RE: [Paddlewise] A little context for the BP oil spill: It isn't the Apocalypse

Some things leave an indelible impression on us for years. The seam line of
my wetsuit last but an hour at the end of a long paddle, bit the impressions
from the documentary showcasing Thor Heyerdahl are still with me:

A snip from a Mormon Church interview I found on a Google search, Dr.
Heyerdahl: "I can tell you that one of the things I looked forward to when I
stepped aboard Ra I was to see the ocean again as I had seen it on Kon-Tiki,
because that was an unforgettable beauty to get into the deep sea and be so
close to the water and see this completely clear blue water, where you can
see down to an endless depth-see the fish all swimming about. What beauty!
On Kon-Tiki, for 101 days, we saw no sign of man until we saw a wreck on the
beach of one of the atolls near our destination. But on Ra I, we had hardly
been to sea three days before we discovered that we were in something like a
city sewer-and yet we were 100 miles or more from land. Our first thought
was that a tanker had just passed. But it kept happening again and again. So
on the Ra II voyage, I decided to make a day-by-day survey, dipping down
with a dipper and taking samples of the oil clots. We found oil clots on 43
days of the 57. Apart from this we saw plastic containers, nylon bags, empty
bottles, all sorts of refuse."

That was an account almost 4 decades old. 

Doug Lloyd


Mark said

>I often wonder how the spills we get these days compare to what we had 
going on in WWII. All those ships sunk with no concern for the fuel and 
oil leaking out. Had to be one or two oil tankers involved don't you think?
Of course, I'm bad because I'm wondering how I can power my car with oil 
laden birds!<
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