Things to Do in San Juan Capistrano

California Krav Maga's black-belted sensei and family-oriented atmosphere teach students, from children to adults, the mental discipline of martial arts alongside the physical mastery of each kick and grappling hold. Kenpo karate classes help to develop motor skills and confidence in children aged 3–12. Teens and adults leap into a wide range of combat styles, including krav maga self-defense and jujitsu. The core of its kick-punching pedagogy focuses on strength of character to ensure that students learn how and when to properly channel their skills, whether they are guarding against bullies or weed-whacking a garden by hand.

Dana Wharf Whale Watching's expert crews and skippers glide their watercrafts on the open seas so visitors can soak up sunshine while searching for rare and endangered whales as they migrate south to avoid tax season. Expert captains steer crafts through frothy spumes and narrate each trip, educating passengers on the abundant life beneath the glassy waters. Voyagers can either venture into the boat's full-service galley for a hot meal or bring their own food and nonalcoholic drinks to stave off hunger and resist eating the ocean's jagged, hamburger-shaped coral.

When 13-year-old Ryan Trengrove began his stint as a caddy, he could hardly know it would only be the beginning of a long career in golf. Now Ryan has not only sharpened his own golf game, he's given more than 10,000 lessons. Using this hard-earned experience, Ryan heads a staff of instructors that uses high-speed cameras and FlightScope analytics to examine clients' golf swings. Clients who are ready to launch golf balls into the air meet up with an instructor at Golf Swing Prescription's indoor studio that features a carpet with green turf. Cameras capture each swing for later review on a 46-inch flat screen, which gives instructors a good, long look at each clients' style to help improve form and follow-through with time-testing instruction techniques and a calculates series of jabs to the shoulder's reflex point. After each lesson, instructors post a summary online, where students can retrieve the information for 24/7 advice.

The California coast lends a sparkling backdrop to the Dana Point Harbor Boat Show where, for the 12th year running, boat enthusiasts and marine-related exhibitors converge to discuss and celebrate the latest watery wares. Snaking along the harbor's docks, show-goers wade through a trove of exhibitor booths that includes the Ocean Institute and California and Pacific Northwest Yachts. Power and sail vessels—by such makers as Albemarle, East Bay, and Ocean—model varying modes of aquatic transport, and gadget enthusiasts get first glimpse at in-water features such as electronics, fishing gear, and apparel that emboldens seafarers to take on the angry seas or finally stand up to the office drinking fountain and its aggressively unpredictable spray.

While seated in a boat on Laguna Niguel Lake, visitors feast their eyes on the surrounding rolling hills and lush forestry while taking advantage of 44 acres of fishing spots. The staff constantly stocks the waters with new fish, sending thousands of pounds of rainbow trout, catfish, and other species to swim amid the watery depths. With the fishing arena prepared, they then repel down on fishing lines to awaiting customers to supply permits, poles, and live bait, which they use to entice bluegill and other aquatic passersby.

Though all share the same lake, visitors can embark on fishing adventures in multiple ways. They can wrestle with carp from the lakeside, steer a rented boat, or bob across the water in float tubes, a single-person watercraft reminiscent of the floating easy chairs used by retired penguins.