But in Gulf Shores, in neighboring Alabama, there was no denying reality after the onslaught of gooey, viscous oil Saturday. Brown, the city recreation official, said the issue of how to attract visitors amid the mess had become "the million-dollar question."
Brown said the city would emphasize the many inland water attractions that have not been affected by the spill. However, he said, "The beach is the main draw — and everybody loves to go to the beach."
Brown laid out some of the long-term threats to the area, including the 40,000 tourism-dependent jobs in Baldwin County. City officials are worried, he said, that the oil could compromise the offshore sand that is dredged each year and used to broaden the resort town's trademark pearly white beaches.
The drama was also unfolding in tiny, though no less dramatic, ways. Late Saturday, a sea turtle swam through the oily mess and laid a new nest on the south Alabama shore.
Although motorized vehicles are not supposed to help clean up the area used by the turtles, the beach was soon swarming with all-terrain vehicles and heavy equipment, and a vehicle ran over the new nest, said Mike Reynolds of Share the Beach, a volunteer group that protects turtle nests.
Reynolds said volunteers were able to find the nest and safely dig up 127 new ping-pong-ball-size eggs and rebury them in a safe spot.
This was the first nest laid in the area since the oil spill began. It will be fenced off to protect the eggs until they hatch in about two months.
As of Saturday, 374 sea turtles affected by the oil spill had been collected by wildlife authorities, 315 of them dead. Oil was visible on 42 turtles.
Times staff writers Richard Simon in Washington and Kim Murphy in New Orleans and Peter Nicholas of the Washington bureau contributed to this report.
