'I'VE BEEN DOING A LOT OF PRAYING': Oil worries Destin business owners (PHOTOS)

DESTIN — Fudpucker’s Beachside Bar & Grill co-owner Tim Edwards sees similarities between the gulf oil spill and Hurricane Opal.

After Opal devastated the area in October 1995, Fudpucker’s stayed in business mostly because it received disaster assistance loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration.

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Edwards said sales at the popular restaurants were down between 30 and 40 percent in May compared to May of 2009 and currently average being down about 8 to 10 percent a day.

Fudpucker’s already filed a claim with BP to recoup lost revenues from the oil spill for the month of May, and Edwards said the restaurant is finalizing its application for an SBA disaster assistance loan.

“If we see reductions of greater than 10 percent all summer, we’re going to need every penny we can get,” he said. “We’re looking at every resource we can look at.

“Being down 10 percent now, we consider ourselves fortunate because there are businesses that are down a lot more.”

Chester Kroeger, Edwards’ partner in Fudpucker’s, said he’s usually an optimist but is worried about tourism.

“I’m not feeling real good about (the rest of the summer),” Kroeger said. “I think what we’re seeing now in Perdido Pass is very likely to move in this direction, and if the authorities close the beaches to swimming, it’s going to be horrific. I’ve been doing a lot of praying and I know a lot of other people have been praying for those north winds and so far we’ve been very, very fortunate.”

As of Wednesday, 8,252 claims had been filed with BP in Florida and the company had paid out nearly $5.4 million.

Governor Charlie Crist activated Florida’s Small Business Emergency Bridge Loan Program on Monday to provide emergency, short-term loans of up to $25,000 to established small businesses in the designated counties. The loans are available to companies that had been in operation for a year or more before the Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20 and have fewer than 100 employees.

The short-term loans are available to businesses in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton, Bay, Gulf, Franklin, Wakulla, Jefferson, Taylor, Dixie, Levy, Citrus, Hernando, Pasco, Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, Collier, Monroe, Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Like Fudpucker’s, the Okaloosa County fishing pier has seen a large decrease in its business since the oil spill began and its management is compiling the data needed to file a claim with BP.

“We’re probably down by about 30 percent, 40 percent,” said Ronald Ray, who works at the pier. “It would be worse than that, but we got a loyal base of customers who call and find out if we’ve been affected by it or not, and thankfully, we haven’t been affected by it.”

Craig Norwood, owner of The Track in Destin, said attendance at the recreation center has been down in May and June and he is considering filing a claim against the oil giant now.

“It’s a significant reduction in business,” Norwood said. “We have adjusted our staff accordingly and had to cutback in some things. It’s unfortunate. We were planning on a big summer like everybody else.

“We’re all having to make hard decisions we weren’t really planning to make this year.”