Beaches in southwestern-Florida
The beaches of southwestern Florida: No oil spills, but a lot of fun in the sun!
On July 15, 2010, BP completely sealed the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. The full extent of the long-term effects for nature and the environment will still need to be evaluated.
However, Florida visitors should know that only very few beaches at the western tip of the Florida Panhandle are affected by the oil spill. The most frequented and most beautiful white sand beaches in southwestern Florida are currently not affected by the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
In the past few weeks, European media frequently reported about the “oil spill at the coast of Florida”.
This led to a great amount of uncertainty regarding travel and vacation plans. Below is a short summary of the current situation in the Sunshine State.
Here are the facts:
It is true that parts of the Northern coast of Florida around Pensacola were affected by the oil leak. The location of the oil slick is subject to external influences, for example, the weather or currents and changes daily, so that no accurate predictions are possible at the moment.
The graphic below was taken from USA Today and shows the changes since April 22, 2010 (source: www.usatoday.com/news/nation/oil-spill-map.htm)
The white scale on the left equals a distance of 100 miles (about 160 km). The graphic shows the oil several hundred miles off the southwest coast of Florida.
Click the button "Oil on shoreline" to display areas where the oil has actually reached the shore. Click the "Loop current" button to show the predicted trajectory.
A picture says more than a thousand words.
In June, we were able to personally verify the excellent water quality on the beaches at the southwest coast of Florida.
We documented our findings in a YouTube video (speakers are recommended).
Prior to playing the video, we recommend setting the resolution from 360p to 720p and clicking the four-point arrow underneath the video to switch to full-screen mode.
Have a great seaside vacation in the Sunshine State!
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