Dr. Beach likes Hatteras

The beach at Cape Hatteras was named the fifth-best beach in the country in an annual survey by Florida International University professor (and NCSU graduate) Steven Leatherman, who is also known by the friendly nickname "Dr. Beach."

Leatherman ranks beaches on 250 criteria, including the look and feel of the sand, water quality, weather, facilities and crowds. A top score is 250.

Leatherman described the beach at Cape Hatteras as "providing some of the best board surfing along the East Coast, as well as the most famous lighthouse in the United States, Cape Hatteras attracts beachgoers to its historic fishing villages."

The best beach in the country is Sarasota's Siesta Beach. ...

San Diego's Coronado Beach was runner-up. Rounding out the top 10 were No. 3, Kahanamoku Beach in Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii; No. 4, Main Beach, East Hampton, N.Y.; No. 5, Cape Hatteras in North Carolina; No. 6, St. George Island State Park, Florida Panhandle; No. 7, Beachwalker Park, Kiawah Island, S.C.; No. 8, Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod, Mass.; No. 9, Waimanalo Bay Beach Park, Oahu, Hawaii, and No. 10, Cape Florida State Park near Miami.

A No. 1 spot on the popular list annual typically brings a 15-to-20-percent boost in visitors for the beach destinations.

Great news for turtles and rare birds

The National Park Service says the 2010 breeding season has broken records for rare sea turtles and birds along North Carolina's Cape Hatteras National Seashore, according to the Associated Press.

The park service says 147 sea turtle nests have been recorded, the most ever at Hatteras. There's also a record number of piping plover and oystercatcher chicks surviving long enough to fly.

A coalition of environmental groups says the numbers are thanks largely to a rule adopted in 2008 that restricts off-road vehicles in nesting areas. ...

Cape Hatteras fourth on Dr. Beach's best beaches list

Cape Hatteras came in No. 4 in Dr. Stephen Leatherman (aka, "Dr. Beach)'s annual Best Beach in America list. Leatherman, an N.C. State alum, has made quite the career out of publishing this annual list. Tough gig.

The No. 1 beach in America this year is Coopers Beach, in the N.Y. Hamptons.

"New York has world-class beaches, but I don't think a lot of people in the United States know about them," said Leatherman.

Rounding out the top 10 are Siesta Beach, Fla. (2), Coronado Beach, Calif. (3), Cape Hatteras, N.C. (4), Main Beach, N.Y. (5), Kahanamoku Beach in Waikiki, Honololu (No. 6), Coast Guard Beach in Cape Cod, Mass. (7), Beachwalker Park in Kiawah Island, S.C. (8), and Hamoa Beach in Maui, Hawaii (9), Cape Florida State Park, Fla. (10).

Photo by Kelly Capps

The (first) votes are in!

The list has been whittled down in the Land for Tomorrow's Top 10 N.C. Natural Wonders survey. You have until May 18th to pick your top five (or you can pick for the same natural wonder five times).

Among the choices are:
-The Blowing Rock
-The Blue Ridge Parkway
-Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout seashores
-Chimney Rock
-DuPont State Forest
-Grandfather Mountain
-Great Smoky Mountains
-Jockeys Ridge
-Joyce Kilmer Forest
-Lake Mattamuskeet
-Linville Falls
-Linville Gorge
-Lumber River
-Merchants Millpond State Park
-Mount Mitchell
-Mountains to Sea Trail
-Natahala Gorge
-New River
-Ocracoke Island
-Pilot Mountain
-Pisgah National Forest
-Roan Mountain
-Eno River
-Outer Banks
-Wild Horse of Corolla

Some intriguing possibilities here. To be honest, I forgot about many of these; North Carolina is truly blessed. Hard to narrow down to 10.

Just looking at 'em, here are a few initial thoughts on some of the choices.

-The Blowing Rock: One of my personal favorites. It's "legend" adds to its aura.
-The Blue Ridge Parkway: At first glance, an easy top 10 ...
-Grandfather Mountain: ... as is this one ...
-Great Smoky Mountains: ... this one ...
-Jockeys Ridge: ... and this one.
-Joyce Kilmer Forest: Some of the state's oldest and largest trees reside here. An underrated place.
-Linville Falls: Very nice, but there may be more majestic falls.
-Lumber River: For thousands of years, this river was the lifeblood of natives.
-Mount Mitchell: Tallest peak east of the Mississippi seems like a no-brainer.
-New River: I think, aside from the Nile, this is the only river in the world that flows from south to north.
-Ocracoke Island: Famous for its own local "dialect," but I'm not sure it's a top 10 natural wonder.
-Outer Banks: No-brainer.
-Wild Horse of Corolla: A sleeper suggestion I hadn't thought about. Good choice.

Go here to vote.

Enjoy the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse ... at night

The AP reports that Cape Hatteras Lighthouse visitors can "find out for themselves why the Outer Banks landmark was so important to coastal navigation."

The National Park Service on Friday offers nighttime tours of the lighthouse to coincide with the full moon rising over the Atlantic Ocean. There are no lights inside the lighthouse stairs, so visitors will climb the 210-foot brick tower using flashlights.

At the top, visitors will be able to view the working light up close and in motion. If weather allows, climbers stepping out on the balcony will get a glimpse of what lighthouse keepers in the 19th and 20th centuries saw as a powerful beam of light reaching out to sea and to the full moon.

(Photo by Kelly Capps)

Best place to retire in the South? Why, North Carolina, of course!

Ideal Living has released its list of the top places in the South to retire, and of North Carolina regions stake the claim in two of the top five, including the top one. Nice.

"Based on our reader surveys, we know that the 'lifestyle' is what you desire most," says the site. "Active year-round outdoor activities, small-town flare with big city access, a sense of community, golf, boating, abundant walking trails and more."

Taking readers feedback, Ideal Living ranked the N.C. coast No. 1.

"Consistently ranked in the top 5 US retirement destinations, the North Carolina Coast is home to Wilmington, New Bern, Cape Hatteras, The Albemarle Sound region and more." They recommend "checking out" Waterside at The Point near New Bern, Compass Pointe and River Landing, both in Wilmingon.

Following the N.C. coast were the Florida and South Cackalacky coasts, respectively, then the Tennessee mountains and, finally at No. 5, the North Carolina mountains.

"Rounding out our top 5, the NC Mountains have gained extreme popularity over the past 5 years, primarily for the national attention Asheville, NC has received as a retirement destination. But if you take a step outside of the mainframe, you’ll discover a lot more to explore in quaint mountain villages."

(Coastal photo by Kelly Capps)

Fantastic OBX shots

Keeping with today's OBX theme are several shots from Manteo, Nags Head, Cape Hatteras National Seashore, Rodanthe and Ocracoke from a fantastic "new" photographer (and friend), Kelly Capps. Be sure to click to enlarge to fully appreciate the shots.

Enjoy!

Dr. Beach loves Cape Hatteras

Not sure how on Earth I missed this. (I mean, I look forward to the wacky Dr. Beach's Best Beach list every year!)

Dr. Stephen Leatherman, aka "Dr. Beach," released a couple weeks ago his latest top 10 list of the best American beaches. Making the top 10 was Cape Hatteras, last year's runner-up.

The best beach was Hanalei, on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. (The beach photo ain't Hanalei, but it IS Kauai.

Here is the list of top 10 beaches for 2009 Dr. Beach --- that would be N.C. State graduate Dr. Beach, thank you very much.

1. Hanalei Beach, Kauai, Hawaii

2. Siesta Beach, Sarasota, Fla.

3. Coopers Beach, Southampton, N.Y.

4. Coronado Beach, San Diego

5. Hamoa Beach, Maui, Hawaii

6. Main Beach, East Hampton, N.Y.

7. Cape Hatteras, Outer Banks, N.C.

8. Cape Florida State Park, Key Biscayne, Fla.

9. Coast Guard Beach, Cape Cod, Mass.

10. Beachwalker Park, Kiawah Island, S.C.

Highway 12 among world's most spectacular drives

"Two hundred miles of barrier islands make up the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and a drive along Highway 12 reveals a region steeped in maritime history (Blackbeard the pirate was killed in Ocracoke Inlet)," writes MSN Travel in its list of the "World's Most Spectacular Coastal Drives."

Highway 12 is also "where the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk and where the English attempted to start their first colony in the New World. No trip here would be complete without a visit to the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and the lighthouse that stands sentry there."

See the complete list of spectacular coastal drives here.

Cape Hatteras among the nation's best beaches

Last year, North Carolina's Ocracoke Island earned "Dr. Beach's" award for the nation's best beach. A North Carolina beach was not this year's winner (that went to Florida's Caladesi Island), but Cape Hatteras, N.C., made the runner-up list.

Stephen P. Leatherman (an NCSU grad) is known as "Dr. Beach."

"Leatherman, a Florida International University professor ... picked Caladesi Island as the best beach in the 2008 ranking for his annual list, which was released Thursday. Caladesi beat out beaches in Hawaii, along the Eastern Seaboard and in California for this year's honor.

"The runners-up on Leatherman's list of best beaches this year were Hanalei Beach, Hawaii; Siesta Beach in Sarasota, Florida; Coopers Beach in Southampton, New York; Coronado Beach in San Diego; Main Beach in East Hampton, New York; Hamoa Beach, Hawaii; Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; Cape Florida State Park near Miami; and Beachwalker Park on Kiawah Island, South Carolina. ...

"Caladesi, which ranked second in Leatherman's rankings in 2007, will now be retired from the list. Most years, he has chosen beaches in Florida or Hawaii as the top-ranked. He broke that trend last year by awarding the top spot to Ocracoke Island on North Carolina's Outer Banks.
..."

A nice rendering of Cape Hatteras

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse is one of the most recognized lighthouses in the world. Area artist Lin has sketched a wonderful rendering of Cape Hatteras.

"My reference photo (I live four hours from the lighthouse!!! LOL)," she writes on her View From the Oak blog, "showed a sunny summer day, so I thought, also fitting for our predicted showers today, to add a bit of a storm approaching.I'd like to do this again on a larger sheet of paper so I can extend the lighthouse."

Check out more of Lin's sketches and art here.