Catching scallops is the best part! It’s arguably one of the most fun things you can do here in Florida in the summer. You’ll often hear it described by some as an Easter egg hunt.
The most common technique is diving down and grabbing scallops from the seagrass. By “diving”, we really mean dipping under water at depths of 4 to 6 feet deep. Essentially it is exactly like collecting golf balls in the deep end of the pool.
Our tides fluctuate between 3-3.5 feet and low tides are much easier for scalloping. Our favorite technique is to go out on a lower tide in very shallow water and basically float around and pick them up from a few feet below. Timing the tide could make or break your trip dependent on personal skill levels, so it is always good to book dependent on how shallow or deep you want to dive.
Remember, this activity is more like a hunt than catching, sometimes playing the eye spy part of the game is the better part of your experience. Enjoying the entire process of this activity is what it is all about!
Gathering techniques are various! Some people like to cover lots of ground, by swimming in circles all the way around the vessel. Others simply go out and enjoy snorkeling different areas while looking for the scallop shape in the grass. Most people will look for blue eyes, but our Captains believe that in certain conditions you may not see blue eyes, so looking for the shape of a scallop will help!
