ALONG THE GULF COAST — It's barely 5 a.m., and last night's sliver of moon still hangs in a charcoal sky as Dave Marino eases the 24-foot bayboat from the dock and into the flat, dark waters of the canal leading toward the Gulf of Mexico.
The air hangs thick with the vapors of the bayou, but for now it's cool — the ideal start for what should be a perfect day in the life of a fishing guide: chasing speckled trout in the morning, redfish in to the afternoon.
"I'm 41 years old and that's the way it's always been," says Marino, a lifelong fisherman who started his own charter business in Myrtle Grove, La., to relieve the stress of his primary job, fighting fires.
This morning, though, there'll be no escaping reality. The waters at the end of the canal have all been put off limits to fishing. Marino's usual charter customers have canceled or stopped calling. And today he is motoring out in search of oil.
With every sunrise, the sheen rippling from BP's gaping Deepwater Horizon wellhead drifts closer to Marino's corner of paradise. And the slick, he's discovered, is close behind.
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