PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (AP) - It was a trip with a purpose -- and now, a porpoise.
      
As President Barack Obama wraps up a weekend trip to Florida's Gulf Coast -- aimed at promoting tourism to the region in the aftermath of the oil spill -- the president and his wife and daughter Sasha saw porpoises from a boat that was cruising St. Andrews Bay near their hotel in Panama City.
      
Yesterday, Obama took Sasha for a swim and declared that "beaches all along the Gulf Coast are clean, they are safe, and they are open for business."

The White House scheduled the 27-hour trip to the Gulf after facing criticism that the president wasn't heeding his own advice that Americans vacation in the region. The first family returns to Washington this evening.