Every family has holiday traditions, this usually goes into overdrive for Christmas. Growing up I feel that my family did Christmas a lot like other people – Christmas programs, too much food around a formally set table, and piles of presents under the tree. Then, my senior year of high school, my sun-loving mother got a steal on a Caribbean Cruise as well as the flights to Florida (it was 2001, so you can guess why it was such a deal). This started a very different type of family Christmas tradition. Almost every Christmas (or there about) we would hop on a different cruise ship and enjoy family time, sun, beaches, & relaxation. Then in 2019 my sister had the audacity to marry a guy who, we discovered on our traditional Christmas cruise, got horrifically sea-sick. I suggested we just get rid of him, but unfortunately my sister was attached. Instead, in 2021 we all converged on the sugar-sands of Clearwater Beach for New Year’s.
It was different. Not bad, just different. I guess that is the case anytime you change tradition. By this time, I’d accepted that my BIL was around to stay (like a wart, he kinda grew on me), so my sis, BIL, and I got the opportunity to check out some of the local cuisine (including coffee and ice cream, of course). One of my favorite parts was the daily trip to a small, local coffee shop for our caffeine fix.
We beached, a lot, although I only ventured into the water once as neither the air nor the water were quite warm enough for the experience to be enjoyable (this didn’t stop others, but vacationing northerners are crazy).
My mother is the Fieldtrip Queen (self-appointed. She even blogs about it, you should check it out: charamana.com) so because there were “things to do,” we needed to do things. I don’t know if anyone else has this experience, but my parents don’t do well just relaxing (you know, doing nothing); it’s great, usually, but it does make vacations a balancing act. We’d figured out the whole cruising things, but now we had to negotiate a whole different experience, one with five adults (including a “new” one. Sorry BIL, you’ll be the new guy until I get married and that’s not happening anytime soon). I think we did a pretty good job.
As a concession to my mom wanting to do things, we all walked the two miles to Clearwater Marine Aquarium. This rescue and rehabilitation center is famous for one reason: Winter, the dolphin. Never heard of her? None of us had either. The movie Dolphin Tale is about her and how she survived the loss of her tale fin as well as how she learned to swim with a prosthetic one. None of us had ever seen the movie, and I will admit we didn’t share the enthusiasm that many others showed. To add to our slightly out-of-the-loop initiation, Winter died November 2021 (that’s right, just under two months before we visited). There was a memorial wall with hundreds of messages (apparently there were piles of flowers there as well, right after she died). We all were a little taken aback by how much this dolphin was loved. We honestly didn’t totally get it. Maybe if we’d watched the movie or . . . something?
The aquarium as a whole was nice. Nothing extraordinary, and the presentation of the animals was fine. There was interesting information and a few things targeted at kids. But, in general, we were underwhelmed (maybe we were to cynical to fully appreciate?). I wouldn’t go back if given the opportunity.
Our other “excursion” was a hike (walk?? When the land a basically flat I really have a hard time calling something a hike) up the beach to Caladesi Island State Park. According to our mother (who lived in Clearwater in the ‘70s) during low tide you can walk across a land-bridge from Clearwater Beach to the park.
In preparation for the hike/walk, I pulled to tide tables so we could arrive at the right time to cross. From the condo to the end of Clearwater Beach is about 2 miles, a reasonable walk, right? So we departed one midmorning, strolling down the beach, timing perfect to reach the land-bridge at low tide. As we neared the end of civilization, the water seemed, high? Was this really low tide? We shuddered to imagine what high tide looked like! The further we went to tougher the trek. At points we were calf deep in water and others we had to find our way though the thicket. Finally, we made it to a sign proclaiming we were in Caladesi Island State Park, and then were met with a level of unpassable water.
Hot & tired we turned around. As we walked, I did a little digging to see what had gone wrong!
Did you know that tide times change a lot over the course of a week? I didn’t! Apparently I’d looked up the tides on the wrong date. Come to find out we’d gone during high tide, not low tide. Ops! (I’m going to blame my evil GPS for conspiring against me in even more devious ways!) My poor family! Over 4 miles, roundtrip, up a sandy beach definitely took it out of them, but they were troopers!
On New Year’s Eve we stayed up until midnight (It was a battle, as most of us usually were in bed by 9:30-10 at home). We played games and chatted, with a plan to head out to the beach for the local fireworks that were set to go off at the end of the beach – about 2 miles away (I feel like everything was 2 mile away in Clearwater Beach). As we headed out, we discovered a small issue: fog. It wasn’t the pea-soup type often experienced in Minnesota, instead it was pure-white – as if a cloud had dropped down from the sky and enveloped the beach. I have never encountered fog this think! Visibility was .06 (yes, the 0 before the 6 is not a typing error).
NB: the fireworks pictured are from a local, just a few yards down the beach from us.
Needless to say, we did not see the fireworks that night (we did hear them and my father shared his morbid thought that this was probably what being on a Civil War battlefield would have been like. Thanks dad, for bringing levity to the situation). While not the experience I was expecting, it was a New Year’s Eve I’m not likely to forget.
As with most family trips, there were good times and stressful times (if people say they aren’t stressed when traveling with family, they are probably lying). Overall, though, I am so glad I got to spend some quality time with people I truly love, and always miss when I’m traveling.
It was a beautiful spot to get together. Water and sun for Mom. Room to spread out. Plenty of inexpensive things to do. It was a good time.
Fun to hear your take on Christmas in Clearwater Beach! What do you want to try next year? :)