Days into weeks

Eds Adventures: It has been a while since an update but every day is filled on the water. We are finding more oiled areas after Alex and most boom was damaged or blown on shore. This week there have been an increase in dead and oiled birds. While it is good news that the oil has stopped spilling, there are 120 million gallons still out in the gulf. BP continues to use dispersant as a " out of sight out of mind" mentality if they can sink it most people will think everything is okay while they will be creating a terrible nightmare on the sea floor where most of the commercial biodiversity is nurtured.

I continue to volunteer for wildlife and fisheries after a lengthy process trying to get hired. I am not sure how much longer I will be staying as there are a few opportunities within the next month and am waiting to here. Probably sometime in early August I will come back to Fl. for a break and see what transpires from there.

It is a rainy morning with lightning this morning so wanted to update the blog with the latest from Grand Isle. We have moved marinas for the third time since May. We had moved into the state wildlife research lab and enforcement building. It was unbelievable to see how state and federal agencies are filled with egos and power. We had about 12 boats and 50 people with captains and state people from all over the country. The facility was new and we had dock space. The research lab folks gave no support and complained about everything we did. In a crisis like that it seems everyone would pull together for the good of the cause. It is their waters we are trying to save and protect.

Many of the wildife people coming here have amazing histories. I have been out with Dave who does eagle banding in Michigan and Bryan who does grizzly bear and black bear and mountain lion tagging in Idaho. There is someone who is doing condor research in Ca. Amazing group of people coming here for 2 week assignments working on the water.

Mark and Mike continue to battle the politics and we have moved to a new marina near the grand isle bridge. Last night i was over to Freddy's place for dinner and see some of the golf. He invited about 10 of the wildlife people including Patti and Emily to come speckled trout fishing off his pier. They were catching all kinds of fish. Yesterday they opened recreational fishing to the area and everyone was so excited to finally get to enjoy their passion. It is such a good things as they people are working long hours with little to do in time off. These groups of people have formed strong bonds and life experiences over the last few months. I have been so blessed to meet good people along the way.

After the state park increased fees to $26 per day I found a new place to put my camper. A friend of Freddy's who has a camper and a lot on the island is letting me stay for cheaper. There is a bus, and two campers and outside shower here. It is a interesting experience and opportunity for growth and to see the reality if peoples lives here still suffering from katrina. Hopefully I can make it for a few more weeks.

Back in Grand isle

Eds Adventures; what a great week in Fl visiting friends and catching up on things. I got to play tennis with Larrry on Sun after 14 hours of driving and little sleep and not much to eat. It took its toll on me and ended up dehydrated and spent time trying to regain energy and rest.
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

Ed

Guess where I am NOW

Eds Adventures: On Friday we were out on the boat with Freddy our captain and Melissa state wildlife from SC and Randy from La out on the Gulf. We have been assigned territories now spent the day visiting the islands and bays and out in the gulf. It is finally getting organized and most of the islands with nesting populations have been cleaned and boomed. very few oiled birds this week. Except a new wave of oil is expected to hit next week.

We find "fish camps" around the bays where people have the homes on stilts and come to on weekends for fishing. Many are still destroyed from Katrina but for lunch and to hide out in storms we have found a few to hold out at. Just using their porch and getting out of storm is great. Friday we were near where Freddy is staying at one of his friends places on Grand isle so we decided to head their for lunch and see if storms were going to hit. Wow air conditioning and a great place to hang out. Even got to see a bit of the US Open while storms came through. We thought that we may get in trouble from Melissa, who is the wildlife person and birder not golfer for going there to lunch. She was really exhausted and so she got a nap and we got some golf to watch.

No good deed goes unpunished. Late afternoon out on the gulf our boat broke down right about 5:00. We had to get someone out to tow us in about 6 miles. It seems there is a lot of bad gas, no pun intended. The marina supplies gas for free to wilflife agencies and boat captains. Several baots are having troubles. The boat that picked us up got hit by lightning that day. A little scary out there at times.

We ended up getting back around 7:00 pm after talking with the director about possible jobs. He is trying hard and seems positive.

I decided I would take the time as crews are full for now and come back to Fl for rest and to take care of some things. I have a wonderful clientin in Riverbend ,Betty Forsythe who had offered me her place while she is in Boston for the summer. What a blessing for me.  I needed to break down the camper and leave it at the state park until I return., I packed up FRI night at 7:00 for 2 hours set up my tent with the bugs eating at me. Took a shower ate some nuts and breakfast bar for dinner and tried to sleep. I got up around 2:30 am and took down rthe tent and started driving for FL. After 14 hours and 890 miles I am back in paradise enjoying every minute. Got back and got a little sleep Sat night. after watching US Open Sat and Sun. After tennis with Larry and unloading car at Jay's I proceeded to get sick from dehydration and overdoing it. What a Surprise!!!!  So after resting more today and y and sleeping more I hope to play some golf this week with Jay. 

Also get rid of about 40% of the stuff I had borught on my camping trip. All warm clothing for mtns,  GONE, Porta Pody, never used GONE, Ouside shower never used GONE, Several containers of supplies, kayak, golf clubs and tennis Racqet GONE. Car is cleaned out and will be so much easier when I get back to not deal with so much. Keep trying to simplify my life.

It is so wonderful to be home enjoying the ospreys, herons, cranes, none of which are oiled or feeding in oiled waters. Just sleeping in a condo with water and microwave and Tv to watch the US Open for a couple of days is such a great pleasure. I feel so appreciative of all my friends here and time to catch up and enjoy their company gives me the energy  to head back next week and just keep DOING IT.

Hope you enjoy the pics from Bird Island with all the baby pelicans, guls, terns and herons and roseate spoonbills. The islands are now more protected and hope that some of this generation of hatchlings can survive the year. Any storm and more oil coming depending on weather and currents may cause more challenges. FL has had more time to prepare and hopefully be in a better situation then La. As it comes ot the panhandle it may end up coming through the gulf stream and on to the east coast with all of our nesting turtles and baby's. The baby's who are attracted to seaweed piles in the ocean,  look just like the oil slicks in the water. So from underwater they think they have a place to feed and keep protected and instead are coming to the surface in the oil. What a nightmare it could be and just hope and pray for survival of all the critical species and eco-systems being affected.

The people living in the gulf are so challenged by Katrina and now their livelyhoods and still so tough and resilient. Yet is has hardened and angered and hurt so many. Some people seem to be living in a daze. Just existing and going through the motions. Not caring about or taking advatage of the situation.  It is challenging for me to be surrounded by this culture. But it has helped me grow and step into their shoes and see how their lives have been so different then the blessing we all take for granted. Their is little spirituality here and makes it really hard for me to find like kinded people. But the hours and days are so long their is little time for me. I am one of the oldest in the group and the younger crowd can HANG a lot better than me. My tired worn out body after 11 hours on a boat is just too beat up exceptto get a nice cold shower cocktail and somthing to eat.

The core group of people at fish and wildlife and boat captains are the people who keep me going. Dedicated and working hard to get through all the politics and get something done is what I want.  I know the spirit brought me to the right place with the right people for my journey.

How crazy can it get????

Eds Adventures My roomate Terrance left after a day of frustraion trying to get work. I have been back out on the water the last few days with Wildlife and fisheries. Found out I could have been hired if i had stayed there for the week. Great timing for me. Got settled in here again at the state park and last night told me I had to move sites today. After a 12 hour day and tired and hot I lost it last night and just wanted to give it all up.

Good news a new day and opportunity to do survey islands looking for oil and make sure boom is surrounding the islands where birds are nesting along with oiled bird. The group is so dedicated and caring and keep on going without thought. It all really puts it all in perspective. The job may also be back on but will not get my hopes up this time. Just going to lift it all up to spirit and know it will work out the way it is supposed to.

have some pics from the bays and islands

Back to Grand Isle

Eds Adventures:  I am back in Grand Isle on Friday. The contract did not go through for the observer job thanks to BP refusing to follow NOAA direction to set up a monitering system for the skimmers out on the water to test for water quality and marine life. So much for all their promises. I spent the last 4 days in a hotel waiting to hear about the assignment and now am in more debt thanks to BP. Sure would be nice if they started paying up like they say they are.

A few days rest was much needed but as you know me I went stir crazy after a couple of days and am glad to go back to helping out tomorow and hope to get a job with wildlife and fisheries soon.  Just keep plugging away. So many people are not getting paid and it is hard to see them working hard and getting burned. 

Not much else to report here, the camper is back up at Grand Isle St Park and it is hot as ever. Hope to get on a boat with shade tomorrow. Stopped by the marina and Mark, the director of Wildlife and Fisheries was talkiing with congressman and hopefully more will start happening. Always hoping. He will be surprised to see me back after leaving on Monday for the other job. Hopefully he will be happy to have me back.

My associate, Terrance who was waiting also waiting to here about the job stayed with me in HOuma and came down to Grand Isle and staying here for a week or so helping out. It will be niec to have the company and someone splitting the cost.

Will keep up with the progrees out on the water starting tomorrow.

Take Care

Ed

PICS from the site

Eds Adventures

Finally getting settled

Eds Adventures; The situation here seems to be slowing down after the president left and BP has cut the clean-up crews know that the president left. The local and people of the area are giving everything they have to help. Crews have been brought in from wrok release programs and causing a lot of problems in the area. A woman got raped today I heard.

It seems these disasters either bring out ther best or worst in people. The area around the marina where the logistics center is a chaotic mess with all kinds of trash and just makes me so sad. I am spending the mornings waiting for wildlife and fisheries folks to meet the contrarted boat owners and then go out to areas to moniter for oil and check out nesting islands of birds. There have not been too many oiled birds at this time and difficult to rescue because it is prime nesting season and they do not want to disturb the chicks and nesting areas. They radio coordinates and then crews will bring out and boom areas affected. We have seen several slicks on the days I have been out. Today it finally felt like their was some good done. The process of coordination is so unorganized so mostly you hurry up and wait. Sure is helping me grow in patience.

The state park is okay with internet and cell but beach is closed and not the best of crowds hanging out. All my biologist friends are gone so it is just me. I am hoping to get hooked up for a site to park the camper in one of the camps Wildlife and Fish are renting.

Today we surveyed several islands without boom that were filled with nesting pelicans, terns and gulls with oil dispersed all around. You could see the slick for a long way and pelicans feeding probably on sickened fish that will then transfer to the birds and cause a long and painful death. Sorry to be so grim but I think we will see the worst after all the press and publ;icity moves on to the next story.

CNN was at the docks this morning reporting and talking about how they feel bad that they can not stay and will have to move on knowing this is only the begining. With the first big storm of the year in Guatamla causing so much death. I was in some of the affected areas in October with our church and these people can barely survive in good times. Then we have Isreal and North Korea and  sure hard to stay positive. I just keep trying to do what is in my power and lift up the rest. Thank goodness for great people to be around doing everything they can to make a difference down here.

Some pics from islands we have been surveying