Many people flock to Crystal River in the winter to visit Three Sister Springs, the winter home to many manatees. But as the temperature rises and the sun stays out longer, scallop hunting becomes the hit attraction. Scallop season starts for most Florida gulf counties beginning of July and lasts until the end of September (Pasco County only has a 10-day window).
When looking to book a scallop tour, most companies require you to rent the entire boat for a private tour. Six is the maximum number of people a boat can hold. I did find one company, River Ventures, that allowed private and semi-private tours. This worked out best for us since we only had three in our group. We chose the semi-private tour, this means another group of three or less could join our boat, which was $95.00 per person. They need at least three patrons to take the boat out. No other groups joined our tour, so it ended up just being us. The company has two locations, Crystal River and Homosassa. The Crystal River location goes out around 10 a.m. and Homosassa has boats going out at 7 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. We chose the Crystal River location originally, but due to some boat technical difficulties, our departure moved to the Homosassa location. Which is only 15 minutes down the road, and they were great about letting us keep the 10 a.m. departure time.
You can book your tour for either location on the River Venture website. There are additional things you can choose when booking, such as waterproof cameras or bags for your smartphone. You will see the option for adding a guide, but you do NOT need to add that for your tour. There will be a captain, who will drive the boat, and a guide, who will be in the water with you, at no additional charge. You will get a confirmation email, and a link to a waiver for each person to sign before your tour. If you have any questions, feel free to call them, they were so helpful in answering all my questions.
When we arrived we checked in at the office. They have restrooms you can use before you get on the boat. When snorkeling, your back will exposed a lot to the sun. I suggest wearing a rashguard or waterproof shirt. If you don't have or maybe forgot to pack something, you can find it in the office/gift shop. Parking is in the back near the boat docks. We had the fantastic captain Kelly and guide Marissa leading us on our scallop tour! All female crew! Everyone had great energy, we did a manatee mantra, it was going to be an excellent day.
And what do you know, before we even got on the boat the awesome adventure started. Hanging around the docked boats was a mama manatee and her kid. The guide guessed from the size that the young manatee was probably the age of a juvenile. Late summer is the season to see lots of new and young baby manatees. A fun fact we learned from our guide Marissa, manatees can sense heartbeats from several feet away.
The manatees went back under the water, we took that as our cue to pop on the boat. My one friend and I had our own mask, snorkel, and fins, but if you don't have any no worries. The guide will provide and fit you with the proper equipment. We started moseying down the channel, the manatees we saw earlier swimming in front of us. Since we ended up going out of Homosassa, you will pass Monkey Island, which I talk about in my Homosassa Springs post. Once we were out of the protected shallow channel, where manatees like to hang, we sped up and started cruising through all the small scrub islands. A lot of the houses that are in this area are only accessible by boat. What a dream to live out here; surrounded by islands and mangroves, watching an unobstructed sunset.
I was so shocked when we got to the Gulf how calm the water was. It looked like blue silk flawlessly merging with the sky. The water was so clear you could see straight down to the coral reef. I haven't experienced gorgeous Gulf water like this since I was at Dry Tortugas. Not a cloud in the sky, sun shining bright, literally couldn't have asked for more perfect weather.
We didn't stay long at the first place we stopped. The guide got in the water first to start scoping out the area. She found a couple, so we started looking around. After 15 minutes of no one finding any scallops, the guide made the call to change location. We did find leopard starfish, and we saw a stingray swim by the boat, so the stop wasn't a total bust.
The captain moved us over a bit to a second location. We jumped back in the water, and I began finding scallops almost immediately! They showed us on the boat beforehand what the shells looks like. You can spot them hiding in the sea grass with their glowing 200 indigo eyes on the edge of each shell. These eyes are not like our eyes, but they do respond to light. Our guide stated that they can be found, tucked away, in sea grass that has become slightly brown. You want to grab ones that are bigger dollar coins. I promise it is quite easy to spot them.
When you put them in your mesh bag, try to get them close to the bottom. Make sure it is tied or closed at the top because the scallops will try to swim out of the bag. To keep them fresh, you will put them in a bucket of water. They will swim around and even squirt water.
Between the four of us, we collected 4 gallons of scallops! Our guide was quite impressed with our gathering skills, with it being our first time. In Florida, the maximum quantity of scallops you can collect in a day, is 2 gallons per person or 10 gallons per vessel.
On the boat ride back, our guide taught us how to shuck a scallop. I have shucked oysters before in Australia, so I thought I could easily handle shucking a scallop. You use the shucking knife to open the shell, then use your thumb to hold open the shell open. Be mindful because the scallop will try to close itself. Then stick the knife in the top shell and swipe it to slice the membrane, splitting the scallop open. Gently scrape the organs into a bucket, revealing the white scallop meat. I struggled with scraping the organ bits away and not cutting the scallop meat. Our guide was a wiz at it, and my one friend got the hang of it pretty quickly. There are places you can take your scallops to be shucked. You can take your scallops home, or some restaurants, in the area, will cook up your scallops for your meal.
It was such a great experience with such amazing people! We are official scallop hunters! I can't wait to come back next year, giving me plenty of time to work on my shucking skills.
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