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While the devastating oil spill in the Gulf still remains, the shores of the affected areas in the U.S. are mostly open for business. If you’ve planned to travel to Florida, Alabama or Louisiana, you can still be active in the outdoors and enjoy most of the beaches. Here’s an update of the primary beaches and their progress, as of Monday, June 21, 2010.

Northwest Florida
The health advisory set by the Escambia County Health Department has been lifted from the beaches of the Alabama-Florida border, and no oil sheen or slick has been seen in the water, as far as 100 yards from the shore. Fifteen beach communities remain open, and the no-swim advisory due to floating tar in Fort Walton Beach, Destin, and Okaloosa Islands has also been lifted. The tar had moved also to Panama Beach, but now beaches both there and in Pensacola are open and swimming is safe.

Gulf Islands National Seashore
Clean-up operations and surveillance to monitor the spill and debris are still underway, but so far all of the Gulf Island National Seashore sites in Florida and Mississippi are open, according to the National Park Service. Fort Pickens has experienced some tar.

Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, Alabama
Along the Gulf shores and Orange Beach, Alabama, significant oiling occurred, but now beaches are open for sunbathing, walking, and activities, but swimming is advised against, especially in or near Fort Morgan, Bayou St. John, Terry Cove, Cotton Bayou and Old River.

Louisiana
While 45 mile of the Louisiana coastline east of the Mississippi River has been largely affected by the spill, the 75 miles west of the river are open. Grand Isle, however, has closed its public beach.

About the author

Pleasance CoddingtonPleasance is a British travel writer and online content specialist in travel. She has written for numerous publications and sites including Wired, Lucky, Rough Guides and Yahoo! Travel. After working for six years on content and social media at VisitBritain, she is now the Global Content and Social Media Manager for Cheapflights.

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