Category: Tourism

No Tarballs Reported in Panama City Beach in Days

Easterly and southeasterly winds have kept the oil spill plume away from us this week with nothing more than a few scattered pieces of oil soaked debris coming ashore up and down Panama City Beach.  As recently as last weekend, we had landfall of tarballs from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that’s still discharging into the gulf.

Bay County is being very proactive in minimizing any impact that we may see from the oil spill in Panama City Beach and our surrounding areas.  Efforts include building a complex boom gate system in the pass to limit any “product” from entering inland water ways, ordering 13 beach rakes (3 on their way, 10 more ordered), 4 skimmers working 7 miles off shore skimming product as it nears, and over 300 BP contractors are patrolling the beach non-stop surveying for any signs of oil making landfall.  Over the last couple days, contractors have begun nighttime operations as well with over 1,000 more people ready to be deployed for cleanup efforts if and when needed.

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“Robust” Booming System Being Built in Pass

Work on a reinforced, “robust” booming system for the St. Andrew Pass began yesterday morning after the Bay County Commission unanimously approved the plan at a special meeting Tuesday afternoon.

Crews are began driving the first of 18 42-inch steel pilings and eight pile dolphins (each consisting of three pilings attached together with a cap on them). The pilings vary in length depending on the depth of the water, and extend at least 10 feet above the mean high tide level. The boom is comprised of 30-inch diameter, two-inch thick high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe and will have a 48-inch long HDPE fabric weighted skirt hanging below the pipe.
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Panama City Beach Fights Oil Spill with Real Fun Summer

Panama City Beach, the REAL.FUN.BEACH. destination which recently celebrated the opening of its brand new $318 million Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP), is not letting the potential impact from the Gulf Coast off-shore oil spill deter its plans to provide visitors with a quintessential summer experience.  While the destination’s sugar-white sand beaches are open for the enjoyment of all, Panama City Beach is showcasing its distinctive on-shore offerings by launching SUMMER OF FUN, a season-long, city-wide beach celebration.

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WonderWorks OPENS in Panama City Beach

One of the great things about Panama City Beach is that in addition to having gorgeous beaches and emerald green waters, there are tons of fun things to do OFF the beach.  We all know and love Pier Park, we have a blast racing go-carts and playing miniature golf, and now we have a whole new adventure on Panama City Beach, WonderWorks.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Isn’t WonderWorks that really awesome all inclusive entertainment-plex in Pigeon Forge, TN that has ‘over 120 interactive adventures that will challenge your mind and body?'”  Yep, that’d be the one! And, it’s right across from Ripley’s Believe it or Not!

Managing owner, Mike Walsingham was gracious enough to host my inner child for an afternoon of thrills, flight simulations, “Far-Out Art”, and a towering ropes challenge course that brought me more than 30 feet in the air.

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Panama City Beach Featured on CNN – “Oil is being easily cleaned up.”

CNN’s Tom Foreman was here talking to local tourism officials about the oil situation.  It’s a fair representation of what’s going on down here.  The bottom line is that we are having some tarballs coming ashore in several areas, but they are being cleaned up within hours of them being spotted and once they are gone, there’s no sign of them being there.

They talk to Panama City Beach Convention and Visitor’s Bureau CEO Dan Rowe and Edgewater Beach Resort’s Michelle Lacewell.

http://i.cdn.turner.com/cnn/.element/apps/cvp/3.0/swf/cnn_416x234_embed.swf?context=embed&videoId=us/2010/06/22/bua.foreman.fl.pc.tourism.cnn

PICTURES: Tarballs Make Landfall in Panama City Beach Over Weekend

As the oil plume moved more to the east late last week, we began to see some landfall of tarballs Friday and over the weekend.  Saturday morning, reports of tarballs and an oiled bird were made in Carillon Beach on the west end of Panama City Beach.  Today, there are a  slew of them scattered on the west end of Panama City Beach.  The only way I could describe it will make it sound like there is oil everywhere, which isn’t true.  It’s best for me to show you pictures and describe what I’m seeing.  Here we go:

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Daily LIVE Oil Spill Updates – VIDEO

We’re getting constant requests for more regular video updates on the oil spill.  We’ve been trying to meet that demand, and we’ve also started a daily live video streamcast from the beach each morning at 8:30 am cst.

Every morning, from a random spot on the beach, I’ve been shooting live video from the beach from my iPhone.  I’m streaming over the local cellular 3G connection, so the video quality leaves some to be desired, but it’s live video from the beach, non-the-less.

The purpose of the video is to show that there is no oil on our beaches.  If and when we see some landfall of oil on our beaches, the purpose will be to serve as a “real” representation of just how much oil is here.

With all the media attention that Pensacola has received with oil landfall, the common perception was quickly that thick oily sludge was washing ashore.  At that same time, pictures of oil covered wildlife was circulating and the reality of the situation in Pensacola was actually quite skewed.

Our goal is to show you the truth.  If we have oil covered beaches (which won’t happen), then we’ll show you that.  But, when and IF we see some landfall of oil, and it’s sparse tar balls that are quickly and easily cleaned up – which is very realistic – we’ll also be showing you that it’s safe to visit Panama City Beach.

If you want to catch our LIVE video streamcasts from the beach, visit our Ustream channel at 8:30 am cst each day Monday through Friday and we’ll give you an update.  Please keep in mind that we are trying our best to keep you as up to date on what’s happening here, but sometimes, due to scheduling conflicts, I can be up to 5 minutes late to the streamcast.  So, if you get there, and you don’t see the video, just hit refresh every 30 seconds or so until you see us.

Our Ustream.tv url is: Ustream.tv/channel/pcbdaily – please share this with your friends as we need to get the word out on the condition of our beaches.

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Note: For your convenience, I’ve also included a quick link in the left sidebar that links directly to the Ustream channel.  This is what the icon looks like.

Panama City Beach Oil Spill Update VIDEO

As of today, there still has not been any oil reported in Panama City Beach.  Skies have been clear, the beach is beautiful and the water is looking great.  I was at the beach this morning and much of the June grass was gone, at least in the area I was in.  Right now we are slightly in the 72 hour area of uncertainty meaning we could see some landfall in the next several days, but not definite.  Officials have stated that the material that MAY make it here this week or next is highly weathered, sparse and easy to clean up.  We’ve been told that it should be nothing more than an inconvenience when it gets here.  Here’s the video.  More later.

PCB Tourism Board Fights Back on Potential Oil Spill

With the looming threat of oil hitting our pristine beaches in one form or another, the Bay County Tourism Development Council (TDC) met this week to discuss how they can fight the negativity and display why Panama City Beach is still an ideal summer vacation spot for guests, new and old alike.  The solution was to come up with a whole summer full of fun with festivals, live concerts and events that will show our visitors that in Panama City Beach, it’s not just the beach anymore.

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