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For the first time since the oil began washing up along the Florida Panhandle, officials closed the pass that links the Gulf of Mexico to the region's inland waterways. The Coast Guard monitored boom that sealed the Destin Pass overnight Wednesday as high tide moved the oil and tar toward the area.

The booms collected some oil overnight, which means that they're working and that crews have relayed no reports of oil inside the pass. Destin is known for it's large charter boat fleet. Boats hired weeks ago by BP to skim oil and monitor boom were notified Wednesday that they were being activated to protect the area's waterways.

The Sandestin Golf and Beach Resort dug an 18-inch-deep and 3-foot-wide trench at the high-water mark in an effort to trap any oil that washes up.