Susan Serven

There’s an awful lot written about Florida.

It’s a large, varied state, home to both Disney World, Cape Canaveral and the tropical Keys.

An easy flight to most Caribbean islands, and home to both colorful Miami and the quiet elegance of Naples.

It has a long and varied history, first governed by Spain, who claimed the territory in 1513, then by Britain (1763), back to Spain in 1783, and then to the U.S. in 1821.

It is home to St. Augustine, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the United States, founded by the Spanish in 1565. It predates the English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia (1607) by nearly 50 years.

Famous pirates such as Blackbeard, Anne Bonny, José Gaspar, “Black Bart" Roberts, Mary Read, and Jean Lafitte have left their mark on Florida’s culture and history.

The state is home to the incredible Flager Museum, a National Historic Landmark in Palm Beach, highlighting Henry Flagler’s role in transforming Florida into a major tourist and agricultural destination during the Gilded Age, and the remarkable Ca' d'Zan, a historic Venetian Gothic and Mediterranean Revival-style mansion completed in 1926 during the Roaring Twenties and home to The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota, Florida.  

Ca' d'Zan was the winter home of circus magnate John and Mable Ringling and after Mable’s death, it was home to both John and Emily Ringling, John’s second wife.

Their life story reads as if it was a take on the Great Gatsby, only with much more drama and a bitter divorce. It would make a great Netflix series.

But you can go for the sites, the history, the food, culture and nightlife. I’ll go for the sunrises on the beaches.

I’ve been to many, many beach resorts but IMO Florida is home to some of the world’s cleanest, prettiest beaches with the most incredible sunrises and sunsets.

I make a point of going out before dawn any time I’m near a beach, there’s no better time for reflection.

Whether it’s at the Delray Sands Beach Resort at Highland Beach in Delray in Southeast FL, or the Ritz Carlton on Amelia Island, north near the Georgeia border, or any other beach in between, you won’t find better ocean swimming or beach lounging than in Florida.

It rivals many Red Sea resorts for the beaches’ beauty and spectacular ocean views.