bad. Looks like the loop current will start to bring much of the oil spill all the way down to the tip of Florida and around, and up the coast, just as the scientists predicted. It potentially will kill the back reef in our area, which includes the seagrass and mangroves. It could damage or even kill our Florida reefs. It will also affect Cuba.

I swim in these waters and so enjoy them. This may be my last week to swim in the water, and feel safe about it.

Probably for tourists,our beaches will be cleaned, and things will look okay. You can still visit Florida and enjoy it. If you want to see the reefs, you better come quickly. Probably, it will be safe to swim in the ocean. But the Florida Bay is a shallow body of water, only 7 feet deep. It's part of our national park, the Everglades National Park. It is a precious national and world treasure. If pollutants or oil effects reach the Florida Everglades, there probably will be no easy way to clean it up, unlike the beaches and the sand, which are easier to clean. However, the wildlife everywhere will sadly be affected.

My part of Florida Bay, is beautiful and calm. But the water is sort of in a half-closed in area here, and oil and chemical products brought in here are predicted by scientists to stay here for years or decades, and to continue trickling out to the ocean, and up the coast.

I have been unbelieveably privileged to live in this environment for a long time. But I so fear for its death. It feels like that "Jaws" music, closing in on us.

There is more info on the links posted in the second photo in the comment below, and the Gulf Oil spill groups, where I am posting this photo, also have great links to the latest info, etc.

Taken 5/9/10, Uploaded 5/17/10, #5076, r72_550_TS,Exposure Enhanced

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Taken in: United States / Florida / Key Largo (show map)

Taken on: May 9, 2010

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Sets appears in: • Seascapes, South Florida • Sunset Cove: The Life of The Sea and of People more » • Treasures of Florida Bay and Ocean: Photo Documentation of the Before and Hopefully the Forever After • Wallpapers • Public 2010 « less

Groups appears in: • South Florida Wetlands( comments optional but nice ) • *Nature* (comment 2) more » • "FRIENDS" P1/A2 • God & Nature...Do Nothing In Vain(Post 1, Comment 1) « less

Camera: Canon PowerShot A630, f/4.0, 1/250 sec, 21.7mm (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon PowerShot A630
Aperture:	f/4.0
Exposure Time:	0.004 sec (1/250)
Focal Length:	21.7mm
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Auto
Scene Capture Type:	Landscape
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	Adobe Photoshop Elements 6.0 Windows
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