Oil-Spill Events
July 9th, 2011
Pensacola, FL – The Perdido Key Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center announced a new Florida beach vacation giveaway this week. Perdido Key has launched back-to-back promotions over the past year aimed at introducing travelers to its 16-mile stretch of white sandy beaches along the Florida Panhandle. Tourism here was impacted during the BP oil spill last April, but promotions like this one have helped to fill condominiums and resorts to capacity.
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October 28th, 2010
Perdido Key, FL – The program, originally launched Aug. 24, was an immediate hit with travelers. Originally proposed by the Perdido Key Chamber as “Keys to the Key,” the gift card program implemented by the Pensacola Tourism and Convention Bureau is a coordinated effort to bring tourism to the area. The early numbers reflected a tremendous response with all gift cards reserved in under a week. In an expeditious deluge, people from all over America made reservations and enjoyed a vacation in paradise. The program’s success resulted in one extension already. Now on the heels of the success of that extension, a second round of gift cards has been announced.
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September 22nd, 2010
Perdido Key, FL – The American Express® gift card program has been extended for a short time with a limited number of new gift cards just in from BP. Register immediately and then get ready for a memorable vacation here on the “Lost Key.” Register, then book and stay at a qualified area vacation property and get up to $300 in American Express gift cards!
September 2nd, 2010
Destin, FL – On Sept. 17-19, Destin will feature the 32nd Annual Destin Seafood Festival will set up right on the Destin Harbor at the Destin Fishing Fleet Marina, City of Destin Royal Melvin Heritage Park, and Fisherman’s Wharf. Headliners are Starship Starring Mickey Thomas on Friday and Loverboy on Saturday. This 3-day event boasts fresh local seafood from some of the area’s best restaurants, live entertainment, arts & crafts, children’s activities, and more. A portion of the proceeds to benefit the Destin Fishermen’s Fund.
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August 18th, 2010
Orlando, FL – Give for the Gulf is a benefit festival/concert with 100% of the proceeds to go to relief efforts for the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill. Give for the Gulf Benefit Festival aims to provide staging with live entertainment on one end of the park with local businesses and organizations, food vendors and student organizations representing themselves on the rest of the lawn. The overall goal of this festival is to raise money and to show that it is possible to make an impact during this time of crisis.
This event will be held on August 28th from noon-7 pm at the Memory Mall on the UCF Campus. The event is being sponsored by the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, other UCF clubs and organizations and several other sponsors.
Some of the performers scheduled to appear include: Glenn Cummings, 13th Floor Band and Raiford Starke, among others.
More about the Give for the Gulf Benefit Concert »
August 15th, 2010
(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Panama City Beach, FL – During the First Family’s visit to Panama City Beach to meet with local business owners and officials and to encourage Americans to enjoy the Gulf Coast beaches, the President and Sasha go for a swim.
President Barack Obama and daughter Sasha swam at Alligator Point in Panama City Beach, FL on August 14, 2010. The President traveled to Panama City Beach with First Lady Michelle Obama and Sasha to meet with local business owners and officials and to encourage Americans to travel to the Panhandle and Gulf Coast beaches.
July 19th, 2010
PlacesAroundFlorida.com announces our new Northeast Florida Beaches section. Florida has over 1250 miles of beautiful coastline and more than 90% of our beaches are oil free. And now has never been a better time to visit Florida beaches with many offering lodging discounts and other promotions. The beaches of Northeast Florida have always been popular with visitors from Georgia, North and South Carolina, but with the oil from the BP-Deepwater Horizon disaster impacting the Florida Panhandle, PlacesAroundFlorida.com has recently visited and added new popular beach destinations for Florida visitors.
Northeast Florida Beaches Have Not Been Affected by the BP Oil Spill
The beaches of Northeast Florida are over a thousand miles from the oil spill and are located just off Florida’s I-95. Whether you’re looking for an unspoiled natural beach at one of Florida’s State Parks or the resort lifestyle with all of the amenities, you’ll find it in Northeast Florida. Here are just a few.
Amelia Island – Fernandina Beach
Amelia Island is a lush beautiful island, with many miles of beaches and several state parks that have trails great for hiking, biking and nature watching. Fernandina Beach is the northern most east coast beach in Florida and has been an important seaport from early on, which is evident in its Victorian-era architecture and charming historic district. One of the most popular resorts is Amelia Island Plantation. This 1350 acre AAA Four Diamond resort on Amelia Island overlooks the Atlantic Ocean to the east and the Intracoastal Waterway on the west.
More about Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach »
Jacksonville Beach
Jacksonville Beach is a great place to spend a few days, as it will take you that long to see it all. The beaches are nice and wide so I guess that’s why they made the pier’s boardwalk so nice and wide. Along with the hanging out on the fishing pier, you can browse the shops at the boardwalk, ride your bike or rollerblade along, but be sure to watch for people, because this place is always crowded, day or night.
More about Jacksonville Beach »
Ponte Vedra Beach
Ponte Vedra Beach is known for two things, posh resorts and pristine golf courses, but they do have great beaches as well. The beach there is wide and sandy, great for laying out getting a tan or looking for shells, as lifeguards watch over all guests. Just south of Jacksonville, this world class resort is a favorite east coast beach.
More about Ponte Vedra Beach »
Anastasia State Park
Anastasia State Park is near St. Augustine and welcomes thousands visitors from all over the world every year to enjoy its many natural wonders. Anastasia’s four miles of beautiful beaches attract walkers, joggers, fishermen, surfers, kayakers, bicyclists and water sports enthusiasts.
More about Anastasia State Park »
Flagler Beach
Along Florida’s east coast tucked in north of Daytona Beach you’ll find Flagler Beach; once a sleepy little fishing village Flagler Beach has flourished in to a vibrant seaside community while maintaining much of its original charm. The big ‘Flagler Beach’ emblazoned across the roof of the Flagler Beach Municipal Pier Restaurant is and has been a draw to the pier for a long time and is arguably the most familiar sign on the beach.
More about Flagler Beach »
Of course there are many other Beaches in Florida to visit and there’s no better way to cool off this summer than a visit to the beach.
More Northeast Florida Beaches »
June 24th, 2010
Florida Keys – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has suspended daily production of offshore Transocean/BP oil spill trajectory maps because a change in ocean currents has minimized impact risks to the Florida Keys and most of the Florida peninsula.
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June 14th, 2010
Florida Keys – The Florida Keys & Key West tourism council launched a new Web and social media-based feature Monday designed to communicate an accurate status of Keys tourism offerings during the BP oil spill disaster.
Each weekend, videographers are to tape visitors enjoying water-related and other vacation offerings in the Florida Keys. The one-minute-long video is to be edited and posted to the official Keys tourism council’s website at www.fla-keys.com well as social media venues by about 4 p.m. on Mondays. The videos are to be date stamped with no archival footage used in their production.
The debut video is now webcasting as the tourism council’s Video of the Week, as well as in a special Gulf oil spill section at www.fla-keys.com/oilspill. It has also been uploaded to the tourism council’s You Tube channel.
With the BP Oil Spill disaster continuing, the oil spill affecting Florida beaches is worrying local tourism officials. “The Keys have received so much news coverage during the past month and many travel consumers mistakenly think our islands are suffering the same horrific and tragic impacts being seen on some northern Gulf coast shorelines,” said tourism council director Harold Wheeler. “We fortunately are not and need to make the travel consumer understand that.”
The tourism council is also adding live webcams throughout the region. The latest is a webcam installed at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park beach in Key West.
May 19th, 2010
Key West, Florida Keys – U.S. Coast Guard Key West Sector Captain Pat DeQuattro confirmed Wednesday morning that tests on tar balls found Monday and Tuesday on Key West’s Fort Zachary Taylor State Park beach and other areas of the Lower Keys are not from the Transocean/BP oil spill in the northern Gulf of Mexico.
“The results of those tests conclusively show that the tar balls collected from Florida Keys beaches do not match the type of oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico,” according to a Coast Guard-issued news release. “The source of the tar balls remains unknown at this time.”
A sampling of tar balls discovered on beaches at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park and Smathers Beach in Key West, Big Pine Key, Fla., and Loggerhead Key in the Dry Tortugas National Park, Fla. were flown by a Coast Guard HU-25 Falcon jet based in Miami to New London, Conn., Tuesday for testing and analysis.
On Tuesday, much of the media reporting concluded that the tar balls were from the Gulf oil spill, despite the fact that the Coast Guard had not confirmed their source.
It is not unusual to find tar balls in Keys waters or on area beaches. The Keys are located along a busy commercial shipping route, with some 8,000 vessels passing by annually, and commercial vessels sometimes discharge bilge water that contains oil. Tar balls can drift into Keys waters from other areas, not just the northern Gulf region.
Meanwhile, as of late Tuesday satellite imagery indicated the bulk of the oil remains dozens of miles away from the Loop Current, but a tendril of light oil appears to have been transported within close proximity to the current. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is conducting aerial observations to ascertain whether the oil actually has entered the Loop Current.
In the time it would take for oil to travel to the vicinity of the Loop Current, it would be highly weathered and the natural processes of evaporation and dispersion would reduce the oil volume significantly, NOAA said.
The Florida Keys tourism council is updating its oil spill website page daily at www.fla-keys.com.
More info about how the oil spill is affecting Florida beaches.
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