majkia

Interesting article about people reporting things on the beach, thinking they are indicators of the oil spill.  The exoskeletons are really interesting. Jim reports they've seen a lot of them.

They may well be an indicator of things going wrong in the Gulf but they're natural not fiberglass fragments.

So Jim was out doing Sea Turtle Patrol at dawn today (this means looking for signs of turtles coming ashore to lay eggs and make a nest - if they find one they mark the nest to keep tourists and locals away on pain of jail time). 

He didn't find any signs of turtles, but as usual he found some flotsam and jetsam today's more unusual than the usual broken up boat or Tilley's hat or sunglasses.

1.  An Eglin AFB drone, used in life fire tests over the Gulf of Mexico test range. He called Eglin to come get it.

2. More interesting a very sophisticated piece of scientific equipment, used to test wind and tide motions in the oceans of the world. On the bottom it had a phone number and offered a reward if you arranged to send it back.

He drug it home, despite it being smelly and icky since there are barnicles all over it and called. Turns out there is a 200 dollar reward if he sends it back to them, and they pay for the postage costs.

So, he'll let it sit in the sun in the yard for a week or so till the barnacles die and he can get them off and then cart it to the post office.

They will email him once they get it back and let him know where it has been, which we both want to know.  Like where it was put into the water and where it has travelled before it came ashore here.

Coolness!