Dine Out for the Gulf Coast

From June 10-12, 2010, participating restaurants throughout the United States will set aside a portion of profits to help those directly affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and to support the long-term restoration of the treasured coast.

Participating restaurants will customize their own Dine Out for the Gulf Coast benefit program. Some restaurants will contribute a percentage of total sales for the day and others will donate the sales from specific menu items, while others will offer specialty cocktails with a dollar-value from sales donated to the fund.

Dine at a participating restaurant to help! for a list of participating restaurants visit OpenTable.Com

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Avoids Mexico

The British Petroleum oil spill that struck the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010 and continues to spill from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig may raise concerns about traveling to Mexico, but the greatest impact has been on the U.S. states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida along the Gulf of Mexico. The Mexican Caribbean, Cancun, and the Riviera Maya, Mexico, have not been affected. In fact, travelers who want to vacation in these areas can reap the benefits of some great travel deals.

Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is primarily surrounded by the U.S. states of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas (known as the Gulf Coast), and the island of Cuba to the southeast. It also borders Mexico’s Bay of Campeche, the Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatan, and the southerly Caribbean Sea. Cancun and the Riviera Maya, located in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, border the Caribbean Sea southeast of the Gulf of Mexico.

Although the oil continues to spill into the Gulf of Mexico, active measures are being taken to stop the oil leak and contain the oil flow. Already having devastated the Gulf Coast’s shorelines, oceans, and natural ecosystems, impacting its wetlands, wildlife, birds, fish, dolphins, whale sharks, and other marine life, additional methods of containment — including thousands of feet of booms to confine the oil — are being employed to prevent further environmental damage.

Mexico Spared!
Since Cancun and the Riviera Maya border the Caribbean Sea further to the southeast, the ecosystems of this region have not been affected by the oil spill. Given the increased containment measures, along with the wind flow patterns and water currents surrounding the Gulf of Mexico, the oil slick is being carried north towards the southeast coastline of the U.S. by the Florida Keys, and will most likely not impact Mexico.

Our thoughts and prayers are very much with the people of the Gulf Coast. - Akumal Direct Reservations.

Article re-posted from YucatanHolidays.com

"Loop Current" May Spread Gulf Oil Spill Up East Coast

"Water enters the Gulf through the Yucatan Strait, circulates as the Loop Current, and exits through the Florida Strait eventually forming the Gulf Stream. Portions of the Loop Current often break away forming eddies or 'gyres' which affect regional current patterns. Smaller wind driven and tidal currents are created in nearshore environments. Drainage into the Gulf of Mexico is extensive, covering more than 60% of the United States, and includes outlets from 33 major river systems and 207 estuaries." (Texas Pelagics)

As engineers prepare to lower a giant containment dome over one of two remaining oil well leaks in the Gulf of Mexico, there is mounting concern that ocean currents will carry the oil slick around Florida, into the Atlantic ocean, and up the Eastern seaboard. A powerful eddy known as the "Loop Current" links to the Gulf Stream, which carries warm water up along the Atlantic Seaboard. The slick is still some 100 miles away from the Loop Current, but according to AccuWeather, "small local spirals, known as eddies, often break off of the Loop Current and could cause the slick to wander and spread just about anywhere." But a University of Miami professor says this is already happening.

"I think in the Keys within a week or so we should expect to see some early arrivals of oil," says Hans Graber, a professor at the University of Miami, who has been watching the progression of the oil based on satellite images. He tells the Tampa Tribune, "You see these spaghetti-like filaments. What we can't tell from space is whether this is a thick layer of molasses or is this like a thin sheen on the surface. If this goes on for weeks and perhaps months, then I think it's just a matter of time when the oil will show up all along South Florida. It's not a question of 'if.' "

Meanwhile, globules of oil are falling to the ocean floor, threatening every link in the ocean food chain and imperiling a string of precious coral reefs along the continental shelf of the Gulf. Louisiana State University oceanographer Robert S. Carney tells Nola.com that "hail-size gobs of oil with the consistency of tar or asphalt will roll around the bottom, while other bits will get trapped hundreds of feet below the surface and move with the current." And marine scientist Paul Montagna says, "The threat to the deep-sea habitat is already a done deal— it is happening now. If the oil settles on the bottom, it will kill the smaller organisms like the copepods and small worms. When we lose the forage, then you have an impact on the larger fish."

Today is a pivotal day for engineers struggling to stop the leak. The 100 ton containment dome has arrived at the spill, and BP's contractors are expected to lower it down today. The dome would work as a giant cup covering the well, funneling oil up to a drill ship. If it works, it would stop as much as 85% of the leak, which is currently gushing hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil a day. But such a maneuver has never been tried at such a depth, and Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry cautioned yesterday, "I know we are all hoping that this containment system will work, but I want to remind everybody that this containment system is a first of its kind deployed in 5,000 feet of water."

Engineers are worried about any number of complications that could arise, from the pipe clogging with "ice plugs" because of the low temperatures to the volatile cocktail of oil, gas and water exploding as it rises to the surface. "It's very dark down there ... and we will have lights on the (submersibles), and we know exactly where to put this and guide it into place," David Clarkson, BP's vice president for project execution, told reporters yesterday. When asked what the odds of success were, another BP executive replied, "This has never been done before. Typically you would put odds on something that has been done before."

To read the article in its entirety visit gothamist online HERE

Gulf Oil Spill - It's effect on the Sea Turtle

Sea turtle nesting season is one of our favorite times of year in Akumal. As oil continues to spill out in the Gulf of Mexico, it could very well impact the future nesting habitats of the loggerhead and green sea turtles that make their way to our beaches every year.

In a recent statement from the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, “Sea turtles are highly migratory—spending different life-history stages in different habitats—sea turtles are vulnerable to oil spills at all life stages: eggs on the beach, post-hatchlings and juveniles in the open ocean gyres, subadults in nearshore habitats, and adults migrating between nesting and foraging grounds and on the nesting beach. The areas under the biggest threat from the oil spill are also the most sensitive: the marshes, the estuaries, the places where life starts.”

Even if sea turtles avoid direct contact with oil slicks, eating contaminated food is a direct exposure path, and reduced food availability is an indirect exposure route. Oil can be trapped in the sediments of turtle grass beds, killing the seagrass, a significant component of green turtle diets.

Current efforts to stop the oil before it reaches US shores are heroic, but may not be enough. We have to hope for the best but prepare for the worst – for not only the sea turtle but the 400+ animals that are threatened by the spill.

See the growth and evolution of the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, as viewed from space. Visit National Geographic’s Satellite Pictures: Gulf Oil Spill's Evolution