Three of Hawaii’s beaches — Duke Kahanamoku Beach, Wailea Beach and Poipu Beach — made Dr. Beach’s 2023 list of the country’s top 10 beaches. Stephen “Dr. Beach” Leatherman, a professor in the Department of Earth and Environment at Florida International University in Miami, has produced the list annually since 1991.
Dr. Beach holds a Ph.D. in environmental sciences and has authored over 200 journal articles and 20 books.
Every year, Dr. Beach judges the 650 public beaches in the U.S. using his own survey. It includes 50 set criteria, such as beach width, air temperature, color of sand and tidal range, to rate the beaches on a sliding scale from one to five.