Citrus County, nestled on the southern end of Florida's Nature Coast, shows the state is more than amusement parks and white-sand beaches. From early July through late September, the area comes alive during scalloping season, drawing visitors eager for a hands-on outdoor experience.
Josh Wooten, Citrus County Chamber of Commerce president and CEO, said this year’s scalloping season was quite average. Even though the harvest was great, people are hesitant to spend money on vacations due to concerns over the national economy, he said.
“When the economy is really going strong, every hotel room is booked,” Wooten said. “You could walk on boats out there.”
Despite signs of economic uncertainty, the tourist turnout brought a welcome boost to area businesses – all thanks to the county’s marine life.
Scallops are a type of shellfish known as bivalve mollusks, similar to oysters and clams, that thrive in the shallow seagrass beds of the Gulf of Mexico.
The act of scalloping is “like an Easter-egg hunt for adults,” said Wooten.
He describes it as both an outdoor experience and a chance to catch a delicious dinner.
Auvis Cole, Citrus County tourism director, took his two sons scalloping for the first time this summer. He described their experience jumping out of the boat and swimming through the shallow waters. When they spotted a scallop, they would put on their snorkel mask, dive down, grab it and place it in their net before continuing their search.
Local operators, like captain Gary Bartell Jr., the owner of Ozello Keys Marina and River Adventure Tours, help make the scalloping experience possible. A Homosassa native, Bartell has been guiding tours for a decade now. His tours attract a wide range of visitors, from families to birthday parties and bachelor or bachelorette groups, and even international travelers, all seeking a well-rounded underwater adventure.
Where the scallops fall changes from year to year, but there is a general area known as the scallop grounds, averaging about four feet of water. Bartell uses scalloping skiffs, or flat-bottomed boats, with bimini tops, to navigate the shallow waters.
Local fishing villages, such as Ozello, Homosassa and the Chassahowitzka River are what make the area unique, yet Crystal River is more compact and touristy, he said.
He originally purchased the Ozello property for its ideal location for scalloping. It’s only 15 minutes from the scallop grounds and allows him to avoid the long channels that other locations face.
Once you pass the last house on the way from the marina to the scalloping grounds, Bartell describes about two miles of nothing but mangroves, islands, bald eagles flying over you and dolphins on either side.
Bartell says his numbers for airboat tours and marina leisure are down, while scalloping numbers, classified as anyone who booked a scalloping tour, managed to increase by 22% from 2024 to 2025. He attributed the increase to returning customers and scalloping being seasonal.
Bartell just hosted his 10th year in a row with the same group. He says with scalloping, it’s something new each year and a challenge in terms of how many scallops you can catch. He said swimming with manatees, Citrus County’s other big attraction, tends to be more of a one-time thing.
Cole said scalloping is Citrus County's second-largest and second-busiest season for tourism, following the manatee season that lasts from November to April.
In 2024, Citrus County brought in 1.7 million tourists, Cole said. He estimates 250,000 of those visitors can be attributed to the scalloping season, which spans almost three months from mid-June or early July to late-September. He added that a little over half of the county’s tourists come from the Tampa/St. Petersburg and Orlando/Daytona Beach areas, while 31% of visitors were from out of state. Roughly a quarter of all visitor spending comes from this category.
Sean DuBois, Cajun Jimmy's Seafood Seller & Cafe general manager, said that the scalloping season has a trickle-down effect, and tourism revenue circulates through the community. Local businesses like Ozello Keys Marina attract visitors from out of town who may not otherwise visit Citrus County, and about 30% of visitor spending goes to local businesses, according to Cole. The money they earn gets funneled back into the community, so it’s not just the businesses that benefit, but also the employees who live and raise families there. It creates a cycle where everyone gains, and businesses support one another.
After about four hours on the Gulf, scallopers can take their hard-earned shellfish to one of the many seaside restaurants that offer a “Cook Your Catch” option.
This tradition stems from out-of-town visitors who don’t have the means to clean or cook the scallops while they’re away from home.
The process entails bringing in freshly-caught, shucked, clean scallops, and the restaurant will cook and serve them to you.
“For us to take something that they have spent their hard money on, their time, and gone on vacation for a very inexpensive rate, we will accommodate, honestly, anything that they want,” said DuBois. “I will take any product that you have and make it possible so that you can have it any way that you like.”
DuBois offers more than just grilled, fried or blackened scallops. He will cook whatever a customer can plausibly imagine. Whether it be deep-fried and tossed in buffalo sauce or sautéed in white wine and garlic sauce with a side of garlic toast, he wants the customer’s imagination – not his – to be the limit.
To DuBois, Crystal River, as well as the surrounding areas, are a “small, big town,” where most of the businesses are locally owned.
“People who own businesses here that have money in the community, they provide jobs. Their kids go to school here. We see them here. We get to see them grow up,” he said. “People here are very pleasant. I raised my kid here. I will raise my kid here. And honestly, I am not going anywhere.”
Scalloping remains a beloved seasonal tradition in Citrus County, bringing together visitors and community members in a shared celebration of Florida’s Nature Coast.
“My favorite memory is made every single year, it’s when a kid gets their first scallop,” Bartell said. “You can hear them across the water.”
Bartell will have to wait until next year, when kids and adults alike will scream at the top of their lungs when they get their first scallop.