Isle beaches no longer tops
Carolina beach ranked best
Associated Press
For the first time since the listing began in 1991, neither Hawaii nor Florida has won the annual contest for best beach in the nation.
That honor went yesterday to an obscure, undeveloped strand on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Perhaps the shutout is not surprising, since 11 of Hawaii's best beaches are ineligible because they are previous national winners. That's a rule set down by arbiter "Dr. Beach," Stephen Leatherman.
Two Hawaii beaches did make the Top 10, however: Hanalei, Kauai, at No. 4, and Hamoa Beach, near Hana, Maui, at No. 6.
RALEIGH, N.C. » Move over Florida and Hawaii. Your beaches are no longer the best.
The nation's best place to get a tan and enjoy the waves in 2007 is North Carolina's Ocracoke Island, a place so remote that even people in the offices of "Dr. Beach" -- Florida International University professor Stephen Leatherman -- didn't know where to find it on the map.
"It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from here," Leatherman said from Ocracoke, the first beach not in Florida or Hawaii to earn the top spot in his annual ranking of the nation's Top 10 spots on the shore.
BEST BEACHES
1. Ocracoke Lifeguarded Beach, Outer Banks, N.C.
2. Caladesi Island State Park, Clearwater, Fla.
3. Coopers Beach, Southampton, N.Y.
4. Hanalei Beach, Kauai
5. Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod, Mass.
6. Hamoa Beach, Hana, Maui
7. Main Beach, East Hampton, N.Y.
8. Coronado Beach, San Diego
9. Lighthouse Point Park, Daytona Beach, Fla.
10. Siesta Beach, Sarasota, Fla.
Source: Dr. Stephen Leatherman
On the Net:
» Dr. Beach: www.drbeach.org
» Cape Hatteras National Seashore: www.nps.gov/caha
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Technically, it's Ocracoke Lifeguarded Beach that is the nation's best. But Leatherman said there's little that separates those 300 yards of postcard-perfect sand from the rest of the island, almost all of which is protected from development as part of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
"Here, you have 14 miles of unspoiled, undisturbed barrier beach," said Leatherman, director of Florida International's laboratory for coastal research. "Where do you find that in the world?"
Ocracoke is at the southern end of the Outer Banks, the fragile chain of barrier islands along North Carolina's coast known as the "graveyard of the Atlantic." Accessible only by boat or private plane, the island where the pirate Blackbeard met his untimely death at the hands of the Royal Navy in 1718 has only about 800 full-time residents.
"People shouldn't come here to play golf, and don't come here for the Hilton spa or something like that," Leatherman said. "They're not going to find those things here. What you will find here -- it's like going back in time with very quaint, small inns. It's my favorite getaway island beach. And it's definitely that."
Ocracoke has been a favorite of "Dr. Beach" for years -- he ranked it No. 3 in 2006 and No. 2 in 2005. By winning this year, it will be retired from consideration along with other past champions. Those champions include 11 beaches in Hawaii.
Two isle beaches made the Top 10 this year: Hanalei, Kauai, at No. 4, up from No. 5 last year, and Hamoa Beach, near Hana, Maui, at No. 6, up from No. 9.
Leatherman ranks beaches on 50 different criteria, using a scale of 1 to 5. No beach has ever gotten all 250 points, and Ocracoke ranked somewhere in the 230s, he said.
He considers only swimming beaches, which leaves out those along the Maine and Oregon coastlines where the water is too cold. Beaches with lifeguards get high points, as do those that balance the natural and the built environments.