by Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost Travel Journalist scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com [Steinhatchee, FL.–] Looking down through my dive mask at the patchy grass bottom about four feet deep in the Gulf …
Bimini Big Game Club’s Memorial Day Weekend Schedule of Special Activities: Saturday, May 28th – * 8:30 AM – 2-tank dive: $100.00 * 5:30-8:30 – 3-Hour Sunset Cruise: $20.00 – …
By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com [Weeki Wachee, FL–] Sitting in a subterranean amphitheater watching through clear glass as young women wearing glittering …
by Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com College basketball’s national championship has drawn to an epic close, but there are a few more weeks left in the outdoors …
By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com Anglers, divers, or anyone who enjoys the ocean off Southeast Florida needs to pay close attention and get involved in a new …
Borrowing from the immortal lyrics of country music’s Jerry Reed in the theme song of the 1977 film “Smoky and the Bandit”, Everglades restoration “has a long way to go and a short time to get …
BILLFISH INVITATIONAL AUCTION ITEM: The Bimini Big Gamer The Big Game Is On at the legendary Bimini Big Game Club, a Guy Harvey Outpost, and this package is a front row seat to all the action. Swanky …
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![](mailto:?subject=The Family Easter Weekend is on at the Big Game Club&body=<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/eco-easter12.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-549" title="Easter at the Bimini Big Game Club" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/eco-easter12.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="751" /></a> https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/the-family-easter-weekend-is-on-at-the-big-game-club/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=The Hunt for Edible Underwater Treasure&body=by Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost Travel Journalist
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
[Steinhatchee, FL.--] Looking down through my dive mask at the patchy grass bottom about four feet deep in the Gulf of Mexico, I spied what looked like a miniature flying saucer. Hard and roundish, a little smaller than my palm, it sported a row of tiny blue lights in the small crack between top and bottom. As I reached down to pick it up, it snapped closed and bounced clumsily in a vain attempt to escape. I stuffed it in a mesh bag and kept swimming, looking for more targets. Boy, did I find plenty-- and so did my snorkeling companions.
Our party of six, guided by Steinhatchee charter captain Bob Erdman, was hunting for bay scallops -- small, wonderfully tasty mollusks that are plentiful in Florida's Big Bend region Gulf waters in summertime. You can't buy bay scallops at a seafood market; the only way to eat them is to harvest them yourself, which is both fun and very easy-- so easy that many liken it to an underwater Easter egg hunt. Kids as young as kindergarteners can harvest them.
You simply snorkel on the surface in four to six feet of water over patches of grass and sand and you will spot the shellfish either sitting on the bottom or perched on blades of sea grass. That row of UFO-like blue lights? Those are their eyes, and they quickly snap their double shell closed to propel themselves backwards when they see you overhead. But they're not that quick, so you don't usually lose too many. Think of it as lobstering lite.
The recreational scallop season opened June 25 and runs through Sept. 24, so you have plenty of time to try it. The harvest area extends from the Pasco-Hernando county line to the west bank of the Mexico Beach Canal in Bay County. However, St. Joseph Bay in Gulf County is closed to scalloping until Aug. 22 due to a previous red tide outbreak.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/scalloping7.jpg"><img class="wp-image-4148 size-full" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/scalloping7.jpg" alt="" width="640" height="426" /></a>Patches of sea grass provide a natural habitat for bay scallops.
Steinhatchee -- a tiny burg located about an hour's drive west of Gainesville--is this summer's scalloping capital. Pre-season counts conducted by scientists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission showed an average of 189 scallops per square meter in local waters, compared to 55 in the Homosassa-Crystal River area; 28 in the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge and only two in St. Joseph Bay.
"Fantastic!" Erdman said. "It's the best season in several years. We've been getting our limit in less than half a day."
That proclamation held true for our group too: ten gallons of whole scallops in 2 1/2 hours of snorkeling in an area south of the Steinhatchee River. We sat around in the shade of the boat's Bimini top and enjoyed some post-hunting snacks before heading back to the dock at Good Times Marina.
Lots of scallopers clean their own catch, but it's a tedious process that takes hours and potentially wastes the thumb-sized nuggets of meat if you don't know what you're doing. So we hired the professionals at Sea Hag Marina to do the job for about $8 per pound. They did not disappoint. We brought nearly six pounds of scallop meat to Fiddler's Restaurant that night where it was fried, broiled, blackened and turned into pasta-- and we had plenty of leftovers.
There's no wrong way to prepare bay scallops-- except to overcook them. If you can think of a recipe-- any recipe--you can make it with these tender mollusks. They are great for ceviche and one of my friends eats them raw.
Guy Harvey Outpost hopes to plant a flag in scalloping country soon, so look for updates at the <a href="http://www.guyharveyoutpost.com" target="_blank">Guy Harvey Outpost web site</a>. For a complete rundown of scallop rules, equipment and techniques, go <a href="http://myfwc.com/fishing/saltwater/regulations/bay-scallops/" target="_blank">HERE</a>.
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Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/. For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling, camping, sailing and powerboat racing. She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women's world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit.
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Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/the-hunt-for-edible-underwater-treasure/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Spring Into Adventure with Mermaids and Manatees&body=<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-3422" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/12698307_10154157285116756_9106479937438679828_o.jpg" alt="12698307_10154157285116756_9106479937438679828_o" width="1280" height="853" />By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
[Weeki Wachee, FL--] Sitting in a subterranean amphitheater watching through clear glass as young women wearing glittering mermaid tails swim gracefully more than 16 feet deep underwater can almost make you suspend disbelief in the supernatural.
"There's Ariel!" a little girl in the audience shouts in delight, and nobody in the audience scoffs. Indeed, we all start applauding.
We are watching one of the live daily performances of "The Little Mermaid" at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park on central Florida's west coast. Here, since 1947, generations of young women (and a few young men) have delighted audiences with their unique stunts and choreography-- all executed while taking intermittent breaths off free-flowing air hoses scattered around the spring that serves as their underwater stage.
It takes considerable skill to do this. Wearing neither buoyancy compensation devices nor dive masks, the mermaids must control their depth by the amount of air they inhale and exhale from the hoses-- all while dancing, miming and staging mock combat for the audience watching through the glass. Often they must deal with surprise intruders in the spring that threaten to upstage them-- manatees, turtles, a snook that just won't leave-- and several times-- drunken patrons from the adjoining Buccaneer Bay water park. Unflappable does not begin to describe their demeanor.
The Weeki Wachee mermaid shows were the brainchild of Newt Perry, a champion swimmer, diver and attractions promoter. In their heydays of the 50s and 60s, they drew large crowds, and fans included the late Elvis Presley and other celebrities.
Attendance suffered after Walt Disney World opened, but the shows still went on, albeit to smaller audiences. Buccaneer Bay was added in the 1980s, and the attraction also includes an animal show, gift shop, restaurant, riverboat tour, and kayak rental. It became a state park in 2008.
The spring itself is dazzling. Bubbling up from deep within the earth's core, more than 110 million gallons per day of fresh, clear, 72-degree water form a narrow river that flows west from the mermaid theater for about 7 1/2 miles to the Gulf of Mexico near Bayport.
A friend and I paddled a five-mile section of the river, renting from the <a href="http://www.weekiwacheekayakrental.com" target="_blank">Kayak Shack</a>. It was a fun, relaxing, non-strenuous three-hour float from the park to the shop's headquarters over water so clear it appeared invisible. Surrounded by cypress and shady oak, we glimpsed schools of bass, mullet and bream as well as heron, ibis, turtles and at least five resting manatees. Gorgeous.
Visiting Weeki Wachee is but one of many fun outdoor adventures to be savored around Florida's Springs Coast. Visitors should also make it a point to explore nearby Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife State Park where they can see a hippopotamus, a Florida panther, and a black bear as well as other mammals, reptiles and birds --and view fish and manatees in an underwater observatory. Dr. Guy Harvey and fellow marine artist Wyland painted the colorful mural that decorates the outside wall of the visitor center in 2000.
Bicyclists will enjoy pedaling the Withlacoochee State Trail-- a 46-mile-long former railroad track that's been turned into a multi-use path. A good place to start is the Inverness trailhead and bike either north or south.
All this activity tends to stimulate an appetite. Here are several recommendations for après-adventure food and drink in or near Crystal River, FL:
-West 82 Bar and Grill at the Plantation on Crystal River
-Peck's Old Port Cove Seafood Restaurant
-Vintage on 5th
Here's to happy trails-- paddling, hiking, biking-- and to putting a spring in your step.
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Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/. For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling camping, sailing and powerboat racing. She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women's world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit.
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Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/spring-into-adventure-with-mermaids-and-manatees-2/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Kids Dive Free with Dive Bimini!&body=<a href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-353" title="Kids Dive Free at Dive Bimini!" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/kidsdivefree.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="412" /></a> https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/kids-dive-free-with-dive-bimini/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Speak Out for Your Florida Reefs&body=<img class=" size-medium wp-image-3368 alignleft" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/6178.jpg?w=300" alt="6178" width="300" height="225" />
By Sue Cocking, Guy Harvey Outpost staff writer
scocking@guyharveyoutpost.com
Anglers, divers, or anyone who enjoys the ocean off Southeast Florida needs to pay close attention and get involved in a new initiative proposed by a community group called <a href="http://www.OurFloridaReefs.org" target="_blank">Our Florida Reefs</a>.
This group of anglers, divers, scientists, local government officials, business owners, conservationists and others has been working for two years on 68 wide-ranging recommendations aimed at protecting the 105-mile coral reef tract extending south from St. Lucie Inlet in Martin County to just north of Biscayne National Park in Miami-Dade County. This region of Southeast Florida was targeted because, unlike Biscayne National Park and the Keys, it has no management plan in place to balance use with protection of coral reefs.
Some of the community working group's recommendations for saving coral are non-controversial, such as installing mooring buoys and enhancing reef education in schools. But others have drawn considerable ire from user groups both online and at public meetings.
One of the proposals--N-59-- would ban spear fishing using scuba gear throughout the region --except for harvesting invasive lionfish--in order to eliminate the targeting of the largest and most fertile reef fish species. Another--S-97--would reduce the annual, two-day lobster mini-season bag limit statewide from 12 to six per day and would require lobster hunters to complete an educational program in order to receive a permit. Recommendation N-146 would establish a series of marine protected areas along the Southeast Florida coast that includes no-take zones; seasonal closures to protect spawning aggregations; no-anchoring areas; and coral restoration areas.
You-- the ocean user-- have until March 1 to review and comment on these proposals. Then they will be forwarded to local, state and federal agencies for action.
You can provide comments on the Our Florida Reefs website or at public meetings this month from noon to 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Feb. 16 at Holiday Park Social Center, 1150 G. Harold Martin Dr., Fort Lauderdale; Feb. 17 at Newman Alumni Center at University of Miami, 6200 San Amaro Dr., Coral Gables; and Feb.18 at Kovens Conference Center, FIU/Biscayne Bay Campus, 3000 NE 151 St., North Miami.
If this really is a community planning process and not being executed at the behest of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, then what you say counts. Speak up.
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Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/. For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling camping, sailing and powerboat racing. She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women's world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit.
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Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/speak-out-for-your-florida-reefs-2/){kind=link}
![](mailto:?subject=Speed Up Everglades Restoration&body=Borrowing from the immortal lyrics of country music’s Jerry Reed in the theme song of the 1977 film “Smoky and the Bandit”, Everglades restoration “has a long way to go and a short time to get there.”
While the song refers to the urgency of delivering beer cross country, it is far more applicable to the necessity of restoring historic fresh water flows to Everglades National Park and Florida Bay. The stakes — for sport fishing, diving, and the ecosystem as a whole– are enormous.
About 15 years have passed since Florida and the federal government began work to restore historic water flows in terms of amount, timing, and quality across the Florida peninsula from the Glades headwaters just south of Disney World into Lake Okeechobee, and finally into the national park and bay. The multi-billion dollar planning, land acquisition, and construction projects have been mired in bureaucratic problems and arguments over money. Meanwhile, huge quantities of polluted water have been shunted from the Big O east to the St. Lucie Estuary and west through the Caloosahatchee River, killing sea grasses, fish and other creatures while the Glades and Florida Bay remain parched.
In 2014, voters got so sick of the situation that they overwhelmingly adopted a constitutional amendment to set aside a third of taxes on real estate transactions to ensure land could be bought and water stored, filtered and sent south to benefit people and wildlife.
But the Florida legislature spent most of the money on debt service and buying vehicles. And Congress hasn’t funded an effort to speed up work to move water through the central Everglades into Florida Bay. The situation grew worse this summer when an unseasonable drought combined with high salinity and water temperatures killed sea grass, fish and mangroves in the bay. Now, scientists fear the onset of a massive algae bloom that could further decimate this once rich marine life nursery, and they are keeping a close eye out for it.
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/gators.jpg"><img src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/gators.jpg" alt="gators" width="550" height="413" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-120" /></a>
The Everglades Coalition, meeting earlier this month in Coral Gables, found a couple of reasons to be hopeful of better days ahead. A bill being introduced in the Florida legislature this session would set aside at least $200 million for Everglades projects. If lawmakers lack the political will to move ahead, Gov. Rick Scott has said he would set aside $5 billion over 20 years to create badly-needed water storage.
But the thirsty Glades could be running out of time. What’s being billed as the largest water restoration project in the history of the world was initially projected to take about 30 years. Now, experts say, it is barely at the halfway point, and could take up to 50 years. This doesn’t bode well for the 8 million Floridians who depend on the Glades for drinking water, nor the fish and other aquatic creatures whose very existence hangs in the balance.
To learn more about the critical situation in Florida Bay, you can attend a talk by Everglades Foundation ecologist Stephen Davis Jan. 27 at 6 p.m. at the Keys History & Discovery Center at the Islander, a Guy Harvey Outpost Resort in Islamorada. Fee is $25 for non-Discovery Center members and reservations are recommended. Call 305-922-2237 or email info@keysdiscovery.com.
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Sue Cocking chronicles the Guy Harvey Outpost travel and adventure experience in regular blog posts on GuyHarveyOutpostNews.com/. For 21 years, Cocking covered the full spectrum of outdoors adventure opportunities in South Florida and beyond for the Miami Herald, including fishing, diving, hunting, paddling camping, sailing and powerboat racing. She is a certified scuba diver and holder of an IGFA women’s world fly fishing record for a 29-pound permit.
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Share your photos, videos and experiences with Guy Harvey Outpost by hash tagging #OutpostAttitude to all of your social media posts. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/speed-up-everglades-restoration/){kind=link}
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![](mailto:?subject=Billfish Invitational Auction Spotlight – "Bimini Big Gamer" Package&body=BILLFISH INVITATIONAL AUCTION ITEM: The Bimini Big Gamer
The Big Game Is On at the legendary <a title="BBGC web site" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com" target="_blank">Bimini Big Game Club</a>, <a title="About GHO" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/aboutus.htm" target="_blank">a Guy Harvey Outpost</a>, and this package is a front row seat to all the action. Swanky accommodations. A day of offshore fishing. A day of backcountry fishing. A day of diving. A night of wining and dining and some flying around on your own private plane. You’re in the major leagues now! Enjoy a five night stay in one of the Club’s four penthouse one bedroom suites which give new meaning to phrase "million dollar view". Each is designed with an individual style - the Hemingway and Lerner suites, side by side, as these two legends were in real life, or Guy Harvey’s personal suite and the adjoining Blue Marlin. Get rested up because every day is “Game Day” at the Big Game Club.
Day 1 - Sunrise...time to suit up and go chase the Man in the Blue Suit! Gear up for some serious blue water angling with the legendary <a title="About Capt. Billy Black" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/charter-captain-billy.htm" target="_blank">Captain Billy Black</a>, a man who knows these waters like Hemingway knew his mojitos! Enjoy a day with Captain Billy and three of your fishing buddies aboard <a title="Photo of "El Viejo"" href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=196290337079665&set=a.167958453246187.29409.127094040665962&type=1&theater" target="_blank">“El Viejo”, a classic 53 Rybovich fishing machine</a>. The Man in the Blue Suit doesn’t take kindly to amateurs, so make sure you know your stuff, and if not, you’d best follow Captain Billy’s orders. It’s true, fish fear him!
Day 2 - And speaking of orders....bonefish, 2 o’clock, 30 feet, cast, strip, try again. Yes, on Day 2, we’re talking tough love from one of <a title="About Bonefish Bimini" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/bonefish-bimini.htm" target="_blank">Bonefish Bimini</a>’s expert guides. These guides grew up fishing the flats of Bimini, and their knowledge of local bonefish and permit habits might constitute trade secrets. The skiff accommodates two anglers, but you may not want to share these secrets with anyone!
<a href="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/vaughfred-bonefish1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-650" title="Bonefish Bimini guide "Eagle Eyes" Fred get another one!" src="https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/vaughfred-bonefish1.jpg" alt="" width="550" height="366" /></a>
Day 3 - Time to suit up again...this time in your swimsuit or wet suit, because you and three friends are off for a two tank dive aboard <a title="About M.V. Bimini Blue" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/our-boat.htm" target="_blank">M.V. Bimini Blue</a> with the dive pros of <a title="About Neal Watson's Dive Bimini" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/dive-bimini.htm" target="_blank">Neal Watson’s Dive Bimini</a>. Wrecks, walls, reefs and the mysterious Atlantis Road – there’s no end to the diving options. Enjoy diving in style aboard the Club’s 60ft double deck, glass bottom boat, complete with men’s and women’s bathrooms, warm water showers, and snack bar with adult beverages on board. During your stay, you’ll be a guest of the <a title="About the Bimini Big Game Bar & Grill" href="http://www.biggameclubbimini.com/bimini-bar-grill.htm" target="_blank">Bimini Big Game Bar & Grill</a>, the island’s most popular waterfront restaurant and bar. Enjoy a complimentary dinner for four while overlooking the marina and debating who’s winning the Big Game. We’ll buy you dinner and a nice bottle of wine, but these types of debates go on long into the night, so cocktails are for your account!
When it comes there is no more time on the score clock, and the Big Game draws to a close, regardless of the score everyone’s a winner, for you and your friends are going home in style....just like the way you arrived ! On your very own private <a title="About Sky Limo Air Charter" href="http://www.skylimoaircharter.com/aboutus.php" target="_blank">Sky Limo</a> <a title="About the Cessna Caravan" href="http://www.skylimoaircharter.com/aircraft-cessna-caravan-208CX.php" target="_blank">Cessna Caravan</a> charter that seats seven - or you alone and a lot of luggage – round trip from <a title="FT. Lauderdale Executive Airport web site" href="http://ci.ftlaud.fl.us/FXE/" target="_blank">Ft. Lauderdale Executive Airport</a>. As you climb out over Bimini and look back at Alice Town and the Big Game Club, you know the Big Game will go on, but the Outpost team awaits the return of you, the Bimini Big Gamer! . Donated by the Bimini Big Game Club, “El Viejo” Sportfishing Charters, and Sky Limo Charters.
AUCTION INFORMATION:
Tickets to nightly events of the inaugural 2011 Billfish Invitational are available for $150/pp. Price includes cocktails, dinner and participation in the auction and award presentations.
On-site auction is Thursday, May 19th at the Bimini Big Game Club. Online bids accepted through Midnight, Wednesday, May 18.
Please contact Capt. Ned Stone (<a href="mailto:nstone@guyharveyoutpost.com">nstone@guyharveyoutpost.com</a>) for details. https://guyharveyoutpostblog.com/billfish-invitational-auction-spotlight-bimini-big-gamer-package/){kind=link}
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