OK, I guess I was wrong about rigs in CA. Although I thought the Valdez was a ship. It is interesting how the tar is not on the FL Gulf coast. I guess we should be touting that to the tourists. Tar free beaches, come one, come all. Get it while it's clean...

Remember during Dubya's first term, he desperately wanted oil rigs in operation off the coast of FL? The many fine 'Blue' citizens (although, unfornutately not a majority of FL's population, lol) put pressure on brother Jeb to stand up to his older & dumber brother and "just said no."

They equated beautiful beaches with FL tourism. They figured that oil rigs would would ruin the beaches, and hurt tourism and wildlife.

Amazing - another case of, "not in my backyard."

{Stand firm, Alaska!}

Valdez was a ship, out of Alaska - the spill was in Alaska, not CA... I went to Juneau when they were starting the trial of the captain of the Valdez - talk about a lynch mob!!

As for Tar, I'm a FL native, go to the beach all the time (primarily Jax, and in the Panhandle - PC, Mexico Beach, Cape San Blas, etc) and I guess I have just been lucky because I have never once encountered the "tar"... sting rays, red tide, jelly fish, etc, but not tar...

No scientific basis for this, just a question, but wouldn't there be more of an instance of this type of thing near where the rigs are, which are LA and TX?? I know that there are some near FL too, but the majority are over there aren't they???

So, jhk3rd, you became a real 'tar heel'

I remember seeing tar balls on the beaches off L.A. in the 1940s. It was no big deal and the beaches were the most beeautiful I have ever seen..

I grew up in south Florida (Delray Beach, just north of Pompano) and encountered tar pretty regularly. I don't know where it comes from, but I can give you a non-toxic way to get it off. Mayonnaise, the full-fat Hellman's kind. Works like a charm.

I grew up in the South Bay area of L.A. in Southern California. For as long as I can remember, and as recently as last summer, tar is something we always watch for - it's not unusual to get it on your feet while at Manhatten, Hermosa or Redondo beaches. I don't remember ever getting any tar on us at the Orange County beaches (Newport, Huntington, Seal Beach) though.

Hey Gumboula, how old are you? I went to Carver Middle in Delray beach...

Lorrieishere,
No you didn't! I am 34, so I was at Carver from, I guess, 1982-1985.

I just turned 31, so we probably just missed each other. I went to Atlantic after that and graduated in 1992. What about you? Living in west Boynton now.

Lorrieishere,
I graduated from Atlantic in 1989. We were both there for a one-year window, maybe we met. My name was Lesley Williams (Reid now). My family still lives in Delray, so I visit frequently. I miss it, especially since the downtown is so much more active than it was when I lived there. I actually recommend it as a tourist destination now!

Your name doesn't sound familiar. My last name was Bayless and now it is Williams. I moved all the way from Delray to Boynton :) I love visiting my friends that live near downtown. It is a wonderful vacation spot if you are looking for a short getaway. I actually just booked a cruise that departs from Fort Lauderdale and the description of the port at Fort Lauderdale actually included a line "near the resort town of Delray Beach". When I was a kid you didn't want to be caught downtown after dark, and now you can barely find a parking spot. Lots of interesting restraunts and music clubs.

The resort town of Delray! Now that is great.

I was looking for something to top so we can fix this column and here's the tar thread. I had restrained myself, but here goes: I became known as "tarbutt" to my kids from having sat on a blob of tar when we were visiting the lovely beach at Santa Barbara. They still like to call me that to make fun of me. I had to throw out the pants I was wearing as it never washed out. People said it was from some natural phenomenon, but I was suspicious, as anyone might be with an unsightly black blob on their butt. And that's what I have to say about tar on beaches.
Anyone else find a thread to top?