Crist doles out millions of BP dollars: South Walton TDC requests $2.7 million (PHOTOS and LATEST OIL SPILL FORECAST)

DESTIN — Tourists covered the beaches Sunday morning as Gov. Charlie Crist made arrangements to keep it that way.

Crist met with representatives from eight tourist development councils — those in Bay, Walton, Okaloosa, Escambia, Santa Rosa, Gulf, Wakulla and Franklin counties — to distribute millions of dollars for emergency advertising campaigns.

The Bay County Tourist Development Council received a little more than $1.1 million, Executive Director Dan Rowe said.

“We want to do everything we can to let tourists know the beaches are free of oil, and I think the local tourist development councils know what’s best for the area,” Crist said.

To see photos of Crist during the meeting, click here.

To see today's photos from ground zero, click here.

'GOD HAS PROTECTED FLORIDA': Crist holidays in Destin as tourists turn out (PHOTOS)

The funds are a part of the $25 million BP gave the state to combat the effects of the oil spill on tourism. Each TDC gave Crist a proposed budget for radio and television advertising campaigns.

Crist awarded half of each proposed budget Sunday and said the counties would be eligible for the rest of the funds in 45 days.

“I pray to God the oil does not come here,” Crist said. “But if it does, the only way we can get through it is to come together.”

Rowe said he thanked Crist for getting all the money into local hands.

The TDC of South Walton requested $2.7 million to let people know the “coast is clear,” said Dawn Moliterno, executive director of The Beaches of South Walton Tourist Development Council.

The ads will start running by the end of the week.

“This is significant to The Beaches of South Walton,” Moliterno said. “It is going to give us additional advertising dollars in TV and radio that we could not otherwise afford.”

Crist met a few of the beachgoers after the meeting, playing catch with a few of them and posing for photos with others. Many of his short conversations included questions of where they were from and ended with a “thanks” for coming.

He also stopped in Panama City Beach to tour local travel agency BookIt.com, which has its headquarters on Back Beach Road.

Mike and Katie Warner spent a few minutes with the governor in Destin. The Dallas couple was in town for their wedding anniversary.

Katie Warner said she spent days monitoring the oil before taking the trip. The Warners agreed that Destin was one of the best beaches they had visited.

“We love this beach but if the oil came, I wouldn’t bring my family here,” Katie Warner said.

The beach crowds were bigger than Crist expected. He learned that Saturday drove in a record crowd for Pompano Joe’s, the beachside restaurant where Crist met with TDC members.

“I was very concerned that the beaches would be desolate,” he said. “There’s a lot of good folks out here and we’re very, very grateful that they’re here and enjoying themselves. We’ve just got to keep going.”

Crist spent Saturday back on the Charter Boat Phoenix. This time, the governor caught grouper and red snapper. He threw back the snapper, which was out of season.

“We’re here to get the message out that the beaches are clean, the water is clean and the fish are biting,” Crist said.

FORECAST

In his latest posting, Weather Underground founder Jeff Masters offers the following forecast: "Light onshore winds out of the south to southwest are expected to blow over the northern Gulf of Mexico all week, resulting increased threats of oil to the Alabama and Mississippi barrier islands, according to the latest trajectory forecasts from NOAA," Masters writes. "These persistent southwesterly winds will likely bring oil very close to the Florida Panhandle by next weekend."

To see the latest NOAA map on the trajectory of the spill, click here.