What if Los Angeles' ocean blue turned black?

On June 12th, I spent the most amazing day out on the ocean. The water was a magical blue, so blue that it almost didn’t seem real. How can the ocean be such an amazing blue I kept wondering. My eyes were riveted, I just kept staring into the beautiful blue depths. The boat was a few miles from Catalina Island and scientists from the Cabrillo Aquarium had put fish bait in the water and we were all waiting for sharks to arrive.

While waiting, several of us were captivated by how blue the ocean was that day. We started talking about it and I kept taking photos hoping to capture it permanently, to be able to share the shade of blue with others…a blue that words just can’t describe. Eventually, the group started to discuss the reality of the ocean in other parts of the world. We spoke in hushed tones about the BP oil spill, the devastation and we whispered the question: What if a tragedy like the BP oil spill happened here? What if the beautiful blue water we were mesmerized by turned black?

The question hung there without an answer as we all contemplated the dire consequences in our minds. It was just too terrible to think about. Can you even imagine going to the beach and seeing nothing but black? Instead of fresh ocean air would we just smell oil fumes? And what about all of our precious marine life? I can’t even imagine what the people living along the Gulf coast are going through. When I am able to partially grasp the reality of the Gulf oil spill the only words that come to mind are “soul crushing.” Because we are all connected to the ocean in some way, if a section of the ocean dies so does a part of us.