Things to Do in Ocean Acres

With a fleet of two-wheeled cruisers, Shore Riders Bike Rentals equips beach-going guests to explore the boats, shops, and restaurants of Point Pleasant Beach. Its bikes idle, anxiously waiting to be ridden, in the parking lot of a local italian-ice shop and each cycle sports a delectable paint job that brings to mind scoops of strawberry, lime, and derailleur-flavored ice cream. Locks and helmets are included with each rental to ensure safety for both bike and rider.

More than 12,000 square feet of indoor rock-climbing surfaces greet climbers at Doylestown Rock Gym, where they can test their scaling acumen on a network of bulges, overhangs, chimneys, and cracks. As climbers scramble over the massive facility, an alert staffer remains ready to assist when needed and remind nervous beginners that there are no mountain lions around. The space presents suitable challenges for all skill levels and facilitates advancement in the sport through individual and group instruction by on-staff experts.

The cello-shaped Verizon Hall serenades eyes with mahogany accents under the 150-foot barrel-vaulted glass ceiling of the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. With seats for 2,500 audience members, the hall immerses both spectators and musicians in the clarity generated by its premium acoustics, which absorb vibrations from the subway tunnel below with 225 rubber isolation pads and allow for precise tuning with retractable curtains and sound-reflecting panels. Seasoned jazz artist Branford Marsalis confirmed Verizon Hall's sound acumen when he told NPR it is "the best concert hall on the East Coast."

Inflated structures, slides, and games fill the climate-controlled environs of the numerous BounceU locations that speckle the nation. At each site, staff members closely monitor all activities as little ones traverse obstacle courses or pull on oversized inflatable boxing gloves. The crew also invites parents to join in on the fun, letting them bounce alongside their kids or make sweeping edicts from atop a bouncy-castle throne. In addition to open sessions, the indoor-play haven sets the stage for the Preschool Playdate program, where instructors lead games and activities. Special events include family-bounce night, which lets parents join in the bouncing or relax in the party room and do grownup things, such as eat marshmallows with a knife and fork.

While waiting for a group of tour participants aboard his kayak on Cape Island Creek, Bob Lubberman made a new acquaintance when a 4-foot great blue heron landed on the nose of his boat. It's not an entirely new experience for the owner of Miss Chris Kayak Rentals and Tours, as opportunities to commune with nature came often as he crabbed and fished as a child from his grandmother's dock. Now he's able to connect visitors to this ecosystem as they independently paddle rented sit-on-top kayaks or as they participate in guided kayak or boat tours.

Paddlers on kayak tours often catch close-ups of ospreys, terns, and other birds, and see diamondback terrapin turtles sunning themselves on the shore or trying to hold their own ice-cream cones. Day and sunset tours let guests explore the wildlife-rich salt marshes, and night tours led during high tide let them paddle over grassy terrain to otherwise inaccessible areas. Guests explore similar territory on tours aboard the Osprey as they watch migrating shore birds or look out on the harbor's historic buildings. Kayak tour guides include an associate naturalist and a Cape May Bird Observatory field associate, and land-based staffers maintain a touch tank on the Miss Chris mooring dock, which they temporarily fill with conches, eels, and other sea life pulled up using open-sided conservation traps.

After joining the South Atlantic League in 2001, the LakeWood BlueClaws didn't hesitate to make their mark. In less than a decade, the team won three league championships, including a landmark 2010 season in which they became the first club in SAL history to win the division in both halves of the season and go on to claim the title. As the Philadelphia Phillies' Class-A affiliate, the team has sent 50 players to the majors, including an eventual National League MVP and the 2010 Phillies' star 8-foot mutant crab at shortstop.