Coral Gables, FL Outdoor Activities

In the 1950s, Bayside Marketplace’s Pier 5 was a hub of activity, bustling with fishermen, cooks, and gossiping locals. Nowadays, though, the pier is a hub for a more modern demographic: jet skiers. As the home base of Miami Jet Ski Rental, the pier hosts a fleet of 2009 Yamaha VX Deluxe jet skis and a team of CPR- and First Aid-certified staffers. Aboard their rental vessels, adventurers can zoom through Biscayne Bay or take to the Atlantic Ocean, catching glimpses of wildlife such as dolphins, manatees, and librarians.

Bike and Roll equips locals and tourists with eco-friendly transportation to explore the Magic City. Mounted on roving Segways and pointing out historical facts as they ride, guides swing tourists past such iconic locations as the Miami River, the eclectic Miami Beach Architectural District, and South Pointe Park at sunset. In addition to daily tours, Bike and Roll offers rentals of Trek bicycles for recreation or transportation and in-line skates for carving figure eights into the city's asphalt ice rinks.

Located in North Miami Beach, H2O Dive Center facilitates safe diving experiences with a staff of SSI-certified instructors, informative ocean-exploration courses, and quality equipment rentals. During each dip in the center's pool, professional scuba divers prep beginners for open-water dives by demonstrating how to properly use the provided equipment and imitating the accents of sea turtles. Seasoned divers can further their studies during advanced diving courses or a three-part open-water certification course.

As you stroll across Fruit & Spice Park's grassy fields, an occasional piece of fruit falls from a neighboring tree. But it’s not an apple or a berry you can easily find in a local supermarket—rather, it may be a specimen native to the Caribbean or South America, its shape foreign to your teeth, which want so badly to bite into its juicy flesh but aren’t sure how. At Fruit & Spice Park, seasoned gardeners grow abundant specimens from tropical areas around the world, including 70 kinds of bamboo, 15 types of jackfruit trees, and edibles such as Fiji longan and jaboticaba across 39 acres.

Visitors meander freely through banana groves and African baobab trees, and they can also follow a guide during tours commencing daily at 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 3 p.m. to learn more about plant species and which fruit seeds bear an uncanny likeness to Abraham Lincoln’s silhouette. Throughout strolls, guests may help themselves to any of Mother Nature’s home cooking that has naturally fallen to the ground, including mangoes, dragon fruit, and papayas, or venture to the tasting table at the entryway to sample the season’s bounty.

Park staffers also gather visitors for a range of events such as stargazing, outdoor festivals, and plant-use tutorials, where they divulge helpful information such as which plants are medicinal and how to play dead during tree attacks. During regular park hours, chefs at the Mango Café pile plates with casual fare, often using the park's own fruit and vegetables, and the gift shop lets guests bring home harvest jams and aromatic teas.

Miami Golf pairs a technologically refined training center and a vast selection of golf gear to help golfers hone their game year-round. Rather than attempting to craft their own wedges by taping doorstops to the end of fishing poles, golfers can visit the retail section, which sells clubs, clothing, and equipment from top brands such as Adidas, Ben Hogan, Momentus Golf, and TaylorMade. Miami Golf's practice studio offers game-grooming lessons and services that enlist swing-tracking technology, video swing analysis, and launch monitors, which use Doppler technology to record variables such as spin, ball speed, and the likelihood of indoor thunderstorms. Students can further enhance their swings with custom club-fitting services, which measure swing profile and body dimensions to pair players with their optimal set of clubs. Club technicians also provide repairs and adjustments for broken shafts or players who need an experimental grip to start putting with their feet.

For 42 years, the venerable auto show has rolled out a fleet of vehicles for the perusal of customers while raising more than $250,000 for the Ronald McDonald House Charities of South Florida. More than 1,000 of the latest vehicular creations from manufacturers such as Cadillac, Chevy, and Buick lounge throughout the space, beckoning auto enthusiasts with their sleek frames and glove compartments filled with cupcakes. This year's exhibitions include ride-along demonstrations of alternative fuel vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf and Chevrolet Volt, and Topless In Miami, a beach-themed showcase of convertibles from the likes of Mercedes and Jaguar.