Opa! Tarpon Springs - Sponge Capital of the World

Tarpon Springs is the next best thing to being in Greece. Modern-day Tarpon Springs really began in 1890, when diving for natural sponges came to be the dominant local industry. The technology and technique was imported from Greece. As the industry grew, many a native emigrated to Florida to seek his fortune in the sponge-rich Gulf waters off Anclote Key.

The natual sponge is a cleaned skeleton material of an animal found growing attached to the sea bottom. The skeletal material is called "sponging". There are two ways sponges are harvested in Florida - by hooking or by diving. In the hooking method the sponger works from a dinghy and searches the bottom using a glass-bottom bucket. The sponge is pulled up with a long pole and iron hook. The second method is used by the famous sponge divers of Tarpon Springs, working from large, diesel-powered commercial vessels. The gathered sponge is piled on deck, covered with a burlap bag, and allowed to "rot", then cleaned by scraping, beating, and successive washes and bleaching to achieve the desirable light yellow colour.

People from Greek extraction are known for something besides sponges - namely, wonderful food and the city has a wide collection of colourful "Greek" restaurants and eateries serving everything from authentic Greek fare to the freshest seafood.

History - The city was first settled in 1876 by A.W. Ormond and his daughter, Mary. At the approach of the 20th century, Philadelphia banker John Cheney set up shop. He hired two Greek divers who were awe-struck by the immense bounty of sponges. Cheney recruited more divers from Greece and by 1905 some 500 men had moved to Tarpon Springs to work. The immigrants also opened restaurants, taverns, and markets, laying the blueprint for today's Tarpon Springs. Even today, we hear Greek spoken everywhere, and small cafes on side streets cater to the descendants of those Greek immigrants of years past. Interesting place, and we are bringing back a few sponges. Opa!