Monday, Jan. 21, 2019
Hello from Tarpon Springs!
Established in 1887, Tarpon Springs is a pleasant coastal town with a population of 23,000. It has the highest percentage of Greek citizens of any US city. Greek sponge diving came to the area in 1905 and establish a strong Greek population. Greeks are fun!
The “sponge docks” area has a combination of commercial fishing and tourism. Fishing boasts, tour boats and little shops, many with sponges, line the waterfront. Further in are homes of various sizes, some are white with blue trim (Greek colors) and most with Greek flags displayed. There are also some very impressively restored Victorian homes. Great restaurants and bars are scattered throughout the area making it a handy stop for Loopers.
There are two marinas in town, Turtle Cove and Tarpon Springs Municipal Marina. We docked at the Municipal Marina which turned out to be a great decision. The old wooden docks are in desperate need of repair, but the location and the marina harbor master were great. Herb (recent AGLCA Harbor Host of the year) met us at the dock. This is his home port and he does a great job to make everyone feel welcome. He gave us a quick rundown of the town, marked up a map of places to go and later organized a docktails event for all the Loopers in town. Nearly 20 Loopers met and shared stories of hitting things, being cold, and paying for repairs. A good time was had by all!
A big bonus to our location was its proximity to a great local dog park. Bo had a chance to run until he was ready to drop. On our second visit, he met Macy, another rescued black lab mix about his age and with nearly identical white markings on her chest. They chased and wrestled with each other in the sand until they were exhausted. While Bo enjoyed his little fling, I think he continues to long for his first love, Sheila, at K-9 Playtime.
At our age, we often make trips to the drug store…… Fortunately, Tarpon Springs had a Walgreens within a mile walk of the marina. As we got to the Walgreens, we noticed a bike shop (Tarpon Tom’s) across the street. Sue’s bike was in bad shape with the salt water having already taken a toll on many of its moving parts. Fortunately, Tarpon Tom had lots of used bikes for sale. Sue picked out a very reasonably priced used bike, took a test drive and BOOM, had a new bike (Tarpon Tom says BOOM after every big decision or statement). It turns out the bike Sue chose also went with her shirt (see photo). BOOM!
We were fortunate to have very clear skies the night of the lunar eclipse. We stayed up way past Looper midnight (9pm) to watch the eclipse and were not disappointed. We attempted to take a couple photos to record the event and finally called it a night a while after the real midnight.
We had four very enjoyable days in Tarpon Springs, but cast off January 22 to keep moving south.