America's best beaches: Florida, Hawaii sands top 'Dr. Beach' rankings

Siesta Beach in Sarasota, Fla., is the USA’s best beach, according to an annual survey by “Dr. Beach.”

Kapalua Bay Beach in Maui was number two on the top 10 list.

Dr. Beach, a.k.a. Stephen Leatherman, a coastal expert and professor at Florida International University, has been compiling the annual rankings since 1991.

He uses 50criteria to evaluate the beaches, including water and sand quality, safety and environmental management practices. Beaches receive bonus points for not allowing smoking.

Florida had the most number of beaches on the top 10 list. Hawaii came in second with two. The east coast was also well represented with beaches in New York, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and South Carolina making the list. Only one beach on the West Coast was placed on the list: Coronado Beach in San Diego.

Dr. Beach lauded Siesta Beach for its “clear, warm waters ideal for swimming.”

“The beach is hundreds of yards wide in the shape of a crescent due to anchoring of onshore rocks to the south,” he writes.

He calls Kapalua Bay Beach “a perfect beach for swimming and snorkeling in the clear, azure waters that are protected by two headlands formed long ago by lava flows into the sea.”

“This beautiful crescent-shaped, white sand beach is bounded by these rocky anchors where good restaurants can be found,” he writes.

For more on the top 10 beaches, go to DrBeach.org.

Here’s the complete list for 2017:

1. Siesta Beach, Sarasota, Fla.
2. Kapalua Bay Beach, Maui, Hawaii
3. Ocracoke Lifeguarded Beach, Outer Banks of N.C.
4. Grayton Beach State Park, Florida panhandle
5. Coopers Beach, Southampton, N.Y.
6. Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod, Mass.
7. Caladesi Island State Park, Dunedin/Clearwater, Fla.
8. Hapuna Beach State Park, Big Island, Hawaii
9. Coronado Beach, San Diego, Calif.
10. Beachwalker Park, Kiawah Island, S.C.