I was at the Georgia Ports Authority luncheon last Wednesday. We were surprised that Lynch named Jonathan as the pilot as the investigation is still underway. However, no question, the Brunswick pilots are all top-notch.
As Sailor just said, most assets were removed from the Sound for the current weather. Not surprised. I went out for a look Saturday afternoon and the swells were already significant with 4-5 footers on the east side of the Golden Ray.
There were three crane barges and what I assume to be a fuel barge for the bunker pumping operation. The two large salvage tugs were standing off to the southwest. The NRC Liberty was still out doing containment along with a huge fleet of small boats.
It appears that the significant oil leak of last Monday was well repaired as there have been no signs of additional leaking since.
Wednesday, after the luncheon, a bunch of us, including several DNR, Ports, and other agency folks went out to the Jekyll pier to have a look. There was a small army of men in yellow suits cleaning along the beach. No question they are taking the environmental aspect very seriously indeed.
And there appears to be much ongoing conversation among the experts as to how best approach things once the remaining bunker is pumped out. They have pumped nearly 200,000 of the 300,000+ gallons thus far.
One well-informed friend told me that since the ship is laying only about 150 feet from deeper channel water, some consideration is being given to how it might be possible to move her and then re-float her. I am sure many options are being reviewed.
Needless to say, we really don’t know anything yet and will wait for the experts to come up with a plan. There are certainly challenges to the location including significant current, 8 foot tidal shifts (on average), the lack of water where the ship came to rest, the environmental concerns, the absolute need to keep the channel open to traffic, etc.
In the meantime, I hope Sailor is enjoying his stay here on our little island. He might be here for a while.
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