Integrity Cruise

Day 242: - In Tarpon Springs, FL

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Day 242: Saturday, December 24th: We slept late trying to catch up on the lost sleep from the night before. We had a big breakfast - bacon, eggs, grits, toast, juice and coffee. Ah, life is good! It's finally balmy and pretty.

We decided to walk the mile into "town" where the famous sponge docks are. Leaving the marina we captured a few pictures. This is the security gate (always unlocked):

And this is the combination marina office and apartment building:

The main pier with Integrity securely tied in:

As we crossed the bridge over the river we got a good view of the main harbor:

While Tarpon Springs may be the center of the sponge industry in the New World, tourism must be the second biggest industry. The tour boats run all day around the harbor:

It is a bustling, busy harbor full of character and character boats:

This sculpture outside of (now defunct) Louis Pappas Riverside Restaurant was a great photo op. Note Ruth's relatively lightweight clothes. It IS Christmas Eve!

This "sculpture" was a little more in tune with the season. Yes, it is Christmas Eve:

Tarpon Springs really is the capitol of the sponge industry, second only to Greece. This facility was an interesting combination of store, museum and theatre. They show a free movie all about sponge fishing; we learned a lot:

Every shop along the main street, Dodecanese Street, stocks a variety of sponges along with whatever else they sell. These are "flower pot" sponges:

This is a nice assortment of sponges. The long finger-like ones are called, well, "finger sponges.":

Even Santa hawks the sponges:

This was an unusual display. The shop sold all the little pieces and parts, and you create your own design. Each item is priced separately (real sponges are not cheap):

There is a trolley bus that serves as both a tour bus and transportation around the locale. It costs $1.00 to ride:

We laughed at this sign alongside the dock. It reflected both the waterfront nature of the area and the laidback attitude of the local Greek community:

We believe every tourist takes this picture. The sponge boat in the foreground belongs to the city and those boats in the background are shrimpers:

This statue was placed as a memorial to all spongers of Tarpon Springs. Sponge diving is an extremely dangerous endeavor:

The local merchants designed this sponge-covered Christmas tree. Amazing:

About 5:00pm the restaurants start hawking their menus and looking for diners. The waiters at Hella's Restaurant were particularly fun to watch:

At first we thought this Fisher-Price sign was a joke. Nope! This shop sells all sorts of Greek things:

And finally, there were the charter fishermen. This is really an active town:

The Greeks have a joi de vivre unmatched on this planet and, to us, are fun to be around!

We headed back to the boat for a "home-cooked" meal. Tonight Santa would be flying, and we had visions of all the children eager for that event.

Position tonight: N28 09.559 W082 45.823

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