On Saturday, May 29, I was able to get an aerial view of the oil in the marshes and also of the spill site. It had just been discovered that "Top Kill" had failed, and we were told that the tight cluster of boats we saw around Deepwater Horizon was not an everyday scene.
Here's what we saw out of the window of the Sikorsky helicopter.
Crews scraping the beach at Port Fourchon, LA. Photo by Kim Hubbard/Audubon Magazine
A bulldozer removing oiled sand. Photo by Kim Hubbard/Audubon Magazine
Barges carrying absorbent boom. Photo by Kim Hubbard/Audubon Magazine
Oil in Pass a Loutre marshes. Photo by Kim Hubbard/Audubon Magazine
Tangled boom with oil. Photo by Kim Hubbard/Audubon Magazine
Oil in Pass a Loutre marshes. Photo by Kim Hubbard/Audubon Magazine
The distance from Pass a Loutre to the spill site is 18 minutes by helicopter. Photo by Kim Hubbard/Audubon Magazine
Deepwater Horizon spill site. Drill ship Discoverer Enterprise is in the foreground. Photo by Kim Hubbard/Audubon Magazine
Deepwater Horizon on the afternoon it was announced that "Top Kill" failed. Photo by Kim Hubbard/Audubon Magazine
Oily waters near the spill site. Photo by Kim Hubbard/Audubon Magazine.
Boats skimming oil near the spill site. Photo by Kim Hubbard/Audubon Magazine