An annual list of the US’ top 10 beaches released last week includes two in Florida, with the list’s creator saying he’s not worried about pollution from the oil spill.
Stephen Leatherman, director of Florida International University’s Laboratory for Coastal Research, who is also known by the friendly nickname Dr Beach, included Siesta Beach in Sarasota and Cape Florida State Park in Key Biscayne, on his list of best beaches.
He said Cape Florida, on the southeast coast, “doesn’t get the wave activity” that can lead to tar balls washing up. As for Siesta Beach, he said he had looked at currents and believes “there’s very low probability the oil will get to southwest Florida.”
The number one beach on this year’s list is Coopers Beach in Southampton, New York, on the east end of Long Island. It offers pristine white sand gently sloping toward a shoreline of lapping waves, convenient parking and amenities and nary a gum wrapper in sight.
“New York has world-class beaches, but I don’t think a lot of people in the US know about them,” said Leatherman.
This is Leatherman’s 20th year of compiling a list of the country’s top 10.
Leatherman’s list also features another New York beach, Main Beach in East Hampton, Long Island, not far from Southampton. Main Beach takes the fifth spot on this year’s survey.
“When most people think of a beach vacation destination, they go south,” Leatherman said. “I kind of think the east end of Long Island is a well-kept secret for most Americans.”
Rounding out the top 10 are Coronado Beach, California (3), Cape Hatteras, North Carolina (4), Kahanamoku Beach in Waikiki, Honolulu (6), Coast Guard Beach in Cape Cod, Massachusetts (7), Beachwalker Park in Kiawah Island, South Carolina (8), and Hamoa Beach in Maui, Hawaii (9).
Coopers Beach has been a contender for the top spot in recent years, but this is the first time a New York beach has made it to number one, Leatherman said. He considers factors like water quality and temperature, cleanliness, weather, sand, safety and facilities in making his list.
Once a beach makes it to the top spot, it is retired from consideration in future years, he said. Leatherman added that designation as the country’s No. 1 beach usually brings as much as a 20 percent bump in tourism.
“Both Main and Coopers beaches have been recognized in the past as being among the top 10 beaches in the country — and to now hold the top spot is especially significant when you consider the quality of the company we’re in,” Moke McGowan, president of the Long Island Convention and Visitors Bureau, said in a statement.
Main Beach was in the headlines in April after a baby whale washed ashore and had to be euthanized; thousands of onlookers visited the ailing mammal on the seashore while it struggled for life over several days.
Several kilometers away on Coopers Beach, the Hamptons’ hometown crowd spoke about the cleanliness of the beach and described it as a welcoming, family-oriented playground.
“It’s wide, the sand is like baby powder,” said Carol Gerbereux, a visitor for at least 40 years. “It’s just a beautiful location; it has wonderful facilities and it’s just a pleasure to come here.”
On the Net: www.DrBeach.org
A few weeks ago I found myself at a Family Mart talking with the morning shift worker there, who has become my coffee guy. Both of us were in a funk over the “unseasonable” warm weather, a state of mind known as “solastalgia” — distress produced by environmental change. In fact, the weather was not that out of the ordinary in boiling Central Taiwan, and likely cooler than the temperatures we will experience in the near-future. According to the Taiwan Adaptation Platform, between 1957 and 2006, summer lengthened by 27.8 days, while winter shrunk by 29.7 days. Winter is not
A sultry sea mist blankets New Taipei City as I pedal from Tamsui District (淡水) up the coast. This might not be ideal beach weather but it’s fine weather for riding –– the cloud cover sheltering arms and legs from the scourge of the subtropical sun. The dedicated bikeway that connects downtown Taipei with the west coast of New Taipei City ends just past Fisherman’s Wharf (漁人碼頭) so I’m not the only cyclist jostling for space among the SUVs and scooters on National Highway No. 2. Many Lycra-clad enthusiasts are racing north on stealthy Giants and Meridas, rounding “the crown coast”
March 25 to March 31 A 56-year-old Wu Li Yu-ke (吳李玉哥) was straightening out her artist son’s piles of drawings when she inadvertently flipped one over, revealing the blank backside of the paper. Absent-mindedly, she picked up a pencil and recalled how she used to sketch embroidery designs for her clothing business. Without clients and budget or labor constraints to worry about, Wu Li drew freely whatever image came to her mind. With much more free time now that her son had found a job, she found herself missing her home village in China, where she
In recent years, Slovakia has been seen as a highly democratic and Western-oriented Central European country. This image was reinforced by the election of the country’s first female president in 2019, efforts to provide extensive assistance to Ukraine and the strengthening of relations with Taiwan, all of which strengthened Slovakia’s position within the European Union. However, the latest developments in the country suggest that the situation is changing rapidly. As such, the presidential elections to be held on March 23 will be an indicator of whether Slovakia remains in the Western sphere of influence or moves eastward, notably towards Russia and