Stories and Lifestyle: Dr. Beach and America’s most beautiful beaches

His real name is Stephen Leatherman. And in real life he is a professor for environmental sciences and director of the laboratory for coastal research at the renowned Florida International University in Miami. In the US, he is better known as Dr. Beach - the beach specialist. Since 1991 he publishes his list of the ten beaches in the US every year on Memorial Day weekend - the start of the summer season. Being in the top ten or even number one on the list is like a real honor for any beach. If a holiday destination makes it to the top of the list, this is a real cause of joy for the tourist associations: the beach "award" attracts between 25 and 30 percent more tourists.
And it all started rather innocently: In the late 80s a travel journalist asked Dr. Beach about the most beautiful in America. The coastal expert named ten beaches that spontaneously came to mind. Some time after that, an article was published, naming the ten most beautiful beaches in exactly the same order Dr. Leatherman had used. The list caught the attention of the tourist agencies, and they started using the ranking for their advertising campaigns.

The article caused such a great response that Dr. Leatherman decided to create a professional rating system: he developed 50 criteria that were to lead to a clear "diagnosis." And Dr. Beach works very accurately: he rates the quality of the sand, analyses the quality of the water and rates the turbidity and color of the sea - emerald green is at the top of the list. Other categories include the tree population at the beach, dunes, public facilities and - yes, even the number of deaths at the tested beaches is one of the criteria in his rating system. More important criteria for America's top-ten beaches: are there any dangerous rip currents? How are the swimming conditions? What about diving? Are there any lifeguards?

Let's have a look at the winner of 2007: Ocracoke Island in North Carolina. A novelty, by the way: up to now the winners always were beaches in Florida or Hawaii. One of Ocracoke's most obvious good attributes is its highly romantic location. The only way to get to the small Island off the North Carolina shore is by ferryboat. You won't find the big chains like McDonald's there. The main focus is on the big sandy beach, that is everything but overcrowded. Even in October, you can still enjoy a nice swim there. And Ocracoke is also perfect for divers, because of all the sunken ships.
Especially Florida and Hawaii are always well placed: their beaches achieve top ratings on a regular basis. Hawaii alone was number one on the list ten times already. So far, no one knows which beach will be number one on Dr. Beach's list this year! The final decision is top secret until Memorial Day on May 26, not even the winners know about anything yet. "Americans love lists," he said in a recent interview. "And Americans love beaches." And he was the first to come up with the idea of combining the two.

The internet portal "trip advisor" has already had a vote on the most beautiful beaches: North Beach of Fort De Soto Park in Florida won. Let's wait and see what Dr. Beach has to say to that.

Read more on www.drbeach.org