January 14 -- exploring the sponge docks

Boats in Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks

The Tarpon Springs sponge docks area, located near the mouth of the Anclote River as it flows into the Gulf of Mexico, is known as the "Sponge Capital of the World." Sponge harvesting began in this area back in the early 1900s after being introduced by John Cocoris, the first Greek man to come to Tarpon Springs. As his sponge business prospered, more people began to migrate to Tarpon Springs from Greece.

The Greek community is thriving in this coastal city, and at the sponge docks visitors can get a taste of Greek life and the wonderful Greek food served in a variety of restaurants and bakeries. We had been looking forward to this experience for several days and had hoped to find some authentic Greek cooking in addition to a glimpse into the life of a sponge diver. We weren't disappointed!

Sponge boat captain.

We arrived at the dock just as one of the commercial boats came in with its harvest. Smoky photographed the sponges being removed from the boat, already sorted by type and partially treated to remove the animal parts. We watched as the boat captain loaded his harvest into his truck and drove off, probably to a processing plant to complete that cleaning process. Eventually the end product, the skeleton of the living sponge, is available for sale.

Unloading sponges.

Just a few more to go.

Yummy bakery treats!

We met Charlie and Becky, Smoky's high school friends, at the dock late morning and caught up on all the family news over lunch at Yanni's Restaurant. The food was good but it seemed a little more commercialized than we were hoping for.

After lunch we walked across the street to Hella's bakery, located just next door to Hella's Restaurant. The shelves at this bakery were loaded with delicious looking pastries and cakes. Smoky and I had already sampled an almond paste cookie earlier, but that didn't stop us from having another couple of samples. Mine was a chocolate-drizzled coconut macaroon; Smoky had a butter cookie dipped in chocolate.

You can definitely find any kind of sponge you might want here along with lots of other souvenirs. The four of us enjoyed wandering around the shops.

Frank, St. Nicholas diver.

After Charlie and Becky left, Smoky and I went out on the St. Nicholas sponge boat (a replica of a working boat) for a ride around the harbor area, an interesting commentary on the history of sponging in Tarpon Springs, and an exhibition of a traditional sponge dive. Our diver, Frank, dressed in his canvas diving suit complete with weighted shoes, weights on his shoulders, and brass diving helmet, went over the side. We watched as Frank let the air out of his suit and then sank to the bottom to hunt for a sponge. Although Frank came up in just a few minutes, when a diver is out harvesting sponges, he can stay down a long time if he is in water 30-feet deep or less.

Before diving helmet has been attached.

It took two helpers to get the helmet on and fastened down.

Down he goes!

Dive is over; he just has to make it up the steps with ~170 lb of diving suit and weights!

If you want to read more about diving helmets, check out this web article about Nicholas Toth, who creates diving helmets of brass, copper, and leather, using the same techniques developed by his grandfather Anthony Lerios, who came to Tarpon Springs back in 1905. It is fascinating reading. I read this article to Smoky as he was processing his photos from the boat trip. When he enlarged a photo of our diver Frank, he noticed this label on the suit:

Frank's helmet was made by Nicholas Toth,
grandson of Anthony Lerios.

Example of flower-pot sponge. Soak
the sponge, insert plant, keep sponge
wet and plant will grow!

Going on this short boat trip made me want to buy some sponges to use in my fabric dying and printing, so we checked out the various types of sponges at the Sponge Exchange just up the street from the dock. I found several that I'll have fun using.

After we left the Sponge Exchange, we found an ice cream and gelato shop. We were just going to look at what they had, but the gelato looked so good we couldn't resist, especially after getting a sample! And of course, we also wanted to have dinner while we were in the area, not wanting to pass up this opportunity for some authentic Greek food.

Costa's Greek Cuisine. A great, authentic Greek restaurant.

Fortunately we discovered a great place off the main street, Costa's Greek Cuisine. The food was wonderful! I had spanikopita and Greek salad; Smoky had grilled grouper with vegetables. I discovered that this Greek salad had a surprise in it. Hiding under the lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onions, anchovies, olives, and peppers was a scoop of creamy, delicious Greek potato salad. Feta cheese was sprinkled over all this, and then the salad was topped with Costa's special homemade Greek dressing. This was a taste treat, indeed. Smoky's grouper tasted amazing. I asked our server how it was prepared. She said it is sprinkled with a small amount of their olive oil/lemon juice/spice combination before grilling and then more is added afterwards. Of course the exact ingredients are part of their special recipe, but I appreciated her telling us this much. The vegetable that completed Smoky's entree was green beans cooked with tomatoes and corn. Very unique and tasty. This was just the sort of Greek dining experience we were hoping for.

Night was just falling when we left the sponge docks. We wanted to stop by the local Greek Orthodox Church, St. Nicholas Cathedral. We had heard that it was a beautiful church; actually, it was breathtaking! The stained glass windows were exquisite. You can see the dome from the photograph of the outside. Inside the church, this dome is a pallet for incredible works of religious art.

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church

Inside view of this magnificent cathedral.

What a nice end to our Florida adventure. Tomorrow we head toward home.

--Shann