Winter Springs, FL Outdoor Activities

Growing up, Butch Finnigan frequented the Atlantic Ocean with his father and grandfather, reveling in the rush of netting a big catch. Matt Riley found similar solace atop the ocean's seemingly endless bounty, where he and his family enjoyed each other's company as they fished. More than two decades later, the veteran anglers have become captains and co-founders of Xtreme Saltwater Angler. They assemble all necessary components for fishing excursions into the big blue, including signature lures and apparel, portable lighthouses, and the expertise needed to guide fishing charters and eco-tours.

The captains and their staff switch up their charters from brief inshore jaunts into the famed Mosquito Lagoon, Canaveral National Seashore, and Indian River Lagoon system to lengthier saltwater fishing trips into the Atlantic. Close to shore, anglers snap up species such as red and black drum, sea trout, and famished free divers, while deeper waters teem with cobia, kingfish, grouper, and yellowfin tuna. The sailors also nurture relationships with nature on eco-tours that explore more than 2,100 plant species and 2,200 animal species, including some of the U.S.'s most diverse flocks of birds.

Surrounded by 9,000 acres of conservation land, the Wekiva Falls KOA campground immerses visitors in nature and wildlife, and maintains controlled water-recreation areas and modern amenities. Staffers block out sites for large camping trailers, and also reserve tent sites nestled in view of the river and picnic tables that are kept primitive to facilitate a rough wilderness experience or decked out with electric and water hookups. The campground also rents canoes and kayaks so visitors can paddle up and down the adjacent Wekiva River taking in the lush shoreline scenery. In a separate swimming area fed by a large sulfur spring, guests can frolic around a 40-foot waterfall or plunge down dual tube slides, and they can also lounge in a heated outdoor pool in the event of cooler temperatures. Alternative forms of entertainment are also available including a full bar; crafts sessions; themed parties and dinners; and day trips to local golf courses to cartwheel down the fairways.

Deep in eastern Seminole County, Three Crowns Farm's prime location next to next to Lake Proctor Wilderness Area affords mounted visitors direct access to miles of scenic trails. Riders can bone up on skills during a lesson in dressage, jumping, or reining, and then head out on the network of well-worn routes for a variety of trail rides. The morning ride sets out at 7 a.m., providing a pleasurable start to the day or cap to a night spent trying to empathize with horses by sleeping standing up. For night owls, the moonlight ride embarks at 7 p.m. and catches the sunset before returning at 8:30 p.m.. The farm recommends that riders wear protective clothing and shoes that cover the feet.

Each day, golf carts trundle over wooden bridges, their wheels thwacking against each plank as they cross the myriad waterways that dot Alaqua Country Club's 18-hole layout. Designed by golf legend Gary Player, the 6,662-yard course is sculpted through tunnels of 55-foot trees and incorporates water hazards that come into play on 16 holes. One shining example is the par 3 hole 13 with an island green that tests golfers' iron play and ability to use those same clubs to fight off feral caddies that use flagsticks as swords. Surrounded by the Lower Wekiva Preserve State Park, the course enchants golfers with palms draped in billowing spanish moss and occasional sightings of deer and wild turkeys.

Alaqua Country Club's new, adobe-accented clubhouse offers weekly dining specials served to tables draped in white linens, where guests can unwind after rounds or fold burgundy napkins into festive new club head covers.

In 1917, toward the end of WWI, the greens of Winter Park Country Club’s golf course echoed with baaing and bleating. In response to the wartime meat shortage, golfer cleats had given way to hooves: the course’s links, designed by John Dunn of Scotland just 17 years earlier, became grazing pastures for sheep and goats.

This was just one of many course reinventions during its more than 100 years of history, which has seen Winter Park’s fairways expand from 9 to 27 and shrink back to 9 again. Perhaps the course's greatest claim to fame has been the legendary figures who have graced its narrow, tree-hampered fairways, including players with surnames such as Hogan, Snead, and Sarazen.

Players of all stripes, from greenhorns to green-jacket holders, must deal with difficult design and terrain, as showcased on the course’s signature fourth hole, whose dogleg left and tight out-of-bounds areas lead a troubling path to a green situated behind two large bunkers and a massive oak tree. The biggest challenge, however, may reside on the par 3 seventh hole, whose deceptively simple 165-yard length leads into a hard-to-read green with a shape-shifting flagstick.

Course at a Glance:

• Nine-hole, par 35 course

• Length of 2,470 yards

• Course rating of 31.8

• Slope rating of 102 on bermuda grass

• See hole details

With a collection of Flyboards, which combine jet-ski horsepower and jetpack form, at their disposal, FlyBoard Rentals of Orlando grants momentary relief from the burden of gravity. Invented by champion jet skier Frank Zapata, the Flyboard's foot- and arm-mounted nozzles harness the turbocharged engine of a modern jet ski to propel riders up to 30 feet into the air, beneath the surface of the ocean, and directly into Justice League headquarters.