Locals savor quality time at beach as oil nears » VIDEO, PHOTOS

NAVARRE — On an isolated stretch of beach, Doug Schumpert sat near the water’s edge with a cooler, a radio, a book and his thoughts.

He’d gotten up early and planned to stay as long as possible.

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“I realized today that I’d better spend quality time out here,” Schumpert said. “I had really been praying to God that (the oil spill) wasn’t going to make it here.

“I didn’t think it was ever going to reach our coast.”

The news that an oily sheen had been spotted off Pensacola’s shores made it real for Schumpert and others that the Emerald Coast would almost certainly be affected in the coming days.

The Navarre man expressed anger that with all of its strength and intelligence, the United States cannot stop the oil from ruining the Gulf of Mexico.

He said he also blames himself and every other person for our dependence on oil, which caused oil rigs to be placed in the Gulf.

“It’s every single one of our faults,” Schumpert said, gazing out at the water, stained by bright green algae.

To the west, tall towers in Pensacola Beach interrupted the sky. To the east, developments in Navarre Beach were blurred by distance. Only seven miles separates the two.

For his contemplative morning, Schumpert chose a quiet beach access along Gulf Islands National Seashore.

He was almost alone there, though a few others had followed a similar impulse.

At a safe remove, Mark Beeler of Gulf Breeze and Deborah Dickerson of Mary Esther, sat in lawn chairs side-by-side, sharing a late morning beer and sad thoughts.

“We heard how close it was getting,” Dickerson said.

“I took the day off work just to come out here,” Beeler said.

Like Schumpert, they sat close to the water’s edge.

“Depressed, anxious, sad, angry,” Dickerson said, when asked to describe her feelings about the oil spill. Beeler nodded in agreement.

Jack and Donna Sharbaugh of Pennsylvania are spending the week traveling the coast line from Louisiana to Destin.

“We swim and we watch and we look,” she said.

The former Mississippi residents stopped at the same remote beach access as Schumpert, and stood for some time in the sand, staring out at the water.

“It’s so sad,” Donna said. “I was laying on the beach yesterday thinking, ‘Will I get to do this again or is this all going to change?’”

She said the waitress in the Pensacola restaurant where they ate the night before had shared her fears about whether she would still have a job.

The Sharbaughs said they have thought about all the tourism-related businesses and worry about how they will fare.

“We’ll have you in our thoughts and prayers,” Donna said, before they got in their car and drove east, toward the next stretch of white sand.