Despite all the tragedy, havoc, and tears that
Hurricane Katrina
caused, there might be one, small, good thing she did: help clear
Florida’s
Gulf Coast
of its horrible red tide problem. Despite rumors that
Hurricane
Dennis had cleared away the tide, instead, it turned out that the
tide
has been getting worse in recent weeks, killing crabs, fish, and turtles by
the thousands.
Though Katrina’s eye passed hundreds of miles to the west, her
winds broke up a warm- water, cold-water layer (a thermocline) that scientists
say was causing a massive die-off of marine life near Tampa
Bay. As those organisms decomposed,
they consumed even more of the oxygen, making the problem worse. Although there
are no official estimates of the economic effect, divers and charter boat
captains have complained that the die-off has hurt their businesses.
1. I was in the Yucatan, on Isla Holbox 2 weeks ago, just prior to Katrina, and the water temperature was very high. Bathtub warm. I walked about 3 miles of beach every day and saw numerous dead fish. When we asked the local fishermen about all the dead fish they said it was because the water was too warm.
On my final night there, we got whipped around a little by one of Katrina's arms - the next morning the water temperature had dropped down to about 70 degrees.
On a lighter note, swimming with whale sharks was amazing. No scuba diving. Just mask, snorkel and fins.
Posted at 10:37PM on Sep 6th 2005 by El Payo