America’s Best Beaches of 2005 : Dr Beach (Stephen Leatherman) Reports

“A stretch of sand off the west coast of Florida near St. Petersburg is America’s best beach of 2005, according to a Florida scientist whose annual top 10 list has become a promotional tool for the tourism industry.

Fort De Soto Park’s North Beach is a “natural jewel on the finger of a sun-drenched city,” Dr. Stephen Leatherman, head of Florida International University’s Laboratory for Coastal Research, said on Wednesday. Leatherman, who calls himself Dr. Beach, described the Gulf of Mexico beach, on an island off St. Petersburg, as a “long, wide, sugar sand beach with great shelling and thriving natural dunes.” reports Yahoo News.

America’s Best Beaches 2005

1. Fort DeSoto Park – North Beach, St Petersburg, Florida
2. Ocracoke Island, Outer Banks, North Carolina
3. Hanalei Bay, Kauai, Hawaii
4. Caladesi Island State Park, Clearwater, Florida
5. Fleming Beach, Maui, Hawaii
6. Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
7. Coronado Beach, San Diego, California
8. Cape Florida State Park, Key Biscayne, Florida
9. Main Beach, East Hampton, New York
10. Hamoa Beach, Maui, Hawaii

You can find more information about tourism, travel, beaches and Dr Beach (Dr. Stephen Leatherman) on his site. There is also a long list of previous best beach winners.