STEINHATCHEE, Fla. -- It's just after noon when the sky stops spitting and the dark clouds shuffle down the Gulf Coast away from the scallop-laden sea grass beds at the mouth of the Steinhatchee River.

Captain ``Casino'' Dave Jenkins tosses the anchor into the shallow, clear water after sighting a half-dozen white spots starboard side. ``This looks good,'' he says, double-checking the boat's GPS unit.

Following his lead, I suction my snorkel mask to my face and wiggle on my fins. Perched on the edge of the skiff, Jenkins hands me a mesh bag and I await last-minute advice before plunging into the water on my first scalloping adventure.

``Oh, they're faster than you think,'' Jenkins says. ``And they pinch harder than you think.''

I laugh because the 59-year-old captain is a riot. His charter service is named Fish 'n Tales, and the trip from the marina to the bay was a string of hilarious stories.

Going overboard, I naively think this is like picking candy from a wide-mouth jar.

Steinhatchee is known as the ``Scallop Capital of Florida.'' And this year's crop is the best since 2000, according to state marine officials.

From July 1 to Sept. 10, hundreds of nature lovers, boaters and families descend on this tiny fishing village, population 1,500, on any given weekend.

Located in the Big Bend coastal region, three hours north of Tampa, a trip to quiescent Steinhatchee (pronounced Steen-HATCH-ee) is a peaceful refuge and summer ritual for many folks. And an exciting adventure for first-timers.

Put me in the last category. Before this trip, I knew one thing about scallops: I like them seared in butter.

I had no idea what they looked like, where they lived or how to catch them. Heck, I barely thought of them as living, breathing creatures.

GETTING THE DRIFT

Scalloping, I discover, is a ``drifting sport,'' as one guide put it, where you snorkel in anywhere from three to seven feet of water looking for a shell-shaped Waldo in the weeds.

The scallops (pronounced SKAW-lups this close to the Georgia border) nest in sea grass but particularly like the round-bladed needlegrass and brown moss where they can hide. They can live for as long as a year.

On the hunter-gatherer spectrum, I assume it's not much different than picking mountain blackberries. As in, they aren't hard to find if you know where to look and don't mind the effort.

It doesn't take long in the water to realize the captain is right: These underwater berries are animals. And feisty ones, too.

Around the shell's rim, the mollusks have a row of tiny bright blue eyes. They see you coming.

Some simply shut their shells and let the darker, muckier side of the shell camouflage them. In a foggy, water-leaking mask bought cheaply at a big-box sporting goods store they aren't always discernible.

FRISKY FELLOWS

Then there are the ones that don't go without a fight.

They swim, they spit and they pinch.

Scallops are bivalves (meaning two shells) that feed by funneling water through their gills. In the same way, they can move by clapping the shells together and quickly expelling water, which sends them skittering backward.

Many times I take a deep breath and dive to the bottom, flippers kicking in the air, only to find scallops swimming away.

It's fascinating to watch the small creatures. The first time I see them move I swallow a snorkel full of water and have to surface. (Needless to say, the scallop got away.)

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