Florida Keys visit and response to Oil Spill...

Took a ride down to the Florida Keys and Key West to visit with friends and visit the town I lived in for 6+ years while working on a Sportfishing boat and taking some marine biology classes...

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Nice to get back to the Keys and stop by several familiar places discovered over the years. I was also interested to see how the Deepwater Horizon oil spill was effecting the area and the residents of the Keys and other "mainland" communities...

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One thing I learned while living in Key West and the Florida Keys is that these people are not quick to panic when a possible disaster may be heading their way. During several hurricanes I observed many locals helping each other prepare for possible disasters and damages. It was good to see this same attitude regarding the possible shift of oil towards the Keys and other coast towns.

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I had the opportunity to stay with friends and visit with sportfishing Captains that I weathered several of the storms with and had the opportunity to sit and talk with many of them. In fact I was able to sit in on the weekly radio show "This week in fishing" with Captains Jim Sharpe and Mike Weinhofer who had Marine Scientist David Vaughn from the Mote Marine Lab as the guest speaker.

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It was a great opportunity to sit and talk with Vaughn and to get a straight scientific viewpoint from a local resident without any political, environmental, or skewed spin to it...

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Here is a video that local sportfishing guide Jose Wejebe did with Vaughn regarding the oil spill situation and appears on the Spanish Fly website...

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Jose Wejebe speaks with scientists from Mote marine laboratory who have been deploying AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicles) into the loop current to assess the present situation with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in regards to South Florida and the Florida Keys.

It was good to see that the locals once again are not in a panic or standing around waiting for the government to come to the rescue. Many have become pro-active in their stance and are preparing for whatever may come their way. The businesses are starting to see a decline in visitors and future bookings are down without there being any actual oil found in the Keys or offshore of the gulf coast as of yet. Water is still crystal clear and the fishing is still great with a fishing story of a monster Tarpon being caught to be posted soon here on this site...