Resort Vacation Properties of St. George Island Newsletter
Louisiana Oil Spill Update #2
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Greetings!
As promised, we are committed to maintaining honest and direct communication with you regarding the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and its potential effects on our area. It is imperative that we clearly communicate to you that at this time, our beaches and waters are breathtakingly beautiful and being enjoyed everyday by current guests. Visit our website or our Facebook page for real time reports. As you have possibly read or seen in news reports, tar balls began washing ashore as far east as Navarre Beach last week. Our friends in Gulf Shores and the Pensacola area have shared with us that it seems to come and go. They also report that they have not been affected by any changes in their air quality. Officials have informed us that should we be affected, it will be in the form of tar balls and/or a light oil sheen and that could be months from now. We are praying that this prediction holds true. The location of the oil plume is still over 130 miles away from us. After many weeks of repeated requests, our Franklin County Commissioners finally convinced the DEP, US Coast Guard and BP to provide us with boom so that we can begin to stage our waters. It is being deployed as we speak and there are hired vessels in the Gulf & Bay every day, all day, looking for oil. This is not an indication that oil is either present or nearby - it simply means county and state officials are taking precautions. Based on this new information, we understand that it may be hard to feel positive about your vacation when so many things are up in the air. We want to alleviate some of your apprehension and so have revised our cancellation policy once again. We do ask that you please have patience and wait to cancel your planned trip. IF the tar balls/oil sheen reaches our beaches, there will be an immediate response to clean the beaches for your enjoyment and we will keep you informed of our current conditions in a timely manner. Remember, St. George Island is a different world. It is a place to take a break- it represents time to be together and it offers a chance to reconnect. |
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Our Updated Cancellation Policy
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|  For Your Convenience
Determining our information is from authentic, trusted, and reliable sources is key to ensuring our plans and responses are accurate to protect your vacation experience. To ensure that you can plan your vacation with confidence, we are no longer awaiting judgment calls to be made by governmental agencies on if, how or when the beaches may be closed. We are now basing our policy on the chance that tar bars or oil sheen reach our shoreline. There are more great features in our new policy, please read more below.
If the dates of your vacation are flexible, then at anytime, regardless of whether we receive any effects from the oil spill, you may reschedule to arrive earlier without penalty. Please call us for more details.
If tar bars and/or oil sheen arrive at our water's edge during your stay, please consider one of the following options:
- If the condition of the beaches change while you are here, we will refund any unused portion of your rent if you choose to leave early.
- If your home does not have a private pool or access to one in the community, we will upgrade you to a comparable home that offers a pool, based on availability; OR:
- If you choose to stay, we would like you to enjoy an additional 15% discount off the remainder of the days that are affected by the oil.
If tar balls and/or oil sheen have arrived at our water's edge in advance of your stay, please consider one of the following options:
- You may reschedule the dates of your vacation for any time between now and December 31, 2011 without penalty. Please call us for more details.
- If you plan to move forward with your current arrangements, we would like to extend to you an additional 15% discount as a gesture of our appreciation; OR:
- If you choose to visit
during this time and your home does not have a private or community
pool; if a comparable home is available that has one, we will gladly
upgrade you.
- We appreciate that each family's circumstances are different and if you wish to cancel prior to arrival, we will honor your request and you will receive a FULL refund. We look forward to seeing you next year.
- If you've chosen to visit regardless but find that you are not 100% satisfied once you arrive, we will refund any unused portion of your rent if you choose to leave early.
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The Facts
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|  Our Sources for Information
Find and follow trusted sources of information about the spill. Here are the links to the organizations that we believe to be the most authoritative sources. We check these sites multiple times a day for new updates and hope you will too.
The Deepwater Horizon oil spill trajectory hindcast/forecast based on West Florida Shelf ROMS
A very cool trajectory simulation is provided by a joint effort between the Ocean Circulation Group and Optical Oceanography Laboratory by the College of Marine Science at the University of South Florida. From their website: "This is a joint effort to track/predict the Deepwater
Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico using simulated
drifters/particles. Drifter trajectories were calculated based on the
three-hourly surface currents from the West Florida Shelf ROMS
Nowcast/Forecast System of University of South Florida.
Virtual particles were released from the sunken rig site every three
hours, assuming continual oil spill from the well. The initial locations
of the
drifters were inferred from the latest satellite
sensed oil slick
patches. The subsequent movements of the virtual particles were
estimated by the model, not by observations. It must be
recognized that all forecast models have errors that grow with time for a
variety of reasons."
Daily Situation Reports and NOAA Trajectory Maps
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has
been designated the lead state agency for responding to
potential impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill along
Florida's shoreline. This website serves as the primary
location for updates and information on response actions and
impacts to the State of Florida.
Air Quality Reports from the EPA
Because of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the EPA is monitoring
air quality in the region. The maps and charts show current
ozone and fine particulate Air Quality Index values at air quality
monitors located along the Gulf coast. These maps and charts will be
updated hourly to show the most recent conditions.
Federal Fishing Closures
Quickly review the status of the federal waters with the NOAA fisheries map.
Volunteer Florida
If you are interested in volunteering while you are here, please visit the Volunteer Florida website because there are certain guidelines that have been put in place for your protection.
Franklin County Tourist Development Council
To see all of our daily beach reports, visit the website of the Franklin County Tourist Development Council.
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Our hearts go out to all of those affected by the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. In light of what has happened, we consider ourselves very lucky here on the Forgotten Coast. Although this is our home, we realize and appreciate that to many of our guests, this is their "home away from home" and we will make every effort to keep you informed with accurate information.
Sincerely,
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