Day four Grand Isle

Today was a really sad day. I went out with three fantastic people on the boat with our friend Robert Vegas. Thao is a Mayoral Assistant here from Seattle, Tanya is living in New Orleans doing her doctorate and Jennifer is spending time in New Orleans until September - she is from Toronto.

The day on the water started well - we went to bird island again - and actually their seemed to be less oil - and we saw three boats with bird and wildlife resue people patrolling the area! We then went out around Grand Terre and the thick oil lapping up on the island seemed a bit less. Don't misunderstand me though - the oil is still there.

We saw lots of Dolphins and tried to follow them and take their pictures. We also went out to an oil rig.

When we were heading back to the marina we saw a Dolphine that was obvioulsy in some kind of distress. When we got closer we could see the thick brown oil on it's fin. It was really upsetting.
I then phoned the number that I had been given for reporting distressed wildlife. The woman who answered the phone asked me where we were - I thought that she meant specifically on the water - but realized that she meant where were we in terms of city/state etc. When I told her Grand Isle - she asked me where that was - was it in Louisiana?????? I have to admit my temper did a huge spike. I asked her who she worked for - and she told me BP. I won't tell you my response but needless to say I ended the call.
We then called the coast guard - and they put me through to fisheries. The good news is that the fisheries people did go out to find the Dolphin. Mandy from Fisheries called me from the water to get the specific directions. Now I know why carrying a GPS is so important.

After leaving the group - I went and stopped at the crisis centre at the community centre and reported the incident to BP. I told them that I found it absolutely incredulous that someone who worked for their company and was handling the Wildlife hotline did not know where Grand Isle was.

Also a woman phoned me back from the hotline group. The hotline is being run out of Houston. She explained that people on the outside did not understand but that this was the most efficient way to run the hotline. I told her that I absolutely disagreed with her. I realize that it is not the front line workers answering the phones fault - but the fact is there needs to be local numbers handy even if only for BP and those in charge to give the appearance that they care and are on top of the situation.

but really - what was and is the most imporatant part of this story - is the Dolphin. It is such a helpless feeling standing in a boat and seeing wildlife distressed. It really breaks your heart.