Dr. Beach tells The TODAY Show why he chose a Florida beach as the best in the U.S.

Florida came out No. 1 in Dr. Beach's 2023 Top Ten Beaches list, with St. George Island beach along Florida's Gulf of Mexico named as the best place in the U.S. to hike, fish, swim, surf, birdwatch, camp, or just relax. But seaweed might have ruined the chances this year for other Florida beaches.

Dr. Beach, also known as Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman, professor in the Department of Earth & Environment at Florida International University, appeared on a segment for The Today Show Thursday morning to explain why he chose this perennial favorite over the others.

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Why did Dr. Beach choose St. George Island beach over all the rest?

"So, it has beautiful miles and miles of undisturbed, pristine beaches, big sand dunes, freshwater lakes, the water is emerald green," Leatherman told The Today Show's Sam Brock as they strolled the white sand. "That's one of the most beautiful colors, I think, for the water, fishing water."

In the 33 years of the Dr. Beach report, Julian G. Bruce St. George Island State Park has made his top ten list time and time again, with a brief drop after Hurricane Michael devastated the area The beach takes up 9 miles of the 22-mile long barrier island along the Panhandle in Franklin County, about a two-hour drive from Tallahassee.

“There's just so many things that capture my imagination there,” Leatherman told the Associated Press. “It's an idyllic place.”

A second Florida Gulf Coast beach, Caladesi Island State Park near Clearwater and Dunedin, ranks fourth on the list this year.

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What does Dr. Beach look for when judging beaches?

Dr. Beach has 50 criteria for deciding how to rank beaches, and cleanliness is at the top of the list.

'You gotta have clean sand, clean water, and safety," he said. "Otherwise, it's not gonna be anywhere on the list."

Other criteria include sand softness, water temperatures, number of sunny days, number of waves, how the beach slopes underwater, rip currents, beach shape, water color, algae, red tide, wildlife, trash, views, access, urban development, lifeguards, safety record, noise, seawalls, and how crowded it is. Beaches receive bonus points for not allowing smoking.

One problem that may have kept some popular Florida beaches off the year this time is seaweed,

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Why wasn't my favorite Florida beach on Dr. Beach's list?

This year, it may have been due to the wave after wave of sargassum seaweed that assaulted Florida beaches after a massive bloom occurred in the Caribbean Sea. Blobs of the itchy plant covered beaches up and down the east coast in record amounts, leaving blobs that can release a stinky hydrogen sulfide gas when it decays, and Brock said it caused "the biggest shakeup in this year's ranking."

"Let's face it," Leatherman told TODAY. "It looks bad, smells, it rots on the beach, it's just very unpleasant."

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How many U.S. beaches has Dr. Beach seen?

There are 650 public recreational beaches in the United States. How many has Leatherman walked across?

"All of them," he said. "I've been to all the beaches in the United States, every beach."

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Dr. Beach's Best Beaches: St George's hits, lacks sargassum seaweed