ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A 9-mile (14-kilometer) stretch of Florida sugar-white sand in an unspoiled herbal atmosphere along the Gulf of Mexico is the nation’s best beach for 2023, in step with the annual ranking launched Thursday through the college professor referred to as “Dr. Beach.”
The state park on St. George Island simply off the Florida Panhandle drew the highest honor from Stephen Leatherman, professor in the Department of Earth & Environment at Florida International University. This yr’s most sensible 10 checklist marks the thirty third yr Leatherman has rated the best of America’s 650 public seashores round Memorial Day, the standard get started of summer season.
St. George Island is continuously at the checklist. But this yr what set it excluding others is its herbal good looks, loss of building, plentiful actions together with fishing, swimming, kayaking, biking, tenting and an exceptional view of the evening sky for stargazers, Leatherman mentioned.
“There’s just so many things that capture my imagination there,” Leatherman mentioned in an interview. “It’s an idyllic place.”
The park covers about 2,000 acres (810 hectares) at the east finish of the island, which is attached through a bridge to the mainland throughout Apalachicola Bay, famed for its oysters. The different sections of the island include a small village, eating places, condo properties and inns, however no longer a complete lot else.
And that is the approach Leatherman likes it.
“People can have the best of both worlds there, just miles and miles of unspoiled beaches,” he mentioned.
The island has been battered over the many years through tropical storms, maximum lately through Hurricane Michael in October 2018. That fatal Category 5 hurricane made landfall about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northwest in Mexico Beach, however packed sufficient punch to stage many St. George Island sand dunes and harm park amenities akin to picnic pavilions and restrooms.
“Since that time, staff and volunteers have made great strides toward getting the park back to normal,” park officers mentioned on its web site.
In 2005, a 153-year-old lighthouse on within reach, uninhabited Little St. George Island collapsed into the Gulf because of storms and erosion. It was once rebuilt at the major island after volunteers salvaged 22,000 of the unique bricks and located the Nineteenth-century plans on the National Archives. The new location manner other folks can extra simply trek to the highest for a breathtaking view.
Leatherman makes use of 50 standards to judge seashores together with sand kind, wave motion, whether or not lifeguards are provide, presence of flora and fauna, the extent of building and crowding, and plenty of different components. Extra credit is given to seashores that forbid cigarette smoking, basically as a result of the wish to save you discarded butts. None have been observed all through a up to date talk over with to St. George Island, he mentioned.
“I had to give them more credit for that,” Leatherman mentioned. “I think people are coming around to the point of view that our beaches are some of our greatest recreational areas. You can go to the beach and you can do so many things.”
A 2nd Florida Gulf coast beach, Caladesi Island State Park close to Clearwater and Dunedin, ranks fourth at the checklist this yr. It’s reachable basically through ferry and personal boat, or an individual may just stroll a quite great distance there from Clearwater Beach relying at the tides. Despite the title, Caladesi is not a real island any more as a result of an inlet closed off, Leatherman mentioned.
“The white beach is composed of crystalline quartz sand, which is soft and cushy at the water’s edge, inviting one to take a dip in the sparkling clear waters,” he mentioned.
Caladesi has boardwalk nature trails and kayaking via mangroves which are house to a lot of species of fish, birds and different animals.
Hawaii positioned 3 seashores at the checklist, greater than every other state. Florida was once subsequent with two.
Here is Dr. Beach’s whole 2023 most sensible 10:
1. St. George Island State Park, Florida Panhandle
2. Duke Kahanamoku Beach, Oahu, Hawaii
3. Coopers Beach, Southampton, New York
4. Caladesi Island State Park, Dunedin/Clearwater, Florida
5. Lighthouse Beach, Buxton, Outer Banks of North Carolina
6. Coronado Beach, San Diego
7. Wailea Beach, Maui, Hawaii
8. Beachwalker Park, Kiawah Island, South Carolina
9. Poipu Beach, Kauai, Hawaii
10. Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
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