SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Doctor's orders: Make room for a day at San Diego's Coronado Beach.
In his annual list of America's best beaches, Stephen Leatherman, a professor at Florida International University known as "Dr. Beach," named the local beach among the best in the country.
Coronado Beach was also the only California beach to make the top 10 list, coming in at ninth best.
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"Coronado Beach is the toast of Southern California; it is a veritable oasis by the sea, measuring hundreds of yards wide. With its lush subtropical vegetation, unique Mediterranean climate, and fine sparkling sand, beach-goers flock to this beach for great ship-watching and the summer’s warm and mild surf," Leatherman writes on his website.
Kapalua Bay Beach in Maui, Hawaii, topped the doctor's list of beaches followed by Ocracoke Lifeguarded Beach in North Carolina, Grayton Beach State Park in Florida, and Coopers Beach in New York.
Beaches were measured on water and sand quality, tide and wave breaks, weather, and safety and management. Dr. Beach also gives extra points whether a beach prohibits smoking.
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So what makes Leatherman the doctor of beaches? Since 1991, the professor has been grading the country's best beach destinations. He's regarded as a coastal expert, writing 20 books and hundreds of articles on storm impacts, coastal erosion, and beach health.
