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Deepwater Horizon exploded about 11 p.m. on April 20 and later sank. Visit our special report page for the latest reports on the gulf oil disaster.
The tide came in Tuesday night, under a moon almost full, and when the sun came up and the water retreated there it was: a broken band of oil about 5 feet wide and 8 miles long.
It looked like tobacco spit and smelled foreign, and it pooled in yesterday's footprints as far as you could see. State officials called it the worst show of crude on shore from the gusher 120 miles away. READ THE STORY: Oil blankets Pensacola Beach.
Times photos by Edmund Fountain
Kevin Reed, 36, of Pensacola breaks down and weeps upon seeing the oil-defiled shores of Pensacola Beach on June 23, 2010. Reed's father taught him to swim in these waters, and Reed just taught his five year old son to swim here. "This will never be the same," he says. "I'd like to take the CEO of BP and jam his face in that pile on the beach."
Kenny Wood, 44, of Pace, Fla., cleans oil from Pensacola Beach on June 24. He isn't part of a BP work crew and isn't getting paid anything to be there. "Eventually I might get with one of them crews," he says. Asked what drove him to come pick up tar balls he responed "This is our beach, man."
Kenny Wood, 44, of Pace, Fla., cleans oil from Pensacola Beach on June 24. He isn't part of a BP work crew and isn't getting paid anything to be there. "Eventually I might get with one of them crews," he says. Asked what drove him to come pick up tar balls he responed "This is our beach, man."
L-R: Escambia County Commission Chair Grover Robinson watches as USF Coastal Resesarch Lab Geologist Rip Kirby illuminates Pensacola Beach with a UV lamp exposing oil tainted sand well away from the shoreline. The tainted sand glows bright orange under the light, but is invisible to the naked eye.
USF Coastal Reasearch Lab geologist Rip Kirby illuminates Pensacola Beach with a UV light on June 24. Oil specks glow orange in the sand on this beach that had been cleaned. Sifters used by cleanup crews allow contaminated sand to fall back to the beach, even though contamination is not visible to the unaided eye.
USF Coastal Reasearch Lab geologist Rip Kirby illuminates his foot and Pensacola Beach with a UV light on June 24. Oil specks glow orange in the sand on this beach that had been cleaned. Sifters used by cleanup crews allow contaminated sand to fall back to the beach, even though contamination is not visible to the unaided eye.
A trench dug by a group of USF geologists shows a continuous layer of oil approximately six inches beneath the surface of Pensacola Beach near Gulf Islands National Seashore on June 24.
University of South Florida coastal geology graduate student Katie Brutsche, 25, digs a trench on Pensacola Beach exposing a vein of oil buried under approximately six inches of sand on June 24. According to a group of USF geologists, the layer of oil was buried by an overnight tide Wednesday night.
A cleanup crew sifts sand on Pensacola Beach, trying to eradicate as many tar balls as possible on June 24. The dark colored sand is grains stained by the oil that were small enough to pass through the sieves. USF geologists dug trenches along the beach in multiple locations and discovered a nearly continuous vein of oil buried in approximately 4-6 inches of sand.
A trench dug by a group of USF geologists shows a continuous layer of oil approximately six inches beneath the surface of Pensacola Beach near Gulf Islands National Seashore on June 24.
Workers clean up oil that came ashore on Pensacola Beach overnight on June 23 as spectators watch. The waters on the beach are closed to the public and tar balls are still visible in the surf.
Oil mars Pensacola Beach on June 23.
Footprints are left on Pensacola Beach on June 23. Signs on trash cans at at the beach ask that visitors leave only footprints when they depart. Overnight, tides left the beaches strewn with tar balls, oil mousse, and sludge from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Onlookers stare at a huge mass of oil that came ashore on Pensacola Beach on June 23. The water is closed to the public.
L-R: Sisters Courtney King, 8, and Kaylee King, 5, of Gulf Breeze investigate oil along Pensacola Beach on June 23. The pair were out with their parents, who visit the beach often. "We've been out here several times, but this is a shock," said their father Todd King. "This is the worst it has been."
Oil pools on Pensacola Beach after being stepped in by David Crocco, 42, of Los Angeles. Crocco intentionally stepped into the oil as part of a film being produced by Truth-Action Productions.
David Crocco, 42, of Los Angeles washes oil from his feet on Pensacola Beach after stepping in a pool of it on June 23.
Oil washed ashore overnight in Pensacola Beach on June 23, defiling the white sands for which the town is famous. The water is closed to the public.
Cleanup crews remove oil that washed ashore at Pensacola Beach on June 23. The waters are closed to the public, but that did not stop curiousity seekers from coming to the beach to see the mess.
Oil mars the white sands of Pensacola Beach on June 23. The water is now closed to the public.
Onlookers stare at oil that washed ashore on Pensacola Beach on June 23. The waters are now closed to the public. Tar balls can be seen in the surf.
Children walk amidst oil debris on Pensacola Beach on June 23. Oil came ashore on the beach overnight, and the waters are now closed to the public.
