Jolly Roger Adventures

Wow. When a friend asked me to go scalloping with them in Crystal River, I had no idea what I was in for…
I wasn’t real sure where Crystal River was… and
I had NO IDEA of what scalloping entailed…
After a quick google search on the subject, I at least knew what I would be getting into, but no idea it would be so fun!
And here comes Jolly Roger… our fearless, funny and personable captain, who added to the trip in more ways than one.
We started our adventure super early in the morning, leaving from Jacksonville in the wee hours in the morning, for a foggy drive across the state. (Watch out for the Lawtey speed trap!)
We met up with Jolly and headed on over to the marina, coolers full of beer and snacks, and ready to get on with our scallop mission.
The boat is about 9 ft wide and maybe a little longer and was the perfect size for all five of us. We started out to the bay, and noticed the river air smelling a little more salty.
I had no clue that there were certain spots in the bay that were only about 3 ft deep (during low tide), and the water was crystal clear. Jolly took us to our first stop, instructed us on how to get suited up with the snorkeling gear, and within a few minutes, we were all pulling up scallops and putting them in our bag.
After a few minutes of us swimming the perimeter of the boat, off to the next spot for more diving and scallop collecting.
Jolly was an AMAZING host. He drank a few beers with us, helped us grab some scallops, joked around, gave us great information on the surrounding areas and was just a great freakin guy to be hanging out with all day. He was so easy going, he immediately felt like an old friend. He also does other tours: manatee, fishing, alligator! and offshore fishing too. I wouldn’t even hesitate to call him back for the next adventure. We felt safe, secure and had an absolute BLAST!
It seems like there are a lot of places that offer these tours, but Jolly is the man, pricing is reasonable, and is a damn good time.
I’m so happy I got to experience this adventure!