# Our Scallop Vacation in Port St Joe... :-)



## Fiishergurl

I was born in Central Florida, grew up going to the beaches every summer but never went scalloping in all those years. We mostly stayed in the Ponce Inlet (East Coast) or Englewood (West Coast) areas and had lots of fun but those were not scalloping areas. 

So this year my husband, his two sons and I went scalloping for the first time ever! We spent 2 weeks at the State Park but my husband and I arrived a couple of days early so we could check things out. The first three days we were there was when the Stationary Front stalled over the area and dumped all that rain. When we checked in we were given a walk up site that was not prone to flooding. We were tent camping (left our RV at home... long story) and we bought a tarp and some rope on our way in so that we could keep everything dry. When we arrived we set everything up and enjoyed the rain storms the first night while we sat in our area under the tarp nice and dry. We were very pleased at ourselves with how smart we were to buy that huge tarp on the way in and get it set up in such a way that made the rain enjoyable. We stayed our first night in the tent and the next day it was raining so hard we couldn't do much so we set out in the truck and drove around to explore various places and such. We picked up a half bushel of oysters and cooked them on the grill that night. Right before we went to bed that night (our second night there) we noticed the water beginning to rise all around our campsite. And rise, and rise and rise. So much for us being master campers and outsmarting the weather. We found a spot of slightly higher ground just barely large enough for our tent and moved it in the pouring down rain and put a tarp over it. We stayed relatively dry that night as we listened to the rain come pouring down but by the next morning the water was still rising and our entire camp site was calf deep in water except for the tiny area our tent was sitting on. My husband's sons had not arrived yet so their tent wasn't up yet.

So.... we stayed at a hotel that night (the third night) because we were wrinkled like prunes and needed a dry night but we had gone to the Park Office and arranged to move to a dryer site the next day.

After a warm dry night at the Dixie Belle Motel we went back to the State Park and moved all of our stuff. The front finally moved on and we stayed pretty dry the rest of the two weeks. But it did take several more days before the water in our original site went down all the way so we were happy the Park Rangers let us move to a new site that was dryer. My husband's sons arrived that day right after we moved to the new site.

Now to the scalloping... We had a blast and rarely had trouble finding lots of scallops. The only day we didn't get as many as we wanted was a weekend day when we went out really late in the afternoon and all the holes we normally went to had been picked over. We still got enough to take back and cook for dinner that night so it was still fun. We were amazed at how many places you could find the scallops.... on the edges of the deep holes, in that brown funny looking sea weed where they just sit on it in shallower water and open up to filter feed, and in the sparse grass in the shallower water father east. We were also excited about all of the other marine life we saw... a small sea turtle, baby shark, lots of mullet, blue crabs, croakers, starfish, Sand dollars, lots of pin fish and of course tons of sea urchins.

We didn't scallop every day.... maybe about 6 or 7 times in 2 weeks which was plenty. Other times we went flounder gigging at night by wading in the bay (Eagle's Nest Harbor) at the state park. We got 5 flounder in two nights and cooked them up and ate them for dinner on a couple of nights.

We also met so many nice people at the State Park that were camping around us. We had a wonderful time (me, my husband, and his two sons aged 18 and 20 years old) and we think this was one of the most memorable vacations we have had in a long time.

Below is a picture of my husband and his two sons with 7 1/2 gallons of scallops that we got one day. 










It seems to us there were plenty of scallops to go around a lots of fun things to do in this area. We loved it! We will be back for sure another year, but for next year we are planning a lobster trip in the Keys!

Ginny


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## skiff89_jr

Hey hey it's a fellow crappie.com'er :thumbup:


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## Cobiacatcher

Sounds like a great time, Cape San Blas is beautiful, and lots to do..


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## Fiishergurl

skiff89_jr said:


> Hey hey it's a fellow crappie.com'er :thumbup:



Oh yeah we love our Crappie fishing time. Can't wait til the Slabfests start back up and the fish are running across Lake Monroe... 

Ginny


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## skiff89_jr

#TeamTalquin haha


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## Fiishergurl

Cobiacatcher said:


> Sounds like a great time, Cape San Blas is beautiful, and lots to do..


Yes and I like your idea of staying in one of those villas. When we go back we will either rent a house or villa or take our RV. No tent camping next time during the rainy season... lol.

Ginny


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## Fiishergurl

skiff89_jr said:


> #TeamTalquin haha


We are hoping to come to Talquin for the Super Slabfest in November...  We met TnT and Talquin Maggie when they came down to Crescent in January.

Ginny


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## skiff89_jr

Fiishergurl said:


> We are hoping to come to Talquin for the Super Slabfest in November...  We met TnT and Talquin Maggie when they came down to Crescent in January.
> 
> Ginny


I see lightwire and rawhide a lot while we're out on the water. We haven't attended any of the social events though. Maybe we'll go to one this year and meet some other folks.


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## Fiishergurl

skiff89_jr said:


> I see lightwire and rawhide a lot while we're out on the water. We haven't attended any of the social events though. Maybe we'll go to one this year and meet some other folks.


You should because it's so much fun! Great people, great food, great fishing and lots of good intel... 

Ginny


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## Cobiacatcher

We have stayed in the cabins in the park, tents, campers, and rented a house a couple years ago. The house was not on the water but had access to a dock and we were able to keep the boat in the water. We enjoyed ourselves much more renting a house because you dont have to bring as much stuff, also ac and a kitchen is nice. Seems like you have more time to enjoy the area. Reserve something sooner rather than later. We planned last minute and lucked up. But the sooner you book the more selections youll have.


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## Pourman1

GOOD to hear they're plentiful this year , we are going over on Sunday :thumbup: ... I have Camped and stayed in the Cabins at the State Park several times in the past , we lucked out on a Screamin' deal and rented a House ON the Bay this time ... I LOVE the area , great Fishing / Scalloping , so much Sealife , and Indian Pass has terrific Triple Tail Fishing too !! ... The Raw Bar is probably one of THE coolest places I have ever been to and I've been all over the World ... thanks for the report !! :yes:


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## Don White

Sounds like you had a great time once you got the rain behind you! A couple of Qs for you. How was the Dixie Belle? (I have never stayed there) & how in the world do you tent camp at the State Park during July? Been there many times & it was always with a pop up or trailer. I guess I am a wuss but after the heat and bugs all day the AC sure does recharge the batteries at night. I have seen people there who construct a wooden door frame and put it on top of a window unit for a tent. BTW one last thing did you Scallop at the park & if so did you find any? Thanks, Don


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## Fiishergurl

Don White said:


> Sounds like you had a great time once you got the rain behind you! A couple of Qs for you. How was the Dixie Belle? (I have never stayed there) & how in the world do you tent camp at the State Park during July? Been there many times & it was always with a pop up or trailer. I guess I am a wuss but after the heat and bugs all day the AC sure does recharge the batteries at night. I have seen people there who construct a wooden door frame and put it on top of a window unit for a tent. BTW one last thing did you Scallop at the park & if so did you find any? Thanks, Don


Don't think we would tent camp again there in July. We had a fan for each person and mostly stayed in the water or truck running errands during the hottest parts of the days. Had a huge tarp put up for shade but wished we had our RV or had rented a house or cabin but we love camping during other times of the year. We did not really expect to be there as long as we ended up staying but had so much fun we extended our stay much longer than originally planned. 

Dixie Belle was inexpensive.... 70 per night for the room we had. For one night the price was right and it was convenient but wouldnt want to stay there for the whole time.

We did not scallop near the state park. We went near blacks island.

We did flounder gig at night in the shallows wading around the bay at the state park.

Ginny


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