Scalloping Season in Wakulla County

visitwakulldev on July 8, 2015

It’s that time of year again – scalloping season – and there is no better place to get some sun and search for your scallops than in Wakulla County. From June 27th to September 24th, locals and visitors come to the bay area to charter boats, enjoy the gulf breeze, and gather scallops. To help our local and visiting scallop hunters, we’ve put together some tips and things to remember, so you have a safe and productive trip on the water.

Permits & Limits

Keep in mind that to go scalloping, you need to have a Florida saltwater fishing license. This is true even if you are scalloping from the shore. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has several options for licenses, so make sure you get the one that’s right for you.

The daily limits are two gallons of whole bay scallops in their shells or one pint of bay scallop meat per person. There are no size limits for bay scallops, and although landing or dip nets are permitted, hand-harvesting is encouraged.

Safety Tips

Make sure you have a mask and snorkel, fins, and a dive flag. This will help to ensure that other boats know where you are and can avoid coming too close. All boaters need to stay at least 100 feet from these dive flags in rivers, inlets, or channels, and in open waters, they need to stay at least 300 feet away.

It is important that you stay near your boat while swimming and diving for scallops. This is especially true if the weather conditions are beginning to get rough or if there are waves forming. Be cautious of staying out in the sun too long, and always use a high SPF sunscreen that is water resistant.

Your “Must Have” Checklist

There are some things that you will need to make sure you have with you for your scalloping adventure. Whether you bring them with you or plan on buying them while you are in town, these are things you don’t want to forget:

  • Florida Saltwater Fishing License
  • Mask & Snorkel
  • Fins
  • Net or Bag for Collecting Scallops
  • Dive Flag (on the boat or buoy)
  • Boat (optional – bringing or renting)
  • Sunscreen
  • Drinking Water
  • Scalloping Knife (or cash to pay for a scalloping service)

We hope that you enjoy your time scalloping and that you all stay safe. If you are looking for other adventurous things to do in nature, download our free visitor’s guide today!

Lari White and Friends Wakulla Homecoming

visitwakulldev on April 13, 2015

ABC 27 WTXL-TV has partnered with the Wakulla County Historical Society to present Lari White and Friends Wakulla Homecoming: A Heritage Event featuring Lari White, Chuck Cannon, Bryan Edwards, Rick Ott, Lindsay Sparkman, and Jerry Evans on Saturday, April 25, 2015 at 7:00 PM in the auditorium of Wakulla High School, 3237 Coastal Highway, Crawfordville, Florida. The concert is A From the Heart Studio Concert Production.

According to Murray McLaughlin, Vice President/Heritage Village Park, ABC 27 is the exclusive broadcast television partner for the concert. Local Sales Manager Derek Wright indicated a promotional schedule on WTXL and Bounce will begin April 6.

Concert tickets for $35/$30/$20 are available online at www.wakullahistory.org and through the Museum Gift Shop during business hours at 24 High Drive in Crawfordville. Telephone 850-926-1110 for information.

Lari White and Chuck Cannon are coming from Nashville to perform donating their time and talent for the event from which all proceeds will benefit Heritage Village Park. Lari has “deep roots in Wakulla County” as her father, Larry White, was born and raised here and graduated Sopchoppy High School. Her grandparents Cortez and Rosebud White lived in Medart. Rosebud was one of the siblings who lived for a time in the McLaughlin House. Lari’s mother, Yvonne, grew up in the small North Florida town of Vernon. Chuck Cannon has family roots in Jefferson County. “Chuck with Lari as headline performers is a huge contribution for a successful event,” said Rick Ott, Concert Producer.

Another Nashville star coming home to perform is Bryan Edwards who attended Crawfordville Elementary School in the mid-1980s when his parents, Rev. Clark and Donna Edwards pastored the United Methodist Church. Clark Edwards grew up in Lamont, Jefferson County, Florida. He enjoyed fishing, hunting, and playing in the “suburbs” of Aucilla. Donna lived in Tallahassee and graduated from Leon High School.

Among Lari’s local friends are the heart and soul trio of Sopchoppy who often perform together—Rick Ott, Lindsay Sparkman and Jerry Evans. Commenting on his willingness to participate Jerry Evans mentioned a recent discovery of history unique to his family in South Florida saying, “We support the Historical Society’s effort to preserve hidden treasures to be found in our heritage.”

Heritage Village Park is to be a living history museum and activity venue located in northern Wakulla County. Comparable settings to illustrate goals for the Park include the five-acre Panhandle Pioneer Settlement in Blountstown, Florida and Historic Westville in Lumpkin, Georgia. There are seven homes and two schools in the Historical Society’s collection of “cracker houses” from the late 1800s and early 1900s to be preserved and restored. Progress is remarkable since 2012 when forty acres on Zion Hill Road was donated to the Historical Society for the park. On February 4, 2013 the Smith Creek school house was moved to the property. Lari White’s 1892 ancestral home, The John Archie and Annie Carraway McLaughlin House was moved from Medart to Zion Hill Road on September 10, 2014. Both buildings are temporarily staged and with anticipated grant funding beginning in July, the structures will be placed on engineered foundations with stabilization repairs. Proceeds from the benefit concert will be used to complete the surveying for Phase One, develop the pathways, install needed infrastructure, and storm water management plans. These things are needed before the public can begin to have access to the site.

Established levels of sponsorship to be recognized at the concert and published by the Historical Society are Heritage Champions $1,000; Heritage Keepers $500; Heritage Builders $250; and Heritage Friends $100. Monetary support should be directed to WCHS-HVP, Post Office Box 151, Crawfordville FL 32326.

View the event in the events calendar

St. Marks NWR Birding Update

visitwakulldev on December 4, 2014

I logged 88 species, including 18 species of waterfowl, during a five-hour morning recon for Saturday’s Wildlife Tour at St. Marks.

Duck numbers and diversity are building steadily. Shorebirds are abundant. Lots of winter residents have returned and more will be pushed down by this week’s front.

Some highlights of the morning were:

Stony Bayou I (where most of the shorebirds are)
Canvasback
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead
Ruddy Duck
Black-bellied Plover
Semipalmated Plover
American Avocet (10)
Willet
Greater Yellowlegs
Western sandpiper
Least sandpiper
Dunlin (abundant)
Short-billed dowitcher

Stony Bayou II
Snow Goose (one blue phase)
Wood Duck
GW Teal
Mallard
BW Teal
Gadwall
Redhead
Hooded Merganser
Wood Stork (15)

Mounds Pool
IGW Teal
Gadwall
Redhead
Greater Scaup

Mounds Pool III
GW Teal
Black Duck (one pair)
Mallard (including one pair in aberrant plumage; pale bluish-gray with dark head and tail)
Northern Pintail
BW Teal
Northern Shoveler
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Redhead
Lesser Scaup
Bufflehead

Lighthouse Pond and offshore
Common Loon
Horned Grebe
White-faced Ibis (two hanging with a Glossy)
Nelson’s Sparrow (several along the shoreline)

Ring-necked Ducks have been regular on Headquarters Pond. Although Vermilion Flycatcher has been reported off-and on at several spots on the refuge, I didn’t have one. All in all, it was a great way to burn a few vacation hours.

Call the refuge at 850-925-6121 to sign up.

Good birding.

26th Annual Monarch Butterfly Festival

visitwakulldev on October 23, 2014

Visitors will be able to watch the tagging process at our 26th annual Monarch Butterfly Festival on Saturday, October 25, 2014, from 10 am – 4 pm.

Fall is in the air and so are the migrating monarch butterflies, making their 2,000 mile trip from the northern American boundary to the mountains of central Mexico. This amazing phenomenon passes through the Gulf coast of Florida beginning about the third week in October, and may be observed along the coast at the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.

Unlike other animal migrations, each monarch butterfly is on its own. There is no parent to follow. Its annual journey is a complex, inherited behavior pattern, not a learned process. Migrating monarchs are usually those who hatch out in late summer. Monarchs have a 4-inch wingspan and weigh 1 gram (1/5 the weight of a penny). They travel with cold fronts, often at speeds of 10 – 30 mph, covering 80 miles a day. They may fly at 3,000 feet and higher and will “fall out” on the goldenrod and saltbush, blooming down at the St. Marks lighthouse, and feed hungrily for their long trip. This Saturday, the weather looks perfect to bring in loads of monarchs and visitors!

Volunteers have been tagging the St. Marks monarchs for many years, hoping a few would complete the trip to Mexico. Visitors will be able to watch the tagging process at our 26th annual Monarch Butterfly Festival on Saturday, October 25, 2014, from 10 am – 4 pm. The event is filled with the wonder of folks of all ages charting their own “migration,” making butterfly crafts, talking with monarch butterfly researchers and other exhibitors, learning about landscaping to help all pollinators, munching on a Bradley’s sausage dog, watching tagged monarchs take flight, viewing wildlife on wagon tours and much more!

Join us to observe the miracle of migrating monarch butterflies in person. Everything is open to the public as space allows. There is no cost for any of the tours or programs; however, the regular entrance fee into the refuge will be charged. This year, we offer the triple play: Monarch Butterflies at the refuge; Stone Crabs and Ft. San Marcos State Park festivals in the town of St. Marks, all on Sat. Oct. 25! For more information about the monarch festival, please call 850-925-6121.

2014 Saint Marks Stone Crab Festival

visitwakulldev on October 21, 2014

On Saturday,October 25, 2014, the St. Marks Stone Crab Festival will be held in the center of historic St. Marks

On Saturday,October 25, 2014, the St. Marks Stone Crab Festival will be held in the center of historic St. Marks (20 miles due south of Tallahassee). The annual event will feature a menu of stone crabs (of course) plus fresh local seafood, barbeque, hamburgers, hot dogs, a day of live music and entertainment (live bands will be appearing on the Florida Lottery Showvan), arts, crafts,and novelties. It will be a fun day that the entire family can enjoy and the event is free and open to the public. NO AMIMALS PERMITED. Event hours are 10:00AM to 6:00PM.

The stone crabs collected in the waters of the gulf near St. Marks are shipped all across the eastern United States from this small coastal fishing village. In fact, some of the finest restaurants in the country feature stone crabs harvested and shipped from St. Marks.

A portion of the proceeds from this year’s festival will go to the St. Marks Waterfronts Florida Partnership and the St. Marks Volunteer Fire Department, two local organizations dedicated to the preservation and protection of the unique St. Marks area, and other non-profit service organizations.

St. Marks is located at the confluence of the St. Marks and Wakulla Rivers and is surrounded by the natural beauty of the St.Marks National Wildlife Refuge. This year we have partnered with the St. Marks Monarch Festival at the refuge and the San Marcos de Apalache Fort Archaeology Day.

COME MAKE IT A DAY FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY

Interested In Kayak Fishing?

visitwakulldev on August 18, 2014

NaturalNorthFlorida.com’s Tommy Thompson recently visited Wakulla with several other outdoor travel writers for a kayak fishing adventure.

Last weekend I left my flats skiff behind in Steinhatchee and joined a couple of other outdoor writers in Wakulla County for a kayak-fishing adventure. Of course, over the years, I’ve made numerous trips out of St. Marks, Panacea and Spring Creek, but never had much chance to fish the shallow, close-in flats and inshore bays and bars. Kayaks were the conveyance of choice, and thanks to Robert Baker at Reel-Fin-Addict Kayak Fishing in Wakulla, we had some comfortable Hobie Master Angler boats to pedal. Equipped with Mirage Drives and seats that seem to come directly from the Cadillac Motor Division of GM, these boats are silent and stable, allowing the angler to get close to fish and avoid spooking them in even the shallowest of water. Robert also knew where we’d find some fish!

Read the full article…

Famously Fresh Seafood

visitwakulldev on July 25, 2014

For decades, there has been no better way to describe the many delights of Wakulla County’s seafood than ‘famously fresh’.

Placed neatly between both the Florida Natural, and Forgotten Coasts, Wakulla’s seafood retail markets are among the best in the state.

Domestic and international travelers return year after year for that one-of-kind taste of succulent oysters, shrimp, mullet, blue crab, red snapper, cobia, and the myriad of seafood varieties that make ‘Fresh From Wakulla’ a household name.

With over seven seafood markets and thirty restaurants spread throughout the entire county, a good day’s catch is not hard to find along this stretch of coastline.

Not only is Wakulla’s seafood ‘famously fresh’ – it’s personal. The customer service, dedication, and sense of pride that goes into bringing you the finest seafood available is obvious because many of our markets are family-owned.

One such location is the Lighthouse Seafood Market, located just outside of downtown St. Marks. Lighthouse has delivered Wakulla-­caught seafood since 1998. Their fresh variety includes mullet, flounder, rock bass, shrimp, oysters – you name it. Lighthouse also offers an array of fresh crab, including live blue crab.

Also in St. Marks is Lynn Brother’s Seafood. Owned and operated by five brothers, Lynn’s opened in 1983. The Lynn family has harvested local waters for seafood since the 1930s. Their hard-to-find items include fresh octopus, grunts, and seasonal stone crab, and their seafood reach extends beyond Wakulla to as far away as Hawaii, Canada and New York.

Mineral Springs By the Sea can be found towards the East end of Panacea’s city limits. It too has been family owned and operated for more than 20 years. Their daily selections include shrimp (small, medium, and large); oysters (bushel, half-­bushel, quarter-­bushel or pint); fresh fish selections include grouper, tuna, and sheephead. And though all are mouthwatering, Mineral Springs is best known for their locally caught gator, and their prepared-on-­site smoked mullet, salmon, and cobia fillets. They even have an assortment of smoked seafood dips.

My Way Seafood, also located along the Coastal Highway in Panacea, opened its doors in 1984. Specializing in black grouper, mullet, blue crabs, and more, My Way also carries seasonal items like the stone, and soft-shell crab.

Along Sopchoppy Highway, is the Nichols & Son’s Seafood Market. Nichols & Son’s has served the Florida panhandle & Southern Georgia for more than 80 years and multiple generations. Their retail market is renowned for its shrimp, oysters, fresh fish and crab. They are also a wholesale distributor of the items.

Also in the heart of Sopchoppy is Sanders and Son’s Crab. It is one of the last remaining wholesale retailers of crab within their area. Family owned and operated for 35 years, they handle a range of crab types, including fresh blue crabs, cocktail fingers, jumbo, lump, and claw crab meat – by the pound.

Traveling back to Panacea, just before the Ochlockonee Bay Bridge, is Tropical Trader Shrimp Company. It is currently the only Wakulla seafood market with a restaurant where freshly purchased seafood can be cooked on site. Smoked seafood dips; bacon-­wrapped shrimp dishes; fresh shrimp; tuna; crawfish; oysters – so much to choose from.

‘Fresh from Wakulla’ is exactly what it says, and though only a few of the seafood markets are listed here, you can imagine what the restaurants have to offer.

Wakulla County: ‘Famously fresh’ for a reason.

Wakulla’s Working Waterfronts

visitwakulldev on July 25, 2014

It’s an exciting time for Wakulla’s Working Waterfronts Photo Project.

‘Waterfronts’, which began in 2012, received a grant from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs last September. The project utilized the talent of local photographers to capture forty-five photos that, as a collective, told the overarching story of Wakulla’s maritime and seafood heritage.

The photographers chosen to participate in the project included Mickey Cantner, Mark Wallheiser, Lynda Kinsey, JoAnn Palmer, and Katie Deal.

Almost two years ago, articles by local writers began circulating online and throughout the area newspaper, The Wakulla News, in search of residents that were willing to tell their stories of fishing, family, and seafood.

The Wakulla Sunday Radio Program produced radio episodes on WAVE 94.1 that highlighted those in the area known for their work within the seafood industry.

Early interviews included residents such as Noah Posey (owner of Posey’s Up the Creek Steam Room and Oyster Bar); Leo Lovel (owner of Spring Creek Restaurant); Bill Lowrie (known for his work with the Big Bend Maritime Museum, and the annual Worm Gruntin’ Festival in Sopchoppy); family members from the now extinct fishing community of Skipper’s Bay; and Sopchoppy resident, Donnie Crum, whose personal interest in capturing the history of his friends and neighbors – many of them fishermen – was the initial inspiration behind the ‘Waterfronts’ project.

Throughout a span of five months, photographers met with fishermen as they loaded their boats and prepared to set-sail during the pre-dawn hours. They met with restaurant owners, photographed workers at crab-picking and seafood processing plants, and made pilgrimages through lonely back-road areas where boat-building, trap-making, worm-grunting, and more took place.

The beauty of the work, the dedication of the workers, and seeing firsthand how one area of the industry could possibly affect the others, was not lost on those who standing behind the camera.

The photographers quickly found that the most compelling aspect of the project were the stories that the workers shared. Many spoke of their family members who had worked within the county’s seafood industry for at least three generations, if not more. Those discussions of family histories, combined with the hopes these residents held regarding the industry and its impact on future generations, are what inspired the Waterfronts Oral Histories Project that will resume later this year.

Wakulla’s Working Waterfronts Photo Project held its public debut in April at Wakulla’s One Stop Community Center. In May it traveled to the 40th Annual Blue Crab Festival, held at Woolley Park, in Panacea.

Later that month the exhibit received an opening at the Lively Technical Institute in Tallahassee. This was of particular importance due to the aspiring photographers that were students in Lively’s Commercial Photography Program, led by acclaimed and internationally published photographer, Russell Grace. Mr. Grace and his students printed, mounted, and hand-framed each picture that now stands in the current exhibit.

In July, ‘Waterfronts’ continued its journey along the coast and was mounted for display at the Apalachicola Center of Culture, History, and Art, in Franklin County. It will remain at this location until mid-August when it returns to Wakulla. A tentative exhibit opening date of Sunday, August 24th, has been set for ‘Waterfronts’ at the Wakulla Welcome Center in Panacea.