Stephen Leatherman, the Florida International University researcher who's been issuing the reports since 1991, described North Beach as "a natural jewel on the finger of a sun-drenched city."
"It's a long, wide, sugar sand beach with great shelling and thriving natural dunes," he said of the beach, located on an island in Tampa Bay.
Leatherman's "Top 10" beaches, in order, are:
-- Fort De Soto Park - North Beach. St Petersburg, Fla.
-- Ocracoke Island. Outer Banks, N.C.
-- Hanalei Bay. Kauai, Hawaii
-- Caladesi Island State Park. Clearwater, Fla.
-- Fleming Beach. Maui, Hawaii
-- Coast Guard Beach. Cape Cod, Mass.
-- Coronado Beach. San Diego, Calif.
-- Cape Florida State Park. Key Biscayne, Fla.
-- Main Beach. East Hampton, N.Y.
-- Hamoa Beach. Maui, Hawaii
Criteria balance recreation, ecology
Director of the Laboratory for Coastal Research at Florida International University, Leatherman weighed 50 criteria in reviewing 650 major public beaches along the U.S. coast. |