On The Sponge Docks

We flew down for our class reunion a day early so that we could make the round of relatives since we were in Florida and they would never forgive us if we stood them up. My parents have retired to the sleepy fishing village of Tarpon Springs, which is one of the few delightfully dated tourist attractions left in Florida.

It began over a hundred years ago as a Greek sponge fishing village. The Greeks have been sponge diving for centuries and when they found out that the Gulf of Mexico is littered with sponges, they immigrated en masse and built the town of Tarpon Springs.

The sponge industry collapsed about fifty years ago, a victim of red tide and industrial polymers. Nevertheless, the town still hangs on to vestiges of the maritime life for its economy. The town icon is the bell-helmeted Captain Nemo-esque deep sea diver. Tour boats cruise down the Ancolote River to the Gulf where a brave member of the crew dons the full 150 pound diving suit and apparatus and plunges overboard to retrieve a pre-planted sponge. All for the benefit of the tourist camcorders.


The docks also have deep sea-fishing cruises, eco-tours, and waterfront dining. The sponge industry still struggles along, selling natural sponges as high-end alternatives to the mass-produced petroleum products that have usurped the name from the lowliest of multi-cellular animals.

Tarpon Springs stubbornly retains is overwhelming Hellenic roots. On Epiphany, the cross-diving ceremony where teenage Greek boys dive into the spring to retrieve a gold cross tossed in by the local Orthodox bishop is an annual spectacle that draws crowds from all over the world. The four or five block main strip along the sponge docks is peppered with Greek restaurants, pastry shops, and souvenir shops. The baby blue Greek cross flies just as proudly as the American stars and stripes.


For our afternoon with my folks we went down to the docks and split Greek salads (Tarpon Springs is the only place on earth where potato salad is a topping to Greek salad) and overstuffed gyros (no sane person can eat at one sitting). My parents prefer the little restaurants along the docks to the world famous but distinctly Red Lobster-ish Pappas. The restaurants are so Greek, you half expect Nia Vardalos to emerge from the kitchen in a big fat wedding gown.

We then went through a gift shop that shows a fifties eras documentary on the history of sponge diving, once considered the most dangerous job in the world. After the movie, they have a series of dioramas displaying information about sponges and sponge diving. The displays are very educational but look like they were put together by particularly gifted middle school students and they haven’t been updated in decades.


As we were leaving, we noticed that a sponge boat fresh from the Gulf had docked and it was brimming with fresh from the seas sponges. From our tour of the “museum” we knew that this bounty might net the crew maybe $500. Working on the water is a tough way to make a living.

BlatantCommentWhoring™: What is your favorite off the beaten path tourist attraction?