Things to Do in Clermont

"We've got more canoes and kayaks than fingers and toes to count them," Captain Wendy explains. "Also, three sailboats, eleven pontoons––all rentable. The funny thing is, this business came from a big accident." She's referring to the company’s inception in 2002, when a devastating hurricane led a friend to sign his company’s single sailboat over to Wendy and her husband, Bruce. "We were in marketing––then, suddenly, we were in boating." More than 10 years later, Windsong Charters has flourished under the duo’s stewardship. The company now performs 200 weddings each year and equips a wide range of patrons to revel in the breathless joy of cutting through playful zephyrs and out across the water. Wendy and Bruce encourage fishing, drinking, and bringing pets on boating voyages, and the two share stories to delight guests or calm champagne bottles propped next to brand-new yachts. As propellers hum to life and paddles make a gentle kissing sound against the surf, visitors scan the horizon for the variety of wildlife that slips along just below the surf's surface or comes wheeling out of tufts of cumulonimbus. "I wish the animals would give us their schedules,” Wendy says, “but, on a given day, you could see manatees, dolphins, stingrays, and lots of birds."

The black-belted trainers at Florida Martial Arts and Fitness Center condition and arm students with self-defense skills that may come in handy in real-life situations. Students can focus solely on self-defense techniques with krav maga, an intuitive street-fighting style developed by a decorated Czechoslovakian athlete in the 1930s, or tae kwon do, which builds a sense of confidence as well as snappy reflexes and a collection of stylish belts. Participants in one-hour kickboxing classes can burn up to 1,000 calories, and yoga classes build inner strength and balance. Field-day classes take fitness training outdoors for sunshine and fresh air. Athletes who attend a monthly weapon-disarming seminar learn to strip assailants of knives, guns, or wooden marshmallow spears.

Helmed by a crew of Coast Guard-licensed captains, Daytona Beach Parasail orchestrates coastal adventures that include parasailing, fishing charters, and kayak rentals on local clear waters. Beneath puffy horizon-skirting clouds, banana-boat rides slice through waters just offshore, pulled behind a high-speed watercraft manned by a captain with at least one banana tattoo. Some of the best underwater views come courtesy of the company's eco tours, in which flat-bottomed boats provide closeup views of leaping dolphins, swimming manatees, and gracefully moving stingrays beneath the water's surface.Daytona Beach Parasail also provides shuttle service to and from nearby hotels for no extra charge.

Judie Dazzio believes that everyone can be an artist. And at Dazzio Art Experience—a comprehensive art school—she helps everyone from children to adults and novices to professionals harness their creativity. Though she's a painter herself—having won awards for her work with watercolors and acrylics—she caters to range of artistic interests, offering classes in acrylics and watercolors but also branching out into sculpture, illustration, and Photoshop. For the experienced artist, she and her instructors provide developmental classes to help them produce portfolio pieces and host group critique sessions.

Beyond teaching her students the techniques to create, she also displays their works in a gallery attached to her school. Here, rows upon rows of painted canvases, sculptures, and handcrafted jewelry showcase their newly acquired talents.

Someone's little brother shrieks, mournful at being too small to play laser tag with his cousins. Another youngster wants to bowl, but can’t pick up the ball. To Terrace Sports's manager, John McMillan, these are simple problems. A crew member scurries through the laser-tag arena, holding the toy gun for the little boy who would otherwise be too small to play. Another sets up a ramp at the top of a bowling lane, helping the toddler to push the ball into the pins with a satisfying clatter.

Smiling on as his staff solves such crises, McMillan strolls through Terrace Sports, which he remodeled after taking the reins from his father. Leading the way to the laser-tag arena, bowling alley, and arcade, murals stretch down the entryway, saluting the nearby Hillsborough River with more than 85 depictions of the waterway’s inhabitants, dynamic ecosystem, and naturally occurring steamboats. The entryway leads to the snack bar, where a full menu of gator tail, buffalo burgers, and sweet-potato fries glide down countertops handcrafted from teak and embellished by solid-brass elephant heads.

Entering the laser-tag arena gives one the sensation of delving into the interior of a complex machine, with mechanical parts strung with LED lights lining the walls and generating an eerie glow. Imaginations run wild as players choose to take on roles as monarchy loyalists or rebel forces, with both sides fighting for command of the heart of the machine and firing at one another's bases. The guns, powered by unlimited ammo, unleash streams of crimson and emerald light, and fiber-optic aiming ensures pinpoint accuracy. Vests beep when another player is taking aim, giving warriors a moment to find obstacles to hide behind or nearby portraits of themselves to hide in front of. On an observation deck, cheers rise from friends and chaperones as a 32-inch monitor displays scoring and live footage from six in-arena cameras.

Once a support vessel that transported oil-rig workers around the Gulf of Mexico, the 100-foot-long Pastime Princess now takes up to 100 anglers on deep-sea fishing trips between 11 and 23 miles off shore. Beyond transporting fishermen into these Atlantic waters, the Pastime Princess maintains guests' comfort with air conditioning, bathrooms cleaned daily, and a galley where chefs prepare a menu of grilled fare. The boat's crew supplies anglers of all skills levels with necessary gear, including bait, and furnishes passengers with fishing licenses. They also clean catches, which guests can tote home or have cooked at Dolphin View Seafood Restaurant upon returning to land. To enhance revelry aboard the boat, hands organize a winner-take-all jackpot for whoever catches the largest edible fish or still-useable mattress. An FAQ page anticipates common questions and lists some recommendations, such as advising anglers to arrive 45 minutes before departure and to bring coolers no larger than 20 inches.