What's It Like On The Surface Of The BP Oil Slick? (VIDEO)

I'll be continuing to post notes from my 10 hour tour of the Gulf Coast on last week.

Our boat captain was willing to take us as close to the Deepwater Horizon disaster site as the Coast Guard would let him go. He set us up straight west of the Horizon site and made a run towards it, stopping just 10 miles west of the spot where 11 workers lost their lives.

It was an eerie feeling -- both being so close to the site of the tragedy and standing on an ocean coated with oil. While oil that's been hit with dispersants clumps into the now-familiar toxic red mess, untouched oil sits evenly on top of the Gulf as thin as a layer of paint. It gave the water a weird sheen & a strange smoothness -- the wind didn't ripple the water like it usually would.

I finished this wind-blown clip just seconds before our boat captain hit the engines for home, worried a dispersant plane might fly over us:

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Comments

[rbenjamin]

10:44 AM on 05/18/2010

It's always mind blowing when you first see that oil really does calm troubled waters. Not just an expression!

[wassilij]

05:47 PM on 05/17/2010

There is a major coverup going on with this oil spill.....a microbe exists that will literally eat this oil and neutralize the toxic effects of this oil in the Gulf of Mexico!The major corporations refuse to use it because they cannot patent it, own it, or sell it because its very inexpensive....It is available all over the world!!...It' time for BP to stop the BS...and use what has been proven to work,,,,

http://www.gatorinternational.com/

[ConnGuy]

04:24 PM on 05/16/2010

Oil spill has already spun way too far out of control, and the U.S. government needs to take a more leading role in the clean up.

http://philiptortora.blogspot.com/2010/05/shouldnt-us-government-have-more.html

[rohitprabhakar]

03:08 PM on 05/15/2010

My personal opinion is that by stopping the offshore drilling we will not get any adavantage.“Is this a right solution?

Have you stopped driving on the road as someone you knew lost his life in a tragic car accident?

Did you stop boarding planes as few years ago one of them converted into a missile?....................http://www.rohitprabhakar.com/2010/05/16/bp-oil-leak-should-we-stop-drilling/

[TheGreenMiles]

04:28 PM on 05/15/2010

Just because the Titanic sank, did we stop building monuments to man's hubris?

[AKMuckraker]

07:18 PM on 05/16/2010

Just because people kept dying in horrible accidents, did we make it illegal to drive drunk and without a seatbelt? Oh, wait...

[Warren Godde]

11:07 AM on 05/15/2010

dont donate any money donate your time in making bp pay for this. they make 92 million a day