Reporter's Notebook: Oil reaches islands

Justine Redman
AC360° Producer

Editor's Note: Watch Gary Tuchman's full report tonight on AC360° at 10pm eastern

Gary Tuchman, photographer Phil Littleton and I are on our way to the Chandeleur Islands, 35 miles off the coast of Mississippi. They're uninhabited barrier islands, not much but some patches of land sticking out just above the water's surface, we think. And we believe the oil spill has hit them.

[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/05/04/tuchman.mississippi.jpg caption="Gary Tuchman on his way to the Chandeleur Islands, which may be the first place oil has hit land."]

We found a man with a boat willing to take us on the three hour sail from Gulfport. We've got our satellite gear, and rubber boots, and we're hoping it all works out to have Gary live from the islands for AC360° tonight, taking a look at the sort of thing we can expect to see on the mainland if the oil reaches that coastline.