COCOA BEACH, FLA. — Summer's here and the surf's up. The kids are bored and so vexatious that you're ready to reward them with sand in their pants, so you load up the car and head for the beach.

Right away you might have an argument on your hands. One person's paradise is another's litter box, especially when it comes to vacations by the sea.

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Surfers may catch a wave at Cocoa Beach (above) or head farther north to Canaveral National Seashore, not far from NASA's towers.

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Some folks rate them by how white the sand is, some by the clarity or color of the water, and some, like surfers and kite sailors, by how big the waves are or how hard the wind blows.

Others favor human-type scenery, the kind wearing skimpy attire, while another crowd holds to the standard of the most bars they can go to wearing flip-flops and tank tops.

If your family simply can't agree, you can always consult the real, official, scientific survey of the nation's best beaches.

For nearly two decades, Stephen Leatherman, a professor at Florida International University in Miami, has been publishing his "America's Top 10 Beaches" list on Memorial Day. The list regularly gets lots of space in newspapers and magazines, especially in cities with names on the list.

This year Caladesi Island State Park near Tampa-St. Petersburg won top honors.

I've never been there, but Leatherman is an authentic beach scientist — he holds a doctorate in environmental coastal sciences — and he uses a list of some 50 criteria to rate the beaches. Then again, the guy calls himself "Dr. Beach" and has a mug shot on his Web site showing him wearing a big medical gizmo on his head like Groucho Marx and holding a stethoscope up to a conch shell.

Like many families, my early 1960s Alabama version of Ward and the Cleavers could never agree on which beach was best. Not that it mattered. We always went to the one Dad picked.

And that was always Biloxi. It was Dad's favorite, and he wouldn't listen to our protests that other Gulf Coast beaches offered cleaner sand and clearer water.

My suggestion is, make your own list of favorite beaches, have everybody name their favorite and draw straws. And don't let Dad always win.

As an avid surfer and windsurfer and a 22-year Florida resident — 18 of those years spent less than a Frisbee toss from the Atlantic here in Cocoa Beach — I have my own list.

First would have to be Canaveral National Seashore, just north of NASA's launch towers. Locals call it "Playalinda," and it's the only place in Florida I've found with sizable sand dunes, not as big as the ones on North Carolina's Outer Banks, but certainly towering by Florida standards.

There's no development at all, just miles and miles of unspoiled dunes, crashing waves and cawing seabirds. Nudists like it too, if that's your thing, and the waves can be excellent.

Second would be a spot that's made Leatherman's list: Cape San Blas, just west of the village of Apalachicola on the Florida Panhandle. There are too many new houses and condos and rarely any surf, but the sand is pure white, the sunsets are amazing and you can wander for miles finding shells and watching dolphins.

On the way back to Apalachicola, you can stop at Indian Pass Raw Bar, a tumble-down spot with oysters on the half shell and cold beer. And all the way through Franklin County back to a bit south of Tallahassee you'll never stop at a traffic signal because there aren't any. I swear the seafood on Florida's Gulf Coast is unrivaled.

So those are two of my favorites, and I didn't pick them holding a stethoscope up to a conch shell.