Natural Sponges Harvested at Tarpon Springs, Florida

Today was an overcast, windy day, here in Florida, so Len and I decided to head down to Tarpon Springs. We have been there endless times, but on this occasion, I wanted to check out the actual sponges.

We headed into the first shop at the Sponge Docks in Tarpon Springs and the front of the shop had difference quality, shape, texture, and size sponges. From here we went to the rear of the store and they had 3 walls of the history of the sponge industry, including one wall in Greek. To the side was a small movie theater with around 20 seats and we were able to watch the end of the show.

In the museum part, it was great to see not only the pictures of the early divers, but also the heavy diving suit and the huge metal headgear they wore. They first arrived from Greece in 1905 and by the 1920's and 30's there were over 200 boats and 2000 Greek immigrants in Tarpon Springs. They continued to make a great living until the 1940's when the natural sponges were almost destroyed by red tide. This caused problems for the sponge industry because everyone in the town relied on them for work.

By the time we moved to the area, in the 1980's the divers at Tarpon Springs were finding healthy sponges again. This brought back work for the people who washed, stored and sorted them. I was fascinated by the easy way they were sorted into sizes. There were thin wooden boards with holes in them. Each hole had a number from 2 inch to 10 inch and by placing the sponge above the hole they could tell which category it fell into.

The sponges on the walls, shelves, and floor, in the store were labeled. We saw sea wool, which is supposed to be the most popular of sponges. This is the type Len uses to clean the vehicles. There were yellow and grass sponges as well as sea silk that are the little ones that are used to apply beauty products. We also saw them attached to wooden handles to make loofahs and other bathroom products. There were so many different shapes and consistencies.