Christmas In Florida On A Yacht
Christmas is a time when dreams find their way onto lists, and some are immediately ignored by parents (no matter how much we cherish our little cherubs, no sane person is going to glue a horn onto a pony and paint its tail so it resembles a rainbow). Some do, however ‘magically’ find their way under an allergy-inducing pine tree (squirrel removal was done before dragging the overly tall tree inside because we are smart and we remember last Christmas. Don’t we?), ready to be ignored by the cherub in question after two minutes.
Why do we insist on trees anyhow? Pirates never had this problem. Probably. Christmas on a boat starts sounding like a really good idea when you think about things like that. All you need is your family, nice food, and a really good, traditional Christmas movie.
Speaking of which, just what is your favorite Christmas movie character, John McLane or Hans Gruber? And yes, those are your options, you can have Buddy the Elf for free, we all know what the best Christmas movie is.
Christmas is a magical time of the year in Florida if you can keep from thinking about Dexter. You can experience world-famous parties and parades brilliance of a million Christmas lights. Not only that but you can see all of your favorite Universal and Disney characters all dressed up in their festive finest.
Even the biggest Scrooges among us will find their Christmas cheer in Florida – it is simply impossible not to. There are tons of things to do for all the family, and right through December too and not just New Year.
One of the best places in Florida to sail on down to for a Christmas break is, without doubt, Miami. There are several great spots to visit in Miami during Christmas, especially when getting here by boat. Where to go, I hear you ask? Well, let’s see.
If you have kids with you, then they will never forgive you if you don’t take them to visit the world’s largest holiday theme-park – Santa’s Enchanted Forest. The park is a short cab ride from Sunrise Harbour, roughly 20 minutes, which is close enough to light up some small faces, and maybe some grown-up ones too.
Santa’s Enchanted Forest has, apart from rides, some truly wonderful food on offer as well as shows, Christmas light, and attractions. For an added sprinkling of something special, you can even meet Santa. Trust us, the kids will love Santa’s, Enchanted Forest.
If all of that is a little too saccharine and you find yourself in need of some adult fun (not that kind, behave) then Miami has that covered for you too.
Further up the coast from Sunrise Harbour is the Dinner Marina and from here there a couple of bars where you can remove the taste left behind by being overexposed to Christmas paraphernalia at the theme-park. Probably your better option is the Sandbar Sports Bar – it has everything, great drinks, grub, and TV.
The Sandbar Sports bar is flanked by two great places to eat, on one side you have an Indian restaurant (Bombay Darbar), and on the other, there is a nice little cafe serving up American eats (Greenstreet Cafe). All three of these spots are within easy walking distance of the Dinner Marina – roughly 15 minutes.
As much as we all love Christmas, small and big kids alike, it can all get a bit much for us big people sometimes – in some places, it’s like having Buddy the Elf, whacked out of his head on caffeine… Except for the whole place is full of people like that. Absolute nightmare fuel. Just tone it down and act like adults for 10 minutes. Christ… Not you guys. Them. It’s always them. You know the ones. Anyway, moving on.
One fantastic place that you just have to visit, if you want some Christmas cheer without feeling you need to get yourself into rehab after, is St. Augustine. The already massively charming streets here are positively glowing with seasonal charm when the annual Christmas event, the Night of Lights, gets started.
The Night of Lights starts in late November and ends in early February. I know. It has its roots in the Spanish tradition of having white candles displayed in windows through the Christmas season, but St Augustine kicks things up a gear with a range of wonderfully lively events.
If you do decide to come along for at least a part of the celebrations at Christmas, there is a parade to the colorful boat displays over at the Regatta of Lights. Take part in the Holiday Tour of Inns or you could take the hobbits, sorry the kids, to St Augustine Lighthouse and the Maritime Museum, so they can say hi to Santa.
Make sure your camera or camera phone is fully charged too because you are going to want to take lots of photographs, you can trust that.
What is Christmas without celebrating New Year’s Eve? Exactly. The Sunshine State has many parties on offer to celebrate the bringing in of the New Year, with some being slightly more appealing than others, naturally. For instance, the First night celebration in St. Petersburg is very much a cultural New Year Eve festival.
The festival here includes excellent food, dance, drinks, arts, and music. Something known as Resolution bonfire is a fairly common component of these New Year Eve celebrations, while New Year Ever Extravaganza is Florida is itself known for the music, obligatory countdown, and of course, the fireworks display at the stroke of midnight.
Of course, the fireworks displays can easily be seen from the deck of the boat. Glass of champagne in hand, embracing your significant other. That, on its own, is all it takes to have an amazing New Year Eve… But it would mean missing the all fun on the shore…