It was another perfect day in Tarpon Springs, FL. The temperature was in the mid 70's, bright and sunny with little humidity. We ubered over to the Sponge Docks on the other side of the Anclote River. Tarpon Springs history is tied up in sponge industry. In the late 1800's, sponges were found in the area. Divers from Greece were recruited for the work of diving. They, in turn, recruited their families, who built Greek Churches, ran Greek restaurants, and ran Greek grocery stores.
Much of the credit goes to John Cocoris, for whom this mural memorializes sponge diving is along Dodecanese Blvd. where the sponge docks are located.
Sponge diving is an active industry today. Here are some sponge boats lined up at the docks.
We bought two types of sponges. One is a yellow sponge for bathing and the other is a loofah for exfoliating.
The Greek influence was everywhere. The Agora Food Market was in a building built in 1927 by F. Stavrakis.
When we had lunch as Mama's Greek restaurant. We both had Greek salads, with Greek cheese and Greek olives. I had a gyro and John had sausage. We were so full, we took our desserts to go. I did buy some imported Greek candy for later.
A fish festival was going on today too and we bought a wooden trivet that opens to a fruit bowl. It is perfect for saving space on the boat. We did get a good laugh about an advertisement for a Husband Sitting Service offering a 65 foot TVs. We thought our son-in-law might like that.
It was a fun way to spend the day. We gave the boat a quick cleaning when we got back. It still had a good coating of salt from our gulf crossing on it.
Tomorrow, we will head south for a few days in St. Petersburg.
Who knew about the sponging going on down there. Sounds like a great place to visit and leave your man in good hands for awhile. What an incredible journey and much faster than I had anticipated. Tell John we had hello and we look forward to your return.
ReplyDelete