I am a true Floridian! I was born, raised and continue to live in the same town that I was born. Even though I have been here for 43 years, I had never visited Homosassa or been diving for scallops. Here’s a little spoiler for you…. I can now say that I have visited Homosassa and went on a scalloping trip but I STILL have not been diving for scallops. But more on that later.
Scallop season officially began July 1st and it runs through September 24th this year. We booked a boat with a captain for 6 hours through Blue Heaven River Tours. I spoke with Captain Wyn multiple times and he was always professional, kind and quick to reply. As this was our first experience with scalloping, I had many questions. Our boat was scheduled to leave at 9am and we were asked to be there 20 minutes early. So at the lovely hour of 6am, we left Port Charlotte!
Less than two and a half hours later, we were hopping on the pontoon boat with Captain Ron. Their scallop tours are for groups of 4 or less per boat so it was just Nelson, Bella and myself along with Captain Ron. It was an overcast day which was welcomed! We loaded our cooler with our lunch onto the boat and we were off! We rode for 40 minutes and then it was Scallop Time! There were only a couple other boats around. But I’ll tell you that besides those couple boats there was nothing but water, open water. Now again, I grew up in Florida and am a beach girl. But once I climbed down the steps into the water, my anxiety got the best of me. I am not able to tell any wonderful stories of diving down 6 feet and scooping up a scallop with my bare hands. There were two places you could find me that day. One was on the boat watching Bella and Nelson scalloping. The other was hanging on to the steps while wearing my mask and snorkel and watching the underwater activity safely from the top of the water. You see, when I’m swimming at the beach, land is always in sight. No land in sight meant no Heather letting go of the stairs!
Fortunately, Nelson and Bella did not have the same fear as I did. So they spent their time diving down and getting scallops! They had great success and ended up with a couple gallons of scallops. Not too bad for first timers!
After they had their fill of scalloping, Captain Ron took us by Monkey Island! I was beyond excited for this as monkeys are my favorite! They are so adorable and entertaining! At one point in my life, I had hopes of having one as a pet. This small island in Homosassa was just the most adorable place! There were 3 monkeys on the island. They had everything they need. You are not allowed on the island and it is under video surveillance. As we circled the island in the boat, two of the three monkeys playfully followed us. I could have watched them all day!
Next, Captain took us to a dock where we could drop off the bucket of scallops that Bella and Nelson had collected. For $6 a gallon, they clean your scallops so you don’t have to do any of the work. This was awesome as we would not have known where to begin with cleaning them. Shortly after that, they delivered a bag filled with ice and our treasure of scallops! Best $12 spent in a while!
From there, we continued onto Crystal River. This is the area where during the winter, manatees frequent here. No manatees are there in the summer though. This water is freshwater. Captain Ron suggested we take a dip to rinse the salt water off from when we were scalloping. He warned us this water is much colder. And boy was he right! It took my breath away.
As we rode around Crystal River, it was easy to tell that this was quite the popular area. There were boats everywhere with floats and water “toys” out. There was loud music and children and dogs playing in the water. It looked like a fun place for families!
By now, our six hours out on the water with Captain Ron had come to an end. We were all exhausted from the fresh air and swimming! We headed home with smiles on our faces as we knew the next day we would be having a delicious meal of fresh scallops!
