i played golf with Jay and my tenant JJ and had 2 great rounds. i think it was so nice to just get out and get some excersize and enjoy the beauty and wildlife at Riverbend with no expectations. Jay was awesome and stored about 200 pounds of equipment and kayak that I do not need down here. It was great to simplify and lighten my load. Better on gas mileage as well.
I got to have dinner for Tommy Yasinky's 50th brithday and celebrate with his parents and Mario and Grace their friends. It was a surprise when I saw Tommy on his daily walk and called ou to him. He had no idea I was coming back so it was a cool surprise.
I spent time with Mary kay at the pro-shop. She is so wonderful and a gifted Spirit. She and I relate in many ways spiritually as well as common interest and being slow this time of year we had some quality time. She is such a great friend and confidant.
About 4 am on Monday morning I left to come back down here. I drove about 750 miles and stopped in Missippi near Shepard st park and Sandhill Crane wildlife refuge where I stayed about 2 months ago heading out west. You just never know what kind of twists and turns literally, will happen. Never would have dreamed I would be where I am now half way thourgh my journey of wonderment. But al leats I can say for one opf the few times in my life that I let go of control and ego always planning my life and truly listened to the spirit and led me to Grand Isle.
Early Tuseday morning I drove through New Orleans for the 2 nd time in a week. It would be nice to check out the town some day. Made it back to Grand Isle about noon after being stranded by a telephone pole across the highway with no other routes to the island only 25 miles away. Alex was in full force with winds and rain and was lucky to get the camper set up w/out rain.
we were on stand down for 2 days becaues of weather. Thursday I filled out paperwork for LA Wildlife and Fisheries and Karl one of Marks crew drove me to Houma and gave forms and etc to BP and wildlife. So now still waiting for a job to come through. The observer job may be back on in a week or so. BP is playing games with every group of contractors I have met. Boat captians have been working for 30-40 days with no ;pay. NOAA directed programs for observing skimmers for wildlife have been ignored and the stories go on and on. BP's marketing campaign is such a JOKE. Experts from the Valdaz spill say that whatever you here in the media multiply it by 5 and that will be the true damage. It is so sad to see this happening.
The latest twist is BP has required ALL baot captains go on rotation and bring in boats from all over the country who have NO EXPERIENCE in thse waters to survey the waters with wildlife staff. The bays and bauyous are filled with sunkin pylings from abandoned drilling and waters are so shallow in many places. The captains we have had for a month are local and know these waters. Even with that several boats have lost propellers and lower units on their boats. Today was the last day for every captain and do not know when they will be back if at all. It was really hard ot say good-bye to Freddy, Albert Ballard, David and others that have been the best. The bar was set high and it will be hard to find any group as good as them. I sure hope they get to come back soon.
Some of the boats showing up are a water hazard and many of the captains have never been to La. How messed up is that. Our lives on in their hands. I know I will be watching carefully as others and know that Mark will boot them out if they put anyone in danger or do not know the waters.
We got back on the water Friday and it felt so good to be back doing something. The waters are a mess with Alex and most islands lost all of their boom up on shore with nestiung birds. It is so heartbreaking to endure after a lot of hard work over the last few months hoping to save much of the breeidng birds. We have not had huge amounts of new oil coming in so that is the good news. Also we see so much beauty here on the waters. The islands and bayous are one of the most beautiful places on earthy and most of what we still see appears that way for now. We saw an otter family and continue to see dolphins everywhere and the bird islands are bountiful with so many species of birds. Brown pelicans still seem to be the most affected but we recovered and oiled royal tern the other day and took it to Port Sulpher to be transported to FT Jackson. I have a pic on the site and it was quite the adventure. We picked up the bird and had about 15 miles ot take it with storms brewing all over the place. We had one already earlier in the day. Albert Ballard who is local commecial fishemen and just a great guy took off and we had no joice buyt go thorugh heavy storm to get to the site. It was blowing and raining and I laid over the pet crate protecting the tern. To see the eyes of the bird not knowing what in the world is happening. Fortunately it was fairly calm and I jsut felt this spirit within the bird as I talked to it like a goofball that I am letting it know it will get the SPA treatment once it gets to rehab. The gulls and terns do not do well in rehab and I just hope this one gets released one day. especially since we pretty much risked our lives for it. Good news their was no lightning so never felt in danger especially with Albert. He is incredible in his knowledge of the waters and weather and I am learing so much about this area. We made it and their and bird was picked up. Finally made it back to dock after 175 miles on the water. That is a TON in heavy choppy waters and rain storms. What a long day. We also had to go to training at 7:00 to learn how to use Tremble GPS units when we recover birds and send the data coordinates and info. The data is downloaded directly to BP servers. and their is no back-up. It is hard to imagine why we are giving the data to BP and have no other source of verifikcation. Somehow I think BP will lose all kinds of data and underreport the damage to wildlife. It just seems ridiculous and sublime that they are still running the show. The problem is if the gov't takes over they will never get paid from BP. The units are horrbly unrealiable and will be a real pain. More fun to come.
Fortunately I am becoming good at not worrying about things I can not control and focus on what I can.
today was another adventure. We were at some beautiful areas and avoided the rain. we walked a couple fo beaches where reported birds. The beaches were so loaded with oyster shells you could not believe. Also had nesting skimmer birds by the hundreds and same with the brown pelicans. They all flew off as we passed by which is always thew best news because that means none are so oiled that they needed caught. I got some nice picks and video. the day was goign good and it was Alberts last day on the water. After lunch at a fish camp on the water that we borrrow for lunch and bad waether to hide. We only use their porch or below the cabin to get out of heat wind and rain for a bit. BP also hiring caterers who fed us with a cold hotdog with some processed cheese for lunch. What a croc. they were actually feeding us well for while.
Then we were passing an abandoned oil platform which are verywhere in the bays and makes me sick there are no regulations ot clean up these sites rusting and a terrible sight among such beauty. I just ccan not believe companies can let these thinsg happen with no regard. Anyway we ened up hitting a underwater pipe hidden from view. It tore up Alberts prop and gears and his transom on the boat. By some miracle he put an spare in the boat this morning. He has been out for 2 months and and no problems, never had a spare. Noone was shaken too bad as we were going fairly slow another blessing. He was only a couple of hours from bing done on the job and it killed me to see this happen. The prop and motor were onl,y a week old and will cost some money to fix. He took it unbelievable and rolled with the punch never getting upset even though it was the oil companies fault. We took the rig info as they are responsible but probably never see a cent. we finally amde it back and went over to Bret place a friend of Freddy's. It looks like I will be able to move the camper to his place and hook up there. I need to get out of the state park. They raised the rates to $26 from 16 a 40% increase in June. No beach closed trails, Coast Guard and beach crews there are killing me. It should work out so much better and cheaper if I end up staying here.
Well,. that is about it for now and hope everyone has a safe and happy 4th of July. It truly is a beautful country filled with so much wonderful wildlife and nature which is our heritage and we must protect and save it just like we cherish our Independance so much. Many times we value individual freedom so much it it hurts our nation and wildlife which should always be UTMOST important. It is the reason our Forefathers had in mind and we need to make it our priority again in this nation taken over by greed and power.
Take Care
Great to read about all of your adventures and what you are learning from your journey. Take care my friend and we'll talk soon....J & Hootie
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