Gulf of Mexico Gulf - 2011 2011 Nov 12 OWOC Gulf Flight to the Macondo
2011 November 12, Saturday
Gulf of Mexico, Louisiana shorelines and the Macondo Prospect revisited
Our first flight over the Gulf since late September! Air and water temperatures were downright chilly, winds were blowing 20+ kts, the sky was covered with clouds, and seas were a little rough. Not the perfect day for flying or finding stuff, and definitely no longer the balmy days of summer over the Gulf. But it was the perfect day for our passengers and us to go, and we were eager to embrace this wonderland from the air again. We began by surveying some of the Louisiana shoreline where one of our passengers will be replanting and protecting the fragile disappearing wetlands with berms. We looked along the shores of Lake Borgne, then down to Plaquemines Parish and flew along the shores of eastern Barataria Bay and on down to South Pass. Noticed only a few flocks of egrets and some ducks, but otherwise wildlife seemed scarce compared to this past summer and early fall. That part of the mission accomplished, we headed out toward the Macondo Prospect to see what we might see.
As usual, you may download our complete GPS tracks under the main menu item called "Flight Tracks;" just look for the file labeled with today's date, and you'll be able to see our position and time every 10 seconds of the entire flight. A transcript of our Flight Log is also appended at the bottom of this article. We did not turn on our SPOT GPS transmitter this flight (see the link on the left-hand side of our web page that says "Track our Flights"), so you would not have been able to track us in real-time today. Suffice it to say that we wanted to keep our flights a bit more 'stealth' of late.
We saw lots of "work" vessels out in the Macondo today! And new orange buoys we hadn't seen before. Our southeast-bound route took us past the platform "VK989" at about N28°58' W088°37', and the first two orange buoys we saw were a little over 50 miles off shore to the east-southeast. Thence came a progression of oil-related (BP-contracted, we think) work vessels, some ROV-capable and more. These included the Meg L. Skandi, C. Chariot, Monica Ann, Normand Pacific, Sarah Bordelon, Deep Blue, HOS Iron Horse, Brooks McCall, and Holiday. Only when we reached the Holiday was the visibility good enough for us to identify unequivocally a line of oil "globules," and they were very near the Holiday. That vessel was almost stationary but there was quite a bit of exhaust coming out of a stack on it, as if it were running a pump or something. We saw several other such lines of sheen that did not resemble the usual wind-surface patches or lines, but we did not have time to fly over to them to inspect them closely.
See photos and videos below. The still photos are in the order in which the events appeared to us. The times are in most of the photo filenames, but they can also be inferred from the gps track files together with our Flight Log appended below.
To conclude, we can't really conclude much! There seems to be a great deal of work going on out there -- well, a large number of work vessels out there, but we couldn't see any work being done from above the water's surface! Several vessels had cables going down, so they may have been working with ROVs or other equipment sub-surface. We did see the above-mentioned line of oil (see videos 1 and 2 below). Note that all of these vessels are in the same areas that we have documented signifcant quantities of surface oil since August and in particular on our flights dated Aug 30, Sep 10, Sep 11, and Sep 27. We saw no whales or whale sharks or dolphins or other large marine life for this entire flight. There was one other fixed-wing (multi-engine high-wing propeller) airplane that passed us at our altitude (about 800') on our return, just north of the Holiday and the line of oil; we could not read its registration numbers.This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
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Two more videos below show some of the lines of old sargassum we saw on our return from the Macondo to New Orleans. We had to get pretty low to be sure it was sargassum weed, as from 800' it sure looked like those familiar patches of weathered crude we saw all summer long in 2010!
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2011 Nov 12 OWOC Gulf Flight Log
Started New Orleans' Lakefront Airport (KNEW), flew the shorelines of Lake Borgne and down to Plaquemines Parish, over to eastern Barataria Bay and down to South Pass, then out to the Macondo Prospect.
(no mark) N28°58', W088°37' Platform VK989
0071 N28°48.8', W088°15.2' Orange buoy
0072 N28°50.1', W088°14.1' Orange buoy
(no mark) N28°52', W088°18' Work vessel Meg L. Skandi
0073 N28°52.9', W088°03.6' Vessel C Chariot
0074 N28°51.8', W088°03.3' Platform BP-MC127 plus two boats (Monica Ann and ??)
0075 N28°38.4', W088°10' Sarah Bordelon
0076 N28°33', W088°13.9' Normand Pacific
(no mark) N28°, W088°17.6; Na Kika platform (BP-MC474A)
" " Deep Blue (pipeline-installer-class vessel)
" " HOS Iron Horse (cables down on both sides)
0077 N28°385.6', W088°26.4' Brooks McCall (work boat) and orange buoy
0078 N28°41.1', W088°29' Holiday (work boat), stationary but lots of smoke coming out, as if using a pump or?
0078 N28°41.1', W088°29' Line of oil globules!
0079 N28°41.1', W088°28.6' Line of dark orange -- old sargassum?
0080 N28°45.6', W088°31.8' Continuing line of -- old sargassum?
0081 N28°46', W088°31.8' Orange buoy
Follow Our Flights!
You can track our paths for several days after them, when we keep our GPS "SPOT" transmitter on "Track" mode. For the latest flights, see
For our latest journeys see (Track our flights).
Read about our completed rescues under Rescue Tails, and our most current rescues under Rescues in Progress!
Some of our recent favorites include:
JEREMIAH has come home to us!
2012 January 13
His adopter called to say she had become ill, and could we care for Jeremiah? You bet we could. We rented a plane and flew to Arizona and retrieved him immediately. Jeremiah was indeed a true friend, and we aim to be his true friends, too. He has been eating like crazy and slept his stress away for the first few days, and now he's acting like a young dog again. Read more here! 
CHAMP found at the airport!
2012 January 01
A sad, scared but dignified young Champ quickly won the hearts of everyone who met him at the New Orleans airport, and within two days we had permission from his original breeders to give him to a young couple with a younger female boxer mix, all of whom fell totally in love with him at first sight! Champ and Miss Princess are leading the good life now, and Champ's new dad finally has the fishing buddy he wanted! They tell us we made their dreams come true. We think they made Champ's come true, too.
Abby & Dinozo -- Two of a Kind!
2011 September--2012 January
Orphaned brother and sister, rescued and adored until calamity struck and they lost their family. Orphaned again, these gentle gems and perfect canine citizens found love and adventure with us until we found them their true forever home! Abby & Dinozo came with us to Washington January 7, and they were welcomed warmly and immediately into a home. Read more here! 
Yo! Get a Load of Yolo!
2011 November--2012 January
Left in the cold, high in the mountains of southern California, life was over before it had barely begun for this orphan teenager.
Little did he know, his adventures had only begun! As of January 7, it's back to snow but this time with a family who adores him, and lots of fun and play in the Pacific Northwest!
Saving Scarlett -- Love Forever at Last!
2011 August--December
Found on the streets, teats full but puppies absent, a battle-torn very hungry pitbull.
Hardly that sought-after doggie in the window.
But after we brought Miss Scarlett home to love and food, warmth and stuffed animals,
we discovered a warm heart and sweet spirit that changed us forever.
Gunner and Cain - A Very, Very Long Journey Home and the Happiest Reunion Ever!
2011 July--September 29, A Joyful Reunion At Last!
Here they are during their flight with four other dogs Sep 29 (New Orleans to Oakland, CA, fuel stop in Roswell, NM). .JPG)
And here's a photo from the happiest reunion ever!
More photos and updated videos here!
Ten dogs from death row to Canada!
Sheba-Cosette - this lovely lady waited a lifetime!
(2011 June) 
Jeremiah - a true friend finds a new lease on life!
(2011 May) 
Two Giant Dogs & three cats reunited with their family on Whidbey Island, WA
(2011 April)
Chihuahuas "Betty" & "JellyBean" fly to their rescue in Bremerton, WA!
(2011 April)
New Year's Rescue: 33 dogs & cats are flown to rescue in the Pacific Northwest!
(2011 January)
Hounds fending for themselves for years in Alabama fly to rescue in Arizona!
(2011 Mar)
Romo & Stanley are flown to safe havens in Arizona!
(2011 Mar)
NEWS!
Pellie Lou!
Aerial Monitoring of the Gulf, 2012
Aerial Monitoring of the Gulf, 2011
OIL:
Fri Dec 30
Tue Dec 20
Fri Dec 09
Sat Nov 12
Sun Sep 25
Wed Sep 21
Tue Sep 13 - USCG
Sun Sep 11
Sat Sep 10
Wed Sep 07
Tue Aug 30
Thu-Fri Aug 25-26
Fri Aug 19
Fri Jul 01
Thu Jun 16
Sat May 14
Fri May 06
Thu Apr 21
Sat Mar 26
Wed Mar 23
Tue Mar 22
Mon Mar 21
Sun Mar 20
Sat Mar 19
Fri Mar 18
2011 Sep 25, Sunday
2011 Sep 15, Thursday
2011 Sep 11, Sunday
2011 June
Humpback Whales!
Our Gift for YOU for 2011!
Click Here to Smile
from your heart, out! 
Aerial Monitoring of the Gulf, 2010
Galapagos Veterinary Support
Galapagos vets do much with little,
thanks to true friends who shipped a TON of supplies and meds from the U.S. in June, 2011.
Alabama
2011 April --
“Man can no longer live for himself alone. We must realize that all life is valuable and that we are united to all life. From this knowledge comes our spiritual relationship with the universe.”
-Albert Schweitzer
