Christmas and New Year on the water in Turks and Caicos

• Best for a big family on a budget: the Adventure Boat, which takes up to 25 and costs the least of any boat on our site for a group of 15 to 20.
• Best for 20 in comfort: the 44ft Luxury Catamaran Yacht, with an air-conditioned cabin and two bathrooms with showers.
• Best for a holiday toast: the 62ft Lux Yacht, with a bottle of champagne on board and a dedicated bartender.
• Best for lobster on the menu: a full day on a boat that catches and cooks it, in season until March 31.
• Best free night out: Maskanoo, the Boxing Day street festival on Grace Bay Road.
• Best seat for New Year’s Eve: Grace Bay Beach, for the fireworks at midnight.

December is early winter here, and that still means swimming weather: the sea averages about 79°F (26°C) in December and January. Hurricane season ended on November 30.

The weather is the breezy end of the year: days around 80°F, cooler evenings, and often the Christmas winds, a run of stronger trades that sailors across the Caribbean know by that name, blowing for days at a time from mid-December into January.

December is the busiest month of the year here, and room rates peak in December and January, so the island is full of people who planned in the summer: villas, rental cars and restaurant tables all go early. In high season the popular restaurants book two to three weeks out; for Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve, book the dinners when you book the house.

Christmas Day is the quietest day of the year: most businesses close and the supermarkets keep short hours, so do the big grocery shop by the 23rd, and expect island prices, about double the US for many staples, holiday or not. Churches across Providenciales hold Christmas Eve services, and the island’s Christmas is still very much a family and church day.

In 2026 Christmas falls on a Friday, and Boxing Day, a Saturday, is observed on Monday, December 28; banks and government offices close on the 25th, the 28th and New Year’s Day, though most shops and tourist businesses open on the 28th.

The days are short. The sun sets between about 5:05 and 5:17 pm in December and between 5:18 and 5:27 pm in early January, so an afternoon half day comes back around sunset. More in sunset on the water.

Short days change the arithmetic: a half day that leaves at 1:30 pm is back around 5:30 pm, in the last of the light, so if the final swim matters more than the sunset, go in the morning. December is also the windier half of the year: the trade winds put chop on the north-shore reef sites, so a winter charter tends to keep to the sheltered side of the cays, and anyone prone to seasickness should book the morning and say so.

From January, humpback whales start to pass through the islands. Salt Cay and Grand Turk are the place to see them; from Providenciales, a sighting is a bonus, never a promise. More in humpback whale season.

For a holiday toast, five of the yachts we book carry champagne (the cards below show which), the 47ft Luxury Yacht pours prosecco and the 43ft Ultra Luxury Yacht keeps rosé on board. You're welcome to bring your own bottle on any charter.

Spiny lobster is in season from August 1 to March 31, so it’s on the menu right through the holidays. On several full-day charters, you dive for lobster with the crew and it’s cooked for lunch.

The small boats do it the hands-on way: the seven-hour day on the 26ft and the eight-hour on the 22ft Sports Cruiser are catch-and-cook trips, lobster in season and conch salad on request. On the 43ft Ultra Luxury Yacht the eight-hour beach BBQ brings lobster in season alongside conch, fish and steak kebabs, and the 35ft Luxury Yacht's full-day grill puts it next to BBQ chicken, fresh fish and ribs. More in lobster season.

Every charter here is private, so a big gathering has the boat to itself. These take 20 guests or more:

• The Adventure Boat, up to 25, with a waterslide, a bathroom and a $20-a-head shuttle from Grace Bay, so nobody has to drive.
• The 70ft Sailboat, a schooner for up to 50, with 12 guests included in the price and local beer, rum punch and rosé on board.
• The 44ft Luxury Catamaran Yacht, up to 20, with an air-conditioned cabin and two bathrooms with showers.
• The 62ft Lux Yacht, up to 20, with a crew of three, a dedicated bartender and lunch chosen in advance from a full menu.
• The 51ft Ultra Lux Powercat, up to 25, with four bathrooms, a bartender, and a kayak, paddleboards and a floating island for the lagoon stops.
• The 65ft Ultra Lux Sailing Cat, up to 20, with food and an open bar all day and five bathrooms.
• The Adventure Boat XL, up to 70, a double-decker with two waterslides, for the reunion that outgrew everything else.

With little ones along, choose a boat with a bathroom. Most have one, and every listing says so. A few boats also charge less for children: the 62ft and both 51ft yachts for ages 3 to 12, and the 30ft, 35ft and 41ft catamarans for ages 4 to 14, with under-4s free. You’ll see the price for your exact party when you pick your date.

Book early. 36% of our Christmas and New Year trips were booked a month or more out, against 29% overall. Villas go months ahead; boats go later, but the ones everyone wants for the week between Christmas and New Year are the first to go, so reserve as soon as the flights are booked. When to book has the numbers.

Mind the Sundays. The 30ft, 35ft and 41ft catamarans don’t sail on Sundays. Over the 2026 holidays, that means December 20 and 27 and January 3, 2027.

Christmas Day and New Year's Day depend on the boat: request the date on the listing and we confirm it with the captain within a few hours, nearly always the same day. The price shown includes taxes, the deposit secures the boat, and each listing shows its free-cancellation window.

Bring the extras. You’re welcome to bring your own food and drinks on every charter we book, so a holiday cake can come along; the two big sailing charters ask for no glass on board. Towels aren’t provided on any boat, so pack your own.

Pack a light layer too: December afternoons are around 80°F, but a wet swimsuit on a moving boat at 5 pm feels cooler. Reef-safe sunscreen is yours to bring, and the 43ft Ultra Luxury Yacht doesn't allow the aerosol kind.

Around the boat day

Boxing Day evening is Maskanoo, the islands’ street festival. Grace Bay Road is closed to cars through central Grace Bay from about 6 pm, local bands and steel pans play a big stage, vendors sell food, drinks and art (bring cash), and the junkanoo groups dance in around 9 pm in painted cardboard costumes, with fireworks. It began in 2009 and borrows from Bahamian junkanoo and from the Masses, a Christmas masquerade recorded on Grand Turk as far back as 1811. Entry is free and parking is close to impossible, so take a taxi or walk.

New Year’s Eve fireworks go up over Grace Bay Beach, warm-up bursts around 9 and 10 pm and the main show at midnight; the beach is free and the best seat, and worth walking to, because the roads jam and taxis are scarce. Our charters are daytime trips, so plan the boat for the days between and keep the 26th and the 31st for the shore.

If the captain or our team decide the weather makes it unsafe to go out, you’ll get a full refund or move your charter to another day. For more on big groups and families, see large-group charters and family charters.

For the whole family, the Adventure Boat is the easy answer: four hours is about $3,298 all-in for 20, with room for 25, snorkel gear, a waterslide, a bathroom, sandwiches, fresh fruit, local beer, rum punch and sodas, and a $20-a-head shuttle from Grace Bay. For a smaller party that wants the holiday lunch, the 35ft Luxury Yacht’s eight-hour day is $6,052 for six, up to 12 aboard, with BBQ chicken, fresh fish, ribs and lobster in season, champagne, a bathroom, a shower and an air-conditioned cabin. The price includes taxes, a deposit secures the date, cancellation is free up to 24 hours before either, and we confirm with the captain within a few hours, nearly always the same day. Book as soon as the flights are: more than a third of our holiday trips were booked a month or more out.