Our February Beach Vacation to Singer Island, Palm Beach & St. Augustine
Hi friends! I’m excited to share this post on our recent beach vacation. Mama and I have always talked about how awesome a winter beach vacation would be. Personally I feel like there’s always such a huge letdown after Christmas, and the month or so following, I’m always in such a rut. If you’ve been following along with us, you may know that Madeline coined me, herself and my mom to be “The 3 M’s.” A few years ago she made the realization that her name begins with an M and so does Mama and Mimi. So our travels together became the “The Three M’s Adventures” 🙂 Last February, we had the opportunity to visit the J.W. Marriott in Marco Island (if you want to see a recap of that vacation, you can check it out here). But Mama and I both said that February beach vacation did more for us physically and mentally than any other trip. Just being able to get away and break from the cold, soak up some Vitamin D and just get a mental break from the go-go-go pace of life. We told ourselves last year that it’s something we’d like to do every year, if able, and definitely knew we wanted go do something similar again this year.
After looking around, we decided to visit Singer Island, FL. for our February 2022 beach vacation. Mama and I had visited Palm Beach about 10 years ago and loved it, but we knew this time we’d rather stay a little out from Palm Beach. We saw that Singer Island is about a 20 minute drive from PB. Our ideal beach vacation is being able to spend all day on the beach and by the pool then head in to get a shower and go out to dinner. And let me just say, we did JUST that 🙂
Where We Stayed
Like I said, we stayed at the J.W. Marriott Singer Island. Overall we had the best stay! I did work with Marriott for our trip to Marco Island, so I was able to provide more insight on the amenities the resort had to offer. For this trip, I didn’t work with Marriott, so I can’t speak a whole lot on the amenities the Singer Island resort has to offer. I do know they had a good bit to offer, for example a few restaurants, a spa, workout facility, a kids club and more.
I think what I loved the most about our stay here was (very similar to Marco Island) how tropical everything felt! We again truly felt like we were in the Caribbean. On some of the days, there was even a musician out by the beach and tiki bar playing a steel drum…total Caribbean vibes! The beach was fabulous! The water was stunning, and actually a lot warmer than I expected it to be in February. Madeline and I were in it every day 🙂 They have a private beach roped off for Marriott guests, a beachside chair, umbrella and towel service and two beautiful pools: an infinity pool for adults, and a family pool with a water slide, water fall and wading pool that Madeline was ecstatic over! She probably went down the waterslide at least 75 times during our stay haha, and we ended up spending a few hours there each day. The tiki bar is just steps from the beach and will bring you food and drinks to your chairs to the beach (Madeline had to get a smoothie out of a coconut), or you can go get it yourself.
We stayed in room 715, and I would definitely recommend to have a room with a view that faces the ocean! Actually most of the rooms had more of a perpendicular view to the ocean, and the rooms along the front of that main building belong to residents. So the rooms with the best view are in the building that sits parallel and a little further back, which have a whole resort view of the infinity pool and beach. Some of those rooms in the parallel building face the opposite side of the resort, with a view the family pool and would also have a view of the road, I believe, which could be pretty noisy IMO. If you’re planning to visit, I would try and request a room on floors 7-9 and rooms 15, 17 or 19 (so for example 715, 717, 719…917). But we LOVED our room and the large windows and view were stunning!
I also loved that the room we stayed in had kitchen, washer and dryer (just bring your own laundry detergent pods). Since we wanted to try a lot of restaurants around the area, I wanted to put money into that rather into breakfasts and lunches at the resort (that can get so pricey). With having a kitchen, I loved that we were able to do our own breakfasts on the porch with that incredible view and pack a lunch for the beach in a small cooler (there’s a supermarket on Singer that’s maybe a five minute drive from the resort, and another one about 10 minutes from the resort, before you cross over to Singer Island).
As for the room, it was perfect! Like I said, it had a kitchen, washer and dryer, a sitting area where we could have movie nights (the couch also pulls out to a bed), a balcony with a fabulous view, a desk (I worked while we were gone, so that was great), a wall that separates the room from the bedroom and a large bathroom. We LOVED our room. I think the higher up you can be, the better. Waking up to that view every morning did so much for me. I felt so refreshed. Having coffee and my quiet time there was honestly one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.
Dining
As I mentioned, we love trying different local restaurants. When we do our family vacation to New Smyrna Beach each summer, we are honestly spoiled with all the incredible restaurants to dine at. Most of the time, places we visit just don’t have restaurant options that can compare. Well, there were tons of restaurant options around Singer Island. We spoke with someone at the concierge who gave us a list of restaurant options, so we had some GREAT meals on our vacation! Having great restaurant to dine at is really one thing that factors into if it’s a place we want to come back or not. Here’s where we tried:
Captain Charlie’s Reef Grill – We ate here on our first night and I could not say enough good things about this place! The menu was pretty impressive. The options felt endless, and each menu item was so different from the other. Mama and I both said we could have eaten there more than once. It was a great mix of seafood, Italian and more. Mama is basically a fried shrimp fanatic and KNOWS her fried shrimp haha. She said they were great! Madeline and I split the shrimp fettuccini and it was FANTASTIC (Note, they do not have a kids menu). And if you like bananas, the grilled bananas are a must. The flavors were spot on. They’ve been around for forever. I’ve never had such a hard time deciding with to order because so many things on the menu looked great. Oh and you HAVE to try their homemade ice creams. We went back a second night just to pick up some more ice cream. Their flavors are unique, and I got (both times) the cinnamon oatmeal cookie ice cream…out of this world! When we visit Singer again, we’ll definitely be back. Oh and apparently there’s an imposter restaurant opened by another fellow restaurant manager + some ex-employees of Charlie’s who have stollen recipes and is trying to copy their hard work. Beware and make sure you go to Charlie’s haha 🙂
Guanabanas – The second night we dined at Guanabanas in Jupiter (about 15 minutes from the resort). Oh my word this was a fun place! I think it can definitely get a little rowdy by a certain time of the night, but it’s still kid friendly. Madeline LOVED it! They had a kid’s menu. It was dark when we went, but I could still tell the scenery was beautiful on the water! They had a live island band the night we went with steel drums and all. Madeline got up to dance and had a blast haha. The food was great as well! Mama and I split the avocado bacon mango salad to start, which was fantastic! Mama got the tequila lime Atlantic shrimp, and I got the playa rice bowl for our entrees. We give them both a fantastic rating! We will definitely go back here.
FireFin Grill – We dined at FireFin Grill in Palm Beach Gardens the third night (about 12 or so minutes from the resort). Honestly, it was ok. It was good but didn’t stand out that much for us. We felt like it was a level of food we could find other places, nothing too special. I will say the Asian Pear Salad was wonderful! Mama and I split that as a starter and it was delicious. There was a pretty big menu selection, and they did have Sushi. I got the Mahi tacos, so maybe I just got the wrong thing. But as I mentioned, with the number of restaurant recommendations we received, I think we’ll try another place when we go back.
Cool’a Fish Bar – We ate here (also in Palm Beach Gardens), the fourth night. This rated higher for us than FireFin and was really good! Not as good as Charlie’s and Guabanas, but it was still really good. Mama got the coconut fried shrimp and said they were delicious. I got the Island grilled shrimp and thought they were great too. They also had a kids menu. They had quite a few things on the menu that looked really good, along with a unique option of side orders. I would recommend Cool’a, but I think we will try some other places next time before going back here.
Dress // Sandals // Headband // Bag // Earrings // Bracelet
Other Restaurants Recommended to Us:
– Spoto’s Oyster Bar
– Sailfish Marina Resort (I will say, the concierge said this was a must-try when you visit! We tried to go but greeted by a super rude host staff and (I think) manager. With this being our first taste of the restaurant, we left. Maybe call first and see what kind of mood they’re in before visiting haha? Maybe they had just had a bad day, but first impressions say a lot to me.)
– Jetty’s
– Carmines La Trattoria
– Grato
– Cucina Cabana
– Sant Ambroeus
– The Cooper
– Season’s 52
– Kee’s Grill
– Yard House
– J. Alexander’s
– Pelican Cafe
– The River House
– Echo Palm Beach
– Malakor Thai Cafe
– Kao Gang
– La Bamba Mexican and Spanish Restaurant
I love that the Palm Beach Gardens mall was just a little over a ten minute drive from the resort on Singer. If it’s a rainy day, that’s a fabulous (and really pretty) mall with lots of great stores! Honestly there seemed to be a lot to do around the Palm Beach Gardens area. You’re also super close to Jupiter Beach, Juno Beach and Palm Beach.
I would definitely plan on having at least a full day set aside to spend in Palm Beach. It’s SO beautiful there! It’s not that Caribbean tropical feel that Singer had to offer, so I’m really glad we stayed on Singer. But I loved visiting Palm Beach. It’s a whole vibe in itself. Palm Beach is so beautiful to just walk around, walk over to the Worth Avenue Clock Tower, walk along the water and around Worth Avenue, stop by The Breakers and more. Mama and I actually stayed at The Breakers when we visited a few years ago, but the Marriott on Singer Island was MUCH more of that beach feel we were going for. The Breakers is beautiful though and it’s fun to go see the incredible architecture. The neighborhoods are so beautiful around Palm Beach, and it’s fun to just set aside time to walk around on a beautiful day there. We loved walking around Worth Avenue, the little shops in the alley ways off Worth are SO quaint! It honestly feels like walking down a (cleaner) King’s Street in Charleston, SC. Also, definitely visit C. Orrico in Palm Beach! It’s a super cute shop with lots of local clothing and finds. The girls there were so sweet to Madeline especially.
Me: Sweater // Skirt // Similar Bag // Sneakers // Earrings
Saint Augustine
That’s about it for my recap on our stay in Singer Island and Palm Beach. We SO loved it and will definitely be back 🙂 Since it’s a good bit of a drive for us, we decided to stop in Saint Augustine for a few nights, and I’m SO glad we did! I had always wanted to stay in this pink beach house (and you can catch a full tour of it in this reel). I had never actually stayed in Saint Augustine before and goodness we loved it!
First of all, the pink house was awesome and ended up being such a fun, special part of our trip. We definitely created lots of sweet 3 M’s memories there 🙂 It’s the perfect place for a girls trip, bachelorette weekend or even the whole family. Three floors, three bedrooms (pretty sure I counted that it could sleep 11 people), a full kitchen (that’s entirely pink, may I add), living area, a downstairs area that’s more comfortable and perfect for family hangouts, kids, movie nights, etc., two bathrooms, a PINK fire pit outside, and the most perfect little private walkway to the beach. The house was SO fun to stay in, and I’d definitely recommend it. I always appreciate the little details, and this house was packed full of them! Also, you’re just a short five minute walk from Island Donuts, and oh my word they were out of this world!! You have to get there fairly early to get the good flavors, but they were delicious 🙂 We also got the maple donut which was amazing and unique.
If you stay in the house, it is packed full of a lot of the necessities, but there were a few of (the more obvious) things it did not have, like dishwashing detergent, laundry detergent, extra paper towels, etc., so you may want to bring a few things of your own. There is a supermarket about five minutes down the road, so be prepared to go stock up on a few things. Next time we go, I’d also take my own beach chairs (the ones at the house were pretty rusted and beat up) and some extra beach towels. Just FYI 🙂 There’s also a miniature golf place just a few minutes down the road.
Something else we LOVED about Saint Augustine was how quiet the beach felt. There aren’t many high rises in Saint Augustine, which we loved. That also made the overall view on the beach so much prettier. Oh and we also loved how dog-friendly Saint Augustine it seemed.
There is also so much history there and educational things to do with kids. Madeline loves history, so that was fun for her. Walking out on the pier, seeing the lighthouse, walking around the town and visiting the local shops, getting some salt water taffy, etc. are all neat little to-dos. We also ate at two awesome restaurants while there, which were great : Henry’s Seafood Bar and Grille, which is kind of a New Orleans seafood type cuisine. It was delicious and would highly recommend! We also dined at Saint Augustine Fish Camp, which was great. I got shrimp and grits (a favorite of mine) from both and I’d give them really high ratings in my book 🙂
Let me know if y’all have any questions for me! Thanks for stopping by.
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