Holiday Isle Properties

2010-08-25T06:18:00.000-07:00

Swimming With Dolphins in Destin, Florida

Faraj/Wikimedia Commons

As intelligent marine mammals imbued with real personality, dolphins offer a wonderful experience that is a cut above just swimming with fish. Unfortunately, local law in Destin prohibits swimming with the many pods of dolphins that can be found in the local waters. Ergo, no tour operator offers swimming with the dolphins, and your only legal opportunity to do so in the wild will happen by accident. There is a marine park in the Destin area, however, that has a dolphin swimming program, and there are some tours that offer something a little more than just dolphin watching.

The Gulfarium

The Gulfarium is a Destin-area marine theme park, and it has a dolphin encounter program. This is the best option for a family with small children, or for someone who simply isn't a strong to you. Children must be at least 7 years of age and 4 feet tall to participate. Reservations at least one day in advance are required by the park

Shore Shots by Holiday Isle Properties 8|14|10

2010-08-14T09:13:00.000-07:00

THE TRUTH - BEACHES REMAIN PRISTINE

2010-07-28T11:43:00.000-07:00

‘TO TELL THE TRUTH': Californians find the real oil story in Destin (PHOTOS)

July 27, 2010 7:58 PM

Andrew Metz

Neda Iranpour and Nicole Hendrix were frustrated in their search for accurate news about the recent plight of the Gulf Coast.

As employees of KOVR, the Sacramento, Calif., CBS television affiliate, Iranpour and Hendrix know when a story deserves national coverage. But they have found that in the time since the demise of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, balanced coverage has been hard to come by.

So they took it upon themselves to visit different coastal communities to find the real stories.

“We heard the beaches were stained orange,” said Hendrix, a promotions coordinator at KOVR who also served as a cameraperson on the trip. “We paid for this ourselves, and we’re giving it to the station.”

They were joined by their friend and freelance cameraman, Ivan Harder, who flew into New Orleans for the three-day mission.

On their final day on Friday, their trip led them to the Destin harbor, where they boarded the Southern Star for an early morning cruise to learn about the effect the spill has had on Destin. They were joined by Mayor Sam Seevers and the Southern Star’s co-owner Steve Wilson.

“We’ve got to be able to help our citizens,” said Seevers from the bow of the Southern Star. “So far, we’ve done what we do best. We pull up our bootstraps and help each other.”

The crew filmed as Iranpour asked questions and Seevers and Wilson explained that Destin’s tourism industry has taken a significant hit in the wake of the spill.

“It shouldn’t happen,” said Seevers. “Look, it’s beautiful out here.”

She also explained the problems facing Destin’s fishing industry. Her proposition for aiding their business? Extending red snapper season.

“It’s an easy fix,” she said. “They need to open red snapper season all the way to October for the Destin Fishing Rodeo.”

As a business owner who is seeing numbers significantly lower than that of a year ago, Wilson was happy to provide his two cents.

“The water’s just as pristine as it was 10 years ago,” said Wilson. “What we’re trying to do is get the word out that Destin is unaffected by oil.”

Later that day, the Californians boarded a flight back home with some new perspective.

“You come here and it’s beautiful,” said Iranpour, a reporter for KOVR. “It’s a place I want to vacation in.”

But she was not able to leave other communities with the same feeling. She described scenes of devastation before their arrival in Destin that didn’t leave much room for optimism.

“I mean I’m worried about the animals,” she said. “That’s the part that really hurts when you think about it … Scientists are legitimately worried that we’re going to lose entire species.”

For the sake of the region, these entrepreneurial journalists are hoping that they help start a trend in offering the rest of the world a more accurate picture about the state of the Gulf Coast.

“We wanted to be where the story is,” said Iranpour. “We wanted to see if it was as bad as what the media was showing … we’re here to tell the truth.”

To see more from the team, visit cbs13.com.

“We said, ‘let’s go there, I’ll bet they’re passionate,’ ” Iranpour said of choosing Destin. “I feel like Destin will survive through it all.”

2010-07-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

BP encouraged that capped-off oil well still holds

By COLLEEN LONG and HARRY R. WEBER Associated Press Writers © 2010 The Associated Press

July 16, 2010, 9:56AM

NEW ORLEANS — BP said its capped-off well appeared to be holding steady Friday morning, almost midway into a white-knuckle waiting period in which engineers watched the pressure gauges for signs of a leak.

Results monitored from control rooms on ships at sea and hundreds of miles away at the company's U.S. headquarters in Houston showed the oil staying inside the cap, rather than escaping through any undiscovered breaches, BP PLC vice president Kent Wells said on a conference call.

Two underwater robots scoured the sea floor looking for signs of new leaks.

President Barack Obama said BP's capping of the spill was "good news" but cautioned that testing continued.

There was no evidence of a leak in the pipe under the sea floor, Wells said, one of the main concerns. Wells spoke 17 hours after valves were shut to trap oil inside the cap, a test that could last up to 48 hours.

He said pressure continued to rise inside the tight-fighting cap, a good sign that oil was not getting out somewhere else. The pressure was more than 6,700 pounds per square inch, above the minimum they were hoping to see, but not yet in the high range of 8,000 to 9,000 psi they were hoping for.

"The pressures we've seen so far are consistent with the engineering analysis work that BP has done," Wells said. "It's been a very steady build."

Wells also said work would resume on a relief well, the oil giant's more permanent solution meant to plug the leak for good underground to end one of the nation's worst environmental catastrophes.

That's also a sign that things were going well. Engineers had stopped drilling one of the wells Thursday in case that bore hole deep underground could be affected by the oil cap effort.

Engineers and scientists continue to monitor the cap's pressure. When the test is complete, more sea floor mapping will be done to detect any damage or deep-water leaks.

BP finally stopped oil from spewing into the sea Thursday for the first time since an April 20 explosion on the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil rig killed 11 workers and unleashed the spill 5,000 feet beneath the water's surface.

The accomplishment was greeted with hope, high expectations — and, in many cases along the beleaguered coastline, disbelief. BP Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles urged caution and warned the flow could resume, saying it wasn't a time for celebration.

It's not clear yet whether the oil will remain bottled in the cap after the test, or whether BP will use the device to funnel the crude into four ships on the surface.

BP said the decision on whether to reopen the well after the test would be made by the government's national incident command, run by retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen.

The cap is a temporary measure. Even if it holds, BP needs to plug the gusher with cement and mud through a relief well deep underground, where the seal will hold more permanently than any cap from above could.

The 48-hour watch period started at 3:25 p.m. EDT when the last of three valves in the 75-ton cap was slowly throttled shut.

It came after repeated attempts to stop the oil — everything from robotics to different capping techniques to stuffing the hole with mud and golf balls. The week leading up to the moment where the oil cloud ended was a fitful series of starts and setbacks.

BP officials have said repeatedly they were right to take a step-by-step approach to trying to shut off the geyser over the last three months, to make sure they didn't make the disaster worse. They have also pointed out that the current cap system in place took time to design and build and to make sure it could withstand the massive water pressures a mile below the sea.

BP removed a previous, looser cap last weekend, at which point oil flowed freely into the water. Robotic submarines swarmed the site to unbolt a busted piece of pipe and install a connector atop the spewing well bore — and by Monday the 75-ton metal cap, a stack of lines and valves, was latched onto the busted well.

After that, engineers spent hours creating a map of the rock under the sea floor to spot potential dangers, like gas pockets. They also shut down two ships collecting oil above the sea to get an accurate reading on the pressure in the cap.

As the oil flowed up to the cap, two valves were shut off like light switches, and the third dialed down like a dimmer switch until it too was choked off.

And just like that, the oil stopped.

The news was met with a mix of joy, skepticism and disbelief from beleaguered Gulf Coast residents.

"Finally!" said Renee Brown, a school guidance counselor visiting Pensacola Beach, Fla., from London, Ky. "Honestly, I'm surprised that they haven't been able to do something sooner, though."

"Hallelujah! That's wonderful news," Belinda Griffin, who owns a charter fishing lodge in Lafitte, La., said upon hearing the gusher had stopped. "Now if we can just figure out what to do with all the oil that's in the Gulf, we'll be in good shape."

The Gulf Coast has been shaken economically, environmentally and psychologically by the hardships of the past three months. That feeling of being swatted around — by BP, by the government, even by fate — was evident in the wide spectrum of reactions to news of the capping.

The fishing industry in particular has been buffeted by fallout from the spill. Surveys of oyster grounds in Louisiana showed extensive deaths of the shellfish. Large sections of the Gulf Coast — which accounts for 60 to 70 percent of the oysters eaten in the United States — have been closed to harvesting.

The saga has also devastated BP, costing it billions in everything from cleanup to repair efforts to plunging stock prices. BP shares, which have lost nearly half their value since the disaster started, jumped in the last hour of Thursday trading on Wall Street after the oil stopped. But they were down again more than 3 percent Friday morning.

Long after the well is finally plugged, oil could still be washing up in marshes and on beaches as tar balls or disc-shaped patties. The sheen will dissolve over time, scientists say, and the slick will convert to another form.

There's also fear that months from now, oil could move far west to Corpus Christi, Texas, or farther east and hitch a ride on the loop current, possibly showing up as tar balls in Miami or North Carolina's Outer Banks.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expects to track the oil in all its formations for several months after the well is killed, said Steve Lehmann, a scientific support coordinator for the federal agency.

Once the well stops spewing oil, the slicks will rapidly weather and disappear, possibly within a week, and NOAA will begin to rely more heavily on low-flying aircraft to search for tar balls and patties. Those can last for years, Lehmann said.

In St. Bernard Parish, oysterman Johnny Schneider stood near his boat, loaded not with seafood but with yellow plastic boom used to contain oil on the water.

"Eh, the damage is done. The oil's everywhere now," he said. "You ain't never gonna get it out of the water."

___

Weber reported from Houston. Associated Press Writers Shelia Byrd, Jay Reeves, Mary Foster, Alan Sayre, Kevin McGill, Jennifer Garske King, Matt Sedensky, Pauline Arrillaga and Ramit Plushnick-Masti contributed to this report.

CONCERT:

2010-06-28T06:43:00.001-07:00

More than 7,000 Rock the Beach with Doobie Brothers (UPDATED with PHOTOS)

June 27, 2010 4:35 PM

Mona Moore

Florida Freedom Newspapers

OKALOOSA ISLAND – More than 7,000 people attended Rock the Beach, the first in a series of free summer concerts held to promote tourism in Okaloosa County.

Organizers accepted donations for the Emerald Coast Wildlife Foundation. The total amount collected will not be available until Monday.

“It’s definitely a wonderful turnout,” said Bill Leaman, coordinator of the event. “Seeing so many happy people, it’s just amazing. You have to admit, Kenny Loggins is just awesome.”

Read a story about the crowd's reaction to the concert here »

View a gallery of photos from the beach (will be updated throughout the day)»

Halfway into the show, Leaman had a list things he would change behind the scenes. Lt. Ken Christmas of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office also had a suggestion.

“We’ll have taxis on standby in the future,” he said.

Several intoxicated people were placed in cabs and sent home. Christmas said security had been lenient with people who were drinking until their actions disturbed others in attendance.

“Everybody’s pretty much behaving themselves. But it’s early,” Christmas said after Loggins wrapped up his act.

At press, only 10 people had been treated by EMS workers, said Darrel Wellborn, EMS shift commander.

Two of the 10 people were sent to the hospital, one with severe dehydration the other complained of chest pains. The majority of the other cases were lacerations and dehydration.

Crowds at the Rock the Beach concert swelled slowly Sunday afternoon. By 1 p.m., a few choice parking spaces at The Boardwalk could still be found.

“We’re the only tailgaters out here,” said Fort Walton Beach resident Ken Craig.

He and his friends backed their white Dodge Ram 1500 into their last-row parking space, careful to leave enough room for their party of six. They cranked up the radio, grilled up some hot dogs and shared memories of concerts on the beach and the last time they had seen the Doobie Brothers live.

“I haven’t seen them in years,” said Niceville resident Diane Williams. “I’m making the most of it.”

Ken Craig saw Heart, Molly Hatchet, Jefferson Starship and the Beach Boys at local beach concerts. He plans to attend every concert in the Rock the Beach concert.

“Why not? Supporting our area, that’s what it’s all about,”

Craig said, adding that BP should pick up the beer tab.

Matt and Diane Williams brought their 11-year-old to see Kenny Loggins and the Doobie Brothers for the first time.

“It’s nice that people are out there,” Matt Williams said.

“The beaches are still open and we need to be more positive.”

Destin residents Lynn Revels and Kathryn Ferlisi had another point of view to express. The pair propped up a sign that said, “Jesus is not alright with BP,” a play on the Doobie Brothers song, “Jesus is Just Alright.”

Ferlisi came in her swimsuit but had no plans to go swimming.

About 15 feet from her beach chair was a county-issued health advisory that supported those plans.

“Every time we go out here, we think it’s our last,” Ferlisi said.

Revels said she will keep coming to support the local beach – and she may even swim.

“We’re all scared and it’s the unknown that’s the most frightening,” she said.

See the story unfold.

7:20 P.M. - Kenny Loggins has completed his set and the Doobie Brothers are about to start their performance.

5:15 P.M. - Kenny Loggins has taken the stage, but hundreds of people continue to come in by shuttle.

Officials estimate the crowd to be between 4,500 and 5,000 people, but an official count isn't available, yet.

So far, only four people have visited EMS officials at the scene. One person was taken to the hospital with severe dehydration, said Darrel Wellborne, the Okaloosa County EMS shift commander.

"We're right on track of what we expected to be," he said.

4:50 p.m. - Officials have ordered all the umbrellas to come down on the beach as the final preparations begin for the concert.

The crowd has increased in size and there are only a few empty places left on the beach.

Many people continue to swim despite the red flags and a few boats have also pulled up to listen to the concert.

Kenny Loggins is set to kick off the concert in about 20 minutes.

3:50 p.m. - Ken Craig has seen Heart, Molly Hatchet, Jefferson Starship and the Beach Boys perform on Okaloosa Island and he plans to attend every concert in the Rock the Beach concert series.

“Why not? Supporting our area, that’s what it’s all about,” Craig said, adding that BP should pick up the beer tab.

Matt and Diane Williams brought their 11-year-old to see Kenny Loggins and the Doobie Brothers for the first time.

“It’s nice that people are out there,” Matt Williams said. “The beaches are still open and we need to be more positive.”

3:30 p.m. - Crowds at the Rock the Beach concert swelled slowly Sunday afternoon. By 1 p.m., a few choice parking spaces at The Boardwalk could still be found.

“We’re the only tailgaters out here,” said Fort Walton Beach resident Ken Craig.

“I haven’t seen them in years,” said Niceville resident Diane Williams. “I’m making the most of it.”

3:26 p.m. - There is no opening act tonight. Kenny Loggins will hit the stage at 5:15 p.m. followed by the Doobie Brothers at 7:15 p.m.

3 p.m. - The sound check for the concert has begun, but people are still swimming and sitting under beach umbrellas. Kenny Loggins' band just finished with "Danger Zone," of Top Gun fame.

Out on U.S. Highway 98, traffic is moving at about the same pace it does every weekend and the shuttles are running on-schedule without any problems.

2 p.m. - The crowd has already started arriving for this evening's free concert on Okaloosa Island with the Doobie Brothers and Kenny Loggins.

Parking at The Boardwalk filled up by noon but there's still plenty of room on the beach for concert-goers.

Across the street at the Emerald Coast Conference Center, parking is still available, said Wes Fields, head of the center's security.

"We do (have parking) but it's filling up fast," Fields added.

Shuttle pickups have been set up at Uptown Station and the Emerald Grand in Destin.

Boardwalk vendors lowered their prices for food and drinks, said vendor Ashlee Hafner. Water is 50 cents, soft drinks a dollar and beers are $3.

No Oil Here

2010-05-22T11:17:00.000-07:00

Oil Spill Update May 14th 2010

2010-05-14T11:25:00.000-07:00

OIL SPILL UPDATE: Robots trying to thread small pipe into gusher to cap spill

May 14, 2010 1:05 PM

Associated Press | Destin Log

MIAMI — Undersea robots were trying to thread a small tube into the jagged pipe that is pouring oil into the Gulf of Mexico early Friday in BP's latest attempt to cut down on the spill from a blown-out well that has pumped out more than 4 million gallons (15 million liters) of crude.

The company was trying to move the 6-inch (15-centimeter) tube into the leaking 21-inch (53-centimeter) pipe, known as the riser. The smaller tube will be surrounded by a stopper to keep oil from leaking into the sea. BP said it hopes to know by Friday evening if the tube works and can siphon the oil to a tanker at the surface.

See photos from the scene of the oil spill and BP's attempt to cap the flow. »

View the latest photos from BP.

Since the April 20 drilling rig explosion set off the catastrophic spill, BP PLC has tried several ideas to plug the leak that is spewing at least 210,000 gallons of oil into the Gulf a day. The size of the undulating spill was about 3,650 square miles (9,500 square kilometers), said Hans Graber, director of the University of Miami's Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing.

In the fateful hours before the Deepwater Horizon exploded about 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the Louisiana shore, a safety test was supposedly performed to detect if explosive gas was leaking from the mile-deep well.

While some data were being transmitted to shore for safekeeping right up until the blast, officials from Transocean, the rig owner, told Congress that the last seven hours of its information are missing and that all written logs were lost in the explosion. Earlier tests that suggested explosive gas was leaking were preserved.

The gap poses a mystery for investigators: What decisions were made — and what warnings might have been ignored?

"There is some delay in the replication of our data, so our operational data, our sequence of events ends at 3 o'clock in the afternoon on the 20th," Steven Newman, president and CEO of Transocean Ltd, told a Senate panel. The rig blew up at 10 p.m., killing 11 workers and unleashing the gusher.

Houston attorney Tony Buzbee, who represents several rig workers involved in the accident, questioned whether what he called "the phantom test" was even performed.

"I can just tell you that the Halliburton hands were scratching their heads," said Buzbee, whose clients include one of the Halliburton crew members responsible for cementing the well to prepare for moving the drilling rig to another site.

Details of a likely blowout scenario emerged this week for the first time from congressional and administrative hearings. They suggest there were both crew mistakes and equipment breakdowns at key points the day of the explosion.

Buzbee said that when Halliburton showed BP PLC and Transocean officials the results of the pressure tests that suggested gas was leaking, the rig workers were put on "standby." BP is the rig operator and leaseholder.

Buzbee said one of his clients told him the "Transocean and BP company people got their heads together," and 40 minutes later gave the green light.

The attorney said the Halliburton crew members were not shown any new test results.

"They said they did their own tests, and they came out OK," he said. "But with the phantom test that Transocean and BP allegedly did, there was no real record or real-time recordation of that test."

None of the three companies would comment Thursday on whether any data or test results were purposely not sent to shore, or on exactly who made the final decision to continue the operations that day.

Five thousand feet (1,500 meters) under the sea, if the tube being inserted doesn't work, BP could try a second containment box, which would be placed over the well and also would siphon the oil to the surface.

In another interesting experiment, BP might wind up shooting junk of all shapes and sizes to plug the nooks and crannies into the blowout preventer — a giant piece of machinery that's allowing some of the oil to escape. In the aptly named "junk shot," engineers would shoot pieces of tires, golf balls, knotted rope and other items into it in hopes the right size stuff makes its way to the appropriate holes. Once the leak is clogged, heavy mud will be poured in. It would then be sealed off with cement.

BP also has sprayed chemicals on the oil to break it up into smaller droplets, with about 4 million gallons (15 million liters) of oil-contaminated water recovered.

The size of the spill, as measured from satellites, seems to have grown about 50 percent from May 10 to late Thursday, said Graber from the University of Miami.

"There's a hell of a lot coming out," Graber said of the oil.

The estimate that 210,000 gallons (795,000 liters) are leaking daily comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and has frequently been cited by BP and the Coast Guard. Some scientists have said based on an analysis of BP's video of the leak that the flow rate is much higher, while others have concluded the video is too grainy to draw any such conclusions.

BP is sticking with the NOAA estimate, company spokesman Mark Proegler said Thursday. He said BP hasn't sent down equipment that might be able to more accurately measure the oil because "our focus is on stopping the leak, not measuring it."

25% Off Special * Some Restrictions Apply *

2010-05-08T09:35:00.000-07:00

Book any property arriving between now and

May 27th and receive a 25% discount off the

base rate.

Our sugar-white sand beaches along with the emerald green clear

waters still remain intact. We are posting a video twice daily on the

bottom of our homepage at www.holidayisle.net for you to see the

current state the beach is in. We have never offered a discount of

this magnitude and it will not be extended, so take advantage by

calling us to book your beach vacation today and claim your 25%

off discount.

Holiday Isle Properties has been a premiere gateway to Destin

for the past 25 yearsby surpassing visitors'expectations during

their stay. In a business where returning guests reign supreme,

we take pride in our impeccable customer service, our small-

business atmosphere, and our ability to offer the best prices

around.Holiday Isle Properties offers a distinct array of vacation

homes, condominiums, town-homes, and more. We have

everything from one bedroom condos to six bedroom beach

homes, as well as properties to accommodate all your boating

needs. So give us a try. We are confident you will never book

with another rental company again!

800-837-5102 Toll Free|Holiday Isle Properties|www.holidayisle.net

*Certain restrictions may apply, ask your reservation agent
for more details. Discount only applies to new reservations
made, arriving on 5/6 and departing on 5/28 *