Summer Thursday Nights Near Phoenix Towers: How Singer Island Actually Runs From June Through August

From the 24th floor of Phoenix Towers, summer on Singer Island looks like a wide, slow blue. Fewer cars on A1A. The Marriott pool clearing out by four. Even the elevator is quieter.

It reads quiet. It isn't.

The island runs on two clocks most residents underuse. One turns every Thursday at six down on the Sailfish Marina seawall. The other turns after dark from June through July, when loggerhead and green sea turtles come ashore two miles north at John D. MacArthur Beach State Park. Set your week against both, and summer at 2800 N Ocean Drive stops feeling like an off-season and starts feeling like the season locals have been quietly guarding.

The Thursday Clock

Every Thursday evening from 6pm–9pm, Sailfish Marina hosts the Sunset Celebration, and it has for long enough that year-round residents plan Thursday dinners around it. It's free to attend and takes place year-round, which matters in July when most tourist-facing island events go on hiatus.

What actually happens on the seawall each week:

• Over 35 artists rotate along the dock with wood sculpture, pottery, watercolors, blown glass, and silver and gold jewelry
• Live music, often a well-known local musician playing Jimmy Buffett style tunes, or steel drums playing on the boardwalk as the sun sets
• Vendors selling their famous grouper dogs, fried grouper in a hotdog bun, or conch fritters right on the dock
• The Sailfish Marina Restaurant open with indoor and outdoor dining with a beautiful view of the sunset over the water if you want to sit down

The marina sits at 98 Lake Drive, about a mile south of Phoenix Towers. Many residents walk it, leashed dog in tow. Guests staying with you don't need a ticket, a reservation, or a plan. Anyone who has tried to entertain relatives in Palm Beach proper in July knows how rare that combination is.

One tactical note. If you're going for dinner and not just the stroll, book the restaurant. If you're going for the vendors, arrive closer to seven, when the sun is dropping over the Intracoastal and the boardwalk fills in.

The Nocturnal Clock

Two miles north, at 10900 Jack Nicklaus Drive, MacArthur Beach State Park runs one of the densest sea-turtle nesting programs in the state. The scale is genuinely local knowledge, and it explains why the park's summer programs sell out inside a day.

Sea turtle nesting season runs annually March through October. During sea turtle season, visitors can see a sea turtle swimming by or witness a nesting during the park's evening guided sea turtle walks. In a recent season the park recorded a record year for the loggerhead sea turtle with 2,068 nests laid and a record year for green sea turtles with 2,116 nests laid, on a beach that is one of the most densely nested sea turtle beaches in the state. For context, MacArthur's 1.6 miles of beach host more nests than most Florida beaches five times that length.

The practical details for 2026:

Turtle Walks fill up quickly so be sure to register early. If you have grandchildren coming down in July, set a calendar alert for the Tuesday morning after Memorial Day. Waiting until the second week of June usually means the whole window is closed.

Even outside the walks, the park is worth a resident's afternoon. Two nature trails, a long boardwalk over the estuary, kayak and paddleboard rentals in the lagoon, and a lagoon that is home to manatees, sea turtles, and more than 250 fish species. One caveat before you drive over: effective March 17, 2025, the North Beach restroom at John D. MacArthur Beach State Park is closed until further notice, so plan your entry accordingly.

What's New (And What Just Reopened) On the Menu

Between the Thursday marina crowd and the turtle-walk crowd, the island's dining lineup has quietly reshuffled. Worth a fresh look if you haven't been paying attention since spring.

ONA Coastal Cuisine inside the Palm Beach Marriott Singer Island Beach Resort & Spa is the newest oceanfront room worth walking to. It opened in May 2024 inside the Palm Beach Marriott Singer Island Beach Resort & Spa, specializing in contemporary coastal cuisine using fresh local ingredients with subtle Mediterranean influences. The lounge runs a Happy Hour Monday through Friday from 3PM to 6PM, featuring half-priced draft beer, house wines by the glass, and house brand cocktails, which is a rare reservation-optional option on the island at that hour.

Top Shell, the casual patio bar at The Singer Oceanfront Resort, is the easier walk-in. Enjoy coastal Florida favorites paired with island-inspired cocktails from morning to night at Top Shell, the casual bar by the beach.

Caretta Caretta on Singer Island borrows its name from the Loggerhead sea turtle, a beloved resident of Florida's coastal waters, and runs breakfast through dinner in a room that leans playful rather than formal.

TULĀ at Amrit Ocean Resort is the wellness-forward option. TULĀ on Singer Island offers a serene, wellness-driven dining experience, with its Sanskrit name meaning "balance," and plant-forward, nutrient-rich coastal cuisine served in a chic oceanfront space.

Ocean Ave Kitchen & Bar is the one to watch. Ocean Ave Kitchen & Bar is under construction at 2551 N Ocean Ave, Riviera Beach, taking over the former Mulligan's Beach House space on Singer Island, with owners Donna Qvarnstro and Antonio Huerta targeting a mid-January opening. The buildout will accommodate about 260 seats including an event space, with plans for full-service lunch and dinner seven days a week, closing only on major holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. Qvarnstro described the concept to Business Debut as "fresh seafood and innovative, very heavy on craft cocktails." She also operates Little Jim Bait and Tackle and Cobb's Landing in Fort Pierce, so the coastal-restaurant experience is real.

For Phoenix Towers residents, the Mulligan's corner going dark last year created a real gap in the short-walk lunch options. Watching this space open is a genuine calendar item.

A Sample Summer Week From 2800 N Ocean

If the two clocks feel abstract, here is how the week actually stacks:

1. Monday. Long morning at Ocean Reef Park's 700-foot beach, playground, and picnic areas. Quiet before the summer camps arrive.
2. Tuesday. Kayak or paddleboard rental in MacArthur Beach's lagoon. The estuary is the calm-water option if the ocean is choppy.
3. Wednesday. The Sailfish Marina water taxi service to Peanut Island for snorkeling and a tour of the JFK bunker. Back by three.
4. Thursday. Sunset Celebration on the Sailfish seawall from six to nine. Walk from the building, skip the parking.
5. Friday. Reserved turtle walk at MacArthur, 8:30 p.m. Arrive early for the ranger talk in the pavilion.
6. Saturday. Snorkel the artificial reefs at Phil Foster Park under the Blue Heron Bridge, where the snorkel trail's artificial reefs host seahorses and tropical fish. Slack tide is when the water actually clears.
7. Sunday. ONA happy hour at three, dinner on the terrace before the sun drops behind the tower.

Almost none of that stack works in January. The turtle walks are gone by the first week of August, the summer artist rotation at Sailfish thins by fall, and the ocean visibility at the Blue Heron Bridge is genuinely at its clearest during the warm months. What looks like off-season from the balcony is the island's most local season on the ground.

When You're Ready

Summer belongs most fully to the residents who already live here. If you're already at Phoenix Towers, this week is yours to use. If you're weighing a move onto the island, whether a seasonal base, a second home, or a full-time relocation, spending a summer week walking these routines reveals a version of Singer Island that no winter tour will show you.

When the conversation turns to a residence in one of the towers, Kathy Lewellen offers a boutique, building-by-building perspective across Singer Island's oceanfront and intracoastal high-rises. Request Your Home Valuation & Market Consultation.