Ha Ha, Bitches!

so, kelly and i had our meeting at the DEP office in pensacola today. it was pretty much a big fat waste of time. at least we got a hot lunch date (with each other) out of it. but i so could have used that time to do something else, and everything that was accomplished could have been done over the phone. at least our new friend andy (DEP guy) was nice.

so, we started the day by picking up the sea lab car and taking the 9:30 ferry to fort morgan (which doesn't really save a lot of time, but it saves mileage on the car) and driving from there to downtown pensacola. we scoped out the building where we would meet our new buddy andy then headed over to mcguire's for lunch. kelly's boyfriend was a teeny bit jealous when she told him she had a hot lunch date... but he cooled off when she told him it was with moi.

kelly had never been to mcguire's before, and she totally dug it. we split a plate of nachos. kelly actually thought that i was exaggerating when i described the sheer massiveness of mcguire's nachos... until she spotted the waitress coming with our food. we barely put a dent in them, and each of us walked away with a full to-go box. but they were delicious. and the sea lab car now reeks of nachos.

anyway, after lunch we headed back to the DEP office at the governmental center for our 1 pm meeting with andy. pretty much, he asked exactly what we need to do, how much seagrass we need to take and why, what our exact methods are, etc, etc. so we told him. and i informed him that the total amount of seagrass we will need from all three bays is 3 square meters or less. and even that will be collected over the course of a year and from different places. his reaction: 'what? that's it? this is what all the fuss was about?' and then he said that we don't even need a permit. ahhh! wtf?!? i've been going through all this shit for 4 freakin' months, and i don't even need a freakin' permit?!? nope. instead, he's going to give us what's called a de minimus exemption. basically, that means that the amount of seagrass that we're taking is so small that it will pretty much have as much impact on the grass beds as a vacationer walking through them. all we have to do is email him a map of our specific sites, GPS coordinates (which they already have, 'cause i sent them to the last guy that told me the permit was practically in the mail), and a written description of exactly what we're doing at each site. no bigee. kelly and i will do that tomorrow. but i won't be truly happy until i am holding the exemption form in my hand. i've been promised results before, and to no avail. i'm trying to have faith in you, andy my friend, but i've been burned by the DEP before.

so, after a half hour conversation that could have taken place over the phone, kelly and i proceeded to miss the 2:45 ferry back to dauphin island and thus were forced to go to the fort morgan marina for ice cream and fuze drinks (they're supposed to be vitamin-packed and good for you). then we caught the 4:15 ferry back to the island.

end of story.