Albuquerque Outdoor Activities
Recommended Outdoor Activities by Groupon Customers
Deep Blue Scuba's certified instructors lead each of their classes and workshops with one idea at the forefront of their minds: diving should be fun. Their class list contains programs to challenge all levels of divers, from beginner and advanced open-water-diving courses to rescue diver and dive-master specialties. To prepare pupils for their certifications, the staff hosts regular trips and events and oversees scheduled lessons in classrooms, dive pools, open water, and octopus’s gardens.
Rapture Air Paragliding School has basic and advanced USHPA training for students of all experience levels. Instructors lead programs that range from basic introductory lessons to full certification, allowing students to learn the history of the sport and master techniques such as launching, landing, kiting, and flying. Rapture Air also sells paragliding equipment and accessories such as wings and harnesses from trusted brands including Airwave, UP International, and Windtech.
High Desert Hang Gliding's well-practiced instructors teach beginning aviators how to soar through the sky with a hang glider. All students begin on a 25-foot training hill, where they learn the basics of launching and landing before being cleared to take off into the wild blue yonder to rendezvous with handsome pterodactyls. With a course of 10 lessons, ambitious gliders can attain a solid understanding of ground-school theory, acquire the ability to fly without direct instructor supervision, and procure enough knowledge to pass the USHPA Novice Hang Gliding written exam.
Long bluegrass fairways give way to large seaside bent greens at Chamisa Hills Golf and Country Club. The semiprivate golf and country club in Rio Rancho originally consisted of an east and west nine, designed by Gene Sarazen and Desmond Muirhead in 1969. Dotted with an abundance of ponds, the classic-style 18-hole course thrived until 1988, when the original Sarazen-Muirhead layout underwent a modernizing expansion. Legendary golfer Lee Trevino came on the scene to design a third set of nine holes, along with an eco-friendly recharging station for turbine-powered caddies. Trevino's north nine compliments the east- and west-nine layouts, while also slightly favoring the kind of precise shot-making that's characteristic of the PGA legend's audacious playing style. Today's members and guests play 27 championship-level holes strewn with imposing deciduous trees known to make players readjust their strategies.
The newly remodeled clubhouse, backdropped by the same sweeping Sandia Mountain–views of the course, greets members with a host of amenities for before and after play and for special events. The facility houses expansive banquet rooms ideal for weddings along with a dance-ready ballroom and an adjoining outdoor covered patio. For summertime recreation, families and golfing buddies can perfect synchronized-swimming routines in the outdoor pool before toweling off to enjoy a poolside meal beneath the shade of a cabana.
The sun dances on the placid surface of the Rio Grande river, the wind carving peaks and valleys in the cerulean fabric of the water. A windsurfing board suddenly tears across this calm waterway, propelled by the wind and the shouts of jubilant windsurfers nearby. Obscure terminology and sailing theory soon fade into the background as students fly across the river during a windsurfing lesson, in which instructors provide encouragement and advice. When not chasing sandwich-stealing mermaids, instructors lead lessons in the slower-paced methods of standup paddle boarding, taking newcomers through intro classes on the Rio Grande and the more experienced on half-day excursions on Cochiti Lake.
For nearly 30 years, Sluggers has given countless children and adults an arena in which to practice the universal pastime of hitting a ball with a stick. After fastening a complimentary helmet and selecting a bat, players step into outdoor cages where they can hone their skills on pitches of various speeds. Players can purchase gear onsite or borrow a bat from the center's stash of rental equipment, negating the need to whittle down a bat from one of their bedposts.
