It was Grand Isle, Louisiana, today and a meeting with Shell’s sustainability team, from the US and Netherlands, The Nature Conservancy, and Wetlands International. The site was Grand Isle, sort of the end of the road, where LA 1 meets the Gulf of Mexico. I know this is a hard blog to follow because today we are not on the boat but traveling by car down one of the most important highways in the world. This is where the bulk of offshore oil is developed off Louisiana’s coast and where one vulnerable roadway is critical to US energy security. This is also a region of vast wetland erosion and where shrimp boats co-exist with offshore oil crew boats and jack-up rigs. Of particular note is the building of a new US 1, an elevated highway that will be less vulnerable to the rising tides that more and more threaten the service road, so critical to domestic energy supply. After an energizing meeting on Grand Isle, where ideas were shared that could lead to greater world cooperation on an agenda for sustainability of the world’s premiere deltas, it was a dash to the airport in New Orleans to resume the Storm Rider tour. I made the airport in time but AirTran’s decision for an early departure shut me out of getting back to the boat tonight in Ft. Myers. As I watched the captain of the AirTran jet through the airport waiting area window witness a few of us who he left behind waving furiously, I could not help but long for the simpler moments on board the boat, where the efficiencies of life fail to trump the experience. More tomorrow as I try to get back on a schedule for the weekend that leads to Sarasota and St. Pete, Florida. Happy Sails!

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