NEWS 4 JAX: Tar Balls Show Up On St. Augustine Beach -- U.S. Coast Guard Sends Globs Off For Testing

POSTED: Thursday, July 8, 2010
UPDATED: 8:29 pm EDT July 8, 2010

ST. AUGUSTINE BEACH, Fla. -- It's the last thing tourist Pat Stuckey expected to see along St. Augustine Beach -- tar balls littering the shoreline, some as big as an apple.

"It could be a ship liner out there, somebody just disposing barrels. I don't know," Stuckey said. "It could be an oil leak, but whatever it is, this isn't good. I mean, this is going to continue to show up."

St. Johns County health officials confirmed the a small number of tar balls were found along the coast Thursday, but they said they do not believe the tar balls are oil globs from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which is located more than 1,000 miles away.

The United States Coast Guard is collecting a sample to send for testing, which is expected take three to five days.