Boat captains tour oily waters

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. (WALA) - Over the last few days, the first patches of heavy sludge washed up on the beaches at Perdido pass and near Little Lagoon pass in Baldwin County. Captains with the Vessels of Opportunity program took reporters to the affected areas where there is still more oil washing in.

Over the last few weeks, the spreading oil slick has been tracked by planes, satellites, and helicopters. But now, it's become a lot easier to get on a boat and drive right into the crude just off our beaches. Charter fisherman Howard Kite, who now captains his boat in the Vessels of Opportunity program, got his first close-up view of the incoming oil.

"There's quite a bit right here," Kite said. "They've got the pass closed right here. I guess there's a lot of oil in the pass at this point in time."

The pass is Perdido pass in Orange Beach. It's where some of the worst impacts have been seen so far. Acting like a funnel during high tide, the oil is sucked into the pass. And just off Perdido Key, more oil is approaching.

"I don't like seeing oil out here," said Adam Prato with the National Park Service.

Prato was also getting his first view of the oil just offshore within sight of Gulf Islands National Seashore.

"In the national park, areas around the coast here, we are getting ready for the oil to make landfall," he said. "Of course, some of it already has."

The view from Captain Kite's boat was one small slice of the ongoing disaster. Kite says as bad as the situation is, he's glad to see other boats spotting, skimming, and collecting oil.

"Very glad to see everyone out here and working to get it up very vigorously," said Kite.

But stopping oil this widespread and this scattered has never been attempted before, and it's our coastline that hangs in the balance.