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Dr. Beach Reveals His Top 10 U.S. Beaches For 2015

Waimanalo Bay Beach Park on the Hawaiian island of Oahu won the #1 spot on Dr. Beach's top 10 beaches list for 2015. (Ryan Ozawa/Flickr)
Waimanalo Bay Beach Park on the Hawaiian island of Oahu won the #1 spot on Dr. Beach's top 10 beaches list for 2015. (Ryan Ozawa/Flickr)

Memorial Day weekend is upon us, which for many people marks the first real beach weekend of the year. Just in time, a new list of the top 10 public beaches in the U.S. is out, ranked by a man who goes by the name “Dr. Beach.” Taking this year’s top honor: Waimanalo Beach in Oahu, Hawaii.

Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson talks to Dr. Beach, or Stephen Leatherman, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environment at Florida International University, about the beaches that made the cut this year, and why.

Dr. Beach’s Top 10 Beaches For 2015

  1. Waimanalo Bay Beach Park – Oahu, Hawaii
  2. Barefoot Beach – Bonita Springs, Florida
  3. St. George Island State Park – Florida panhandle
  4. Hamoa Beach – Maui, Hawaii
  5. Cape Hatteras – Outer Banks of North Carolina
  6. Cape Florida State Park – Key Biscayne, Florida
  7. Coast Guard Beach – Cape Cod, Massachusetts
  8. Beachwalker Park – Kiawah Island, South Carolina
  9. Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park – Naples, Florida
  10. East Beach – Santa Barbara, California

Guest

  • Stephen Leatherman, also known as “Dr. Beach,” is a professor in the Department of Earth and Environment at Florida International University. He tweets @drbeach_top10.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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