Diving Florida
For Scallops
By Capt. Ron Gauthier
T
his is one of the best times a family can have
together, exploring the underwater world
and finding these delectable shellfish to
prepare in your favorite recipes. Everyone can find
them if you’re looking in the right place. Scallops
like 4-10 foot deep water on sea grass bottom and
patchy reefs. You don’t have to be dive certified,
and you need only a few items besides the boat to
harvest them, snorkel gear, a mesh bag, and an icy
cooler.
Selecting the best place for you to scallop depends
on where you want to be, or what is closest to
you. Homosassa, Crystal River, and Steinhachee are
some of the favorite places. Steinhachee area seems
to hold more scallops which means you limit out
faster.
Our favorite place to stay is at the beautiful
Plantation Inn in Crystal River. You
can check into your rooms
and launch the boat at their
boat ramp and moor the
boat right behind your
room. It’s a 9-10 mile
run down the river to
the Gulf of Mexico; on
the way keep your eyes
open, you may see some
Manatees. In the winter
hundreds of Manatees stay in
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the river and springheads to feed and stay warm
in the 72-degree water. The Plantation dive shop
offers different dives from Manatees to spring heads
like the King Spring only a few hundred yards away,
the spring is 75 feet across and drops straight down
30 feet to two entrances to a cavern which goes to
a depth of 60 feet, there are many fish and other
marine life around these spring heads.
When you reach the last channel marker outside,
you head south towards Homosassa in search of the
patchy grass and sand areas in 4-6 ft. of water. The
ideal grass is the clumps of dead grass in the turtle
grass; the scallops are lying in these clumps and
can be spotted easily. Put your dive flag up before
entering the water, and stay within 100 feet of the
boat; you can anchor or drift, but be careful as there
are many other boats around you. The water is
really clear, and you see many pinfish
flashing in the grass. There are
also sea turtles hiding in
the grass, dolphins, crabs,
stingrays, and many
other species of fish to
see.
The scallop is a
bivalve mollusk like the
oyster, but the scallop is a
swimmer.This results in the
adductor muscle becoming