Where are Florida's beaches, coast by coast?

The Panhandle. Gulf Islands National Seashore, run by the National Park Service, has white-sand beaches and emerald water. Its Florida areas include Perdido Key, Fort Pickens, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa. Langdon Beach, in the Fort Pickens Area at Pensacola Beach, has restrooms, outdoor showers and a lifeguard from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Park phone: 850-934-2600.

The southwest Gulf coast. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection's standard for sand used to rebuild beaches after storms requires sand similar in color and grain size to the beach. From Pinellas through Collier counties, it calls for predominantly quartz sand. Delnor-Wiggins Pass State Park in Naples has 1 mile of beach that Florida State Parks says is almost pure white quartz. Park phone: 239-409-0637.

Southeast Florida and the Keys. Here, Florida State Parks says, the sand is often made more of coral and mollusk shell fragments than of quartz. Biscayne National Park, within sight of Miami, is mostly water, with coral reefs mostly on its eastern side, and the Park Service calls it a boating, fishing and diving destination. Phone: 786-335-3620. Dry Tortugas National Park lies almost 70 miles west of Key West and is reached only by boat or seaplane. Phone: 305-242-7700.

The Atlantic coast. Canaveral National Seashore, between New Smyrna Beach and the Kennedy Space Center, protects a 24-mile stretch of barrier island, and the Park Service says its three beaches form the longest stretch of undeveloped beach on Florida's east coast. Phone: 386-428-3384. From Nassau County down to Miami-Dade County, the state standard calls for predominantly quartz sand with a similar amount of shell to the beach already there.

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