July 4th Oil Spill Forecast for Panama City Beach

With torrential rain and huge surf all week from the late hurricane Alex, spending time outside this week was almost as impossible as it was on the insanely hot days of last week. With that, minimal oil product has been reported or needing to be cleaned up on the beach in the last two weeks. The beaches have remained clean, and what product that has come ashore has been cleaned up within hours. Not once has landfall been that to where beach closure was warranted.

Easterly and southeasterly winds have continued to keep the plume away from us. As of right now, we are not within the NOAA projected 72 hour of uncertainty. This is good news for those that are wanting to come down for the Annual Fourth of July Celebrations that take place at Pier Park every year. At this point, all Florida beaches are open, and the beaches in Panama City Beach are looking amazing.

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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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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.

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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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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.

Panama City Beach Oil Spill UPDATE: No Oil Here Yet

As of today, there is no oil in Panama City Beach. There is no smell, there has not been any tar balls, oil sheen, tar mats, or oil foam reported on the beaches of the Florida Panhandle. Right now, our beaches are just as beautiful as ever. That’s the good news. The bad news is that oil has been reported 10 miles offshore of Pensacola. In fact, quoting the noon report of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, “?Areas of tarballs, tar patties, and sheen have been confirmed approximately 10 miles from the Escambia County shoreline and 6 miles from Navarre Beach.” Again, nothing on the beaches, yet.

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Hidden Dunes is Proactive during Gulf Oil Spill Crisis

To show all their customers and potential customers they care, Hidden Dunes condominiums on Thomas Drive in Panama City Beach has taken a very proactive stance in getting the word out that oil is not effecting their beautiful resort or the pristine beaches it lies on. They actually hired us (the CYber SYtes team) to shoot a video of their property and put it on their web site. The point was to emphasize that while the situation in the Gulf of Mexico is very serious, it has not effected us environmentally yet, and actually doesn’t look like it will.

Still, as of today, we have no tar balls or sheen hitting the beaches of Northwest Florida or Panama City Beach. This is great news.

So, the video is great, but really what makes them special is what they are doing to help their customers feel special and assured their vacation investment is protected.

One of the cool efforts of the Panama City Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau is that they are in the process of adopting an area-wide plan where if the beaches are closed during a visitor’s stay, the participating resort will offer a $200 travel credit towards a return visit. Hidden Dunes is proud to be supporting this and will indeed offer a $200 travel credit to anyone whose vacation is interrupted by government closed beaches. If the Panama City Beach CVB program has enough buy-in, they’ll spend some money marketing it and making it known across our feeder markets.

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Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill – Public Information Meeting TODAY

There will be a meeting today, May 4, at 4:30 PM (previously scheduled at 2:00), at the Okaloosa County School District Administrative Building 120 Lowery Street S.E. in Fort Walton Beach with representatives from the DEP, BP, the US Coast Guard, Okaloosa County, and other officials. This meeting is being held to answer as many of your questions as possible. Please plan to attend for any information you need concerning the oil spill.

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