Look forward to Florida sunshine and salty ocean air at Madeira Beach. There is plenty of unique fun packed into one square mile of land, and just over two square miles of water in the city limits. Mad Beach, as it is known by the locals, is home to the village John’s Pass, as well as a boardwalk at the south end of the island that includes shops, restaurants, boat rentals, shelling tours, and much more. Whether you want to soar above the water, or snorkel in an aquarium, you can entertain your kids at Madeira Beach. Book a stay at a Madeira Beach vacation rental today. To help you work on your itinerary, here’s a handy list of the top nine things to do with kids in Madeira Beach.
1. Play Mini Golf
Smugglers Cove Adventure Golf immerses your family in a pirate fantasy over the course of 18 holes of miniature golf. Each hole includes a poetic clue in pirate-speak on how to play that hole as you navigate through caves, waterfalls, pirate ships, and up to 30 live alligators. Anyone who wants to participate can help feed the alligators using cane fishing poles. You can also sit down in the tiki area and enjoy an ice cream or cold drinks after your game.
2. Take the Kids on a Pirate Voyage
If your Madeira Beach vacation rental stirs the inner pirates of your crew, there’s a cruise for that. Board the Royal Conquest pirate ship with your little Buccaneers for a two-hour swashbuckling adventure when you want to do something really memorable for your vacation. You can outfit your little pirates with hats, eye patches, and swords from the pirate gift shop before or after the voyage. Prepare to pillage the seas, hear tales of pirates, join in water gun battles, and partake of other pirate shenanigans.
3. Fly Under a Parasail
Imagine flying hundreds of feet above the sparkling waters of the Gulf of Mexico, soaring along, enjoying a birds-eye-view of a serene world. You can ride the wind under a Gators Parasail, taking off and landing from the flight deck of the boat with technology that can fly up to three individuals together at a time. This works great for flying parents and a child or two children and a parent. If you really like an adventure, you can ask to be dipped during your ride. The boat stops, an adrenaline-pumping free fall that simulates skydiving dips you into the water, and then the boat takes off again, whooshing you back up into the sky.
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4. Take Sandcastle Lessons
When kids play in the sand at the beach, they love to take turns burying each other and building sand castles. Beach Sand Sculptures on Clearwater Beach, about 12 miles north of your Madeira Beach vacation rental, offers a memorable experience for families vacationing in the area. A SandCastle coach meets clients on the beach with all of the implements needed to create a sand sculpture. The two-hour lesson begins with demonstrations of tools and how to use them. When you purchase your own tool kit, you can continue creating sandcastles with the kids after the lesson. These kinds of unique and interesting experiences create the best memories.
5. Paddle Around in a Kayak
Mad Beach Surf Shack sits across from the beach, giving you access to last-minute goodies for beach fun, including boogie boards, skim boards, flip flops, and sunscreen to put your frolicking in the water with the kids over the top. You can rent bikes, paddleboards, and sea kayaks by the hour, day, or week for added adventure. There are so many places to explore, including Boca Ciega Bay and the little islands scattered throughout. The calm bay waters are perfect for teaching the kids how to use stand up paddleboards and how to paddle a tandem kayak with you.
6. Explore a Ghost Town Island
Egmont Key offers opportunities for activities including exploring, shelling, and snorkeling in a beautiful island state park. St. Pete Dolphin Snorkeling Tour can take you there for a half-day adventure, beginning with watching dolphins play in the wake of the boat on the way to the island. When you reach the island, your family is free to snorkel in the beautiful waters and grass flats or dive for sand dollars and seashells. While on the island, you can look for wildlife, pick up seashells on the beach, swim, and sunbathe. Explore the island ghost town, the ruins that date back to the 1700s, and the lighthouse makes beautiful photo opportunities.
7. Pose for Pics With Bucky the Pirate
There’s a cute photo opportunity about two miles down the beach on Treasure Island in the city park. You can pose the kids with Peg-Leg Bucky, the 20-foot tall Pirate statue, standing with his cutlass raised to protect his treasure chest. Now the island mascot, Bucky’s career began atop the Buccaneer Motel in the 1950s. When it closed in 2005, the owners donated the fiberglass statue to the city. After you take your photos, head over to the middle of the island where you will find the commercial section, which includes restaurants, shops, and a short trail for skateboarding, walking, or biking.
8. Test Your Arcade Skills
For some indoor fun, check out John’s Pass Arcade where the whole family can enjoy dozens of games, including basketball and skee ball. Some games award tickets to trade for prizes, redeemable on the spot small prizes or save them up for better prizes. Popcorn, nachos, chips, beer, and wine are available on-site, and the restaurant serves salads, soups, and sandwiches. John’s Pass is a historic village that includes over 100 shops and restaurants, making it the country’s most popular tourist spot.
9. Go Snorkeling in RumFish Grill
Imagine wearing shorts and bathing suit tops to go out to dinner. When you make reservations to go snorkeling at RumFish Grill at St. Pete Beach, that’s what you wear. The swim features about 30 fish of various species, including grouper, cow-nose rays, redfish, and a nurse shark in the 33,500-gallon aquarium that forms one whole dining room wall. After dinner, you can walk over to the beach in to enjoy looking for shells and spending a leisurely evening watching a spectacular sunset before heading back to your Madeira Beach vacation rental, which is about a 10-minute drive north.
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