Tarpon Springs, Florida: The Sponge Capitol of the World

Tarpon Springs, Florida, is about 10 miles south of my home. When we first came to live in America, almost 20 years ago, it was to Tampa and we took a visit to Tarpon Springs. We walked around and looked in all the tourist shops and left after about 30 minutes.

Since then Tarpon Springs has grown on us. There are 2 parts that people visit. If you like antiques then check out the city itself. The main street crossing Alt 19, Tarpon Avenue, has antique shops on both sides. They are fairly expensive but worth a couple of hours just browsing around.

Then a little north of the town center is the Sponge Docks. As you turn onto Dodecanese you will find parking lots on both sides of the road. Parking is $3 a vehicle a day. However, if you continue down a little way and take a left and then a right, you will come to an area where you can park on the road for free. It is right behind the shopping area.

There are all kinds of boats that go out of Tarpon Springs. The first one I would give a miss. We did it with family and found it to be a waste of time. You go up the channel and the boat stops. Then a diver goes into the water and brings up a sponge. You then come back. I would only suggest you do this if you have younger children with you.

There is a boat that goes out for around one to one and a half hours and that is a sightseeing one. You go along the Anclote River, which eventually would take you out to the Gulf of Mexico. This is very enjoyable. Len and I have done it several times. Often you get to see dolphins playing and swimming in the water. You also get close to Anclote Island where the lighthouse has just been renovated.

Then there are fishing boats. We don't do fishing but you can go out for either half a day or a full day trip and do deep sea fishing.

The Tarpon Springs Aquarium is a salt-water aquarium. It is small but a lot of fun. We go and use our buy one get one free from the Entertainment book. I always check to see when the diver is going into the tank and plan our trip around it.

There is a small free museum on this same road. It goes into the diving industry and has displays and lots of interesting information. From here you come out into a gift shop where they hope you purchase something.