Candid Florida

Spongeorama, along the Anclote River

Okay, it’s a bit dated and kitschy, but there just ain’t nothing else like it. When in Tarpon Springs, you must make a point of visiting SpongeORama!  The film (watch it and you get a discount in the shop) sets the tone for the extensive displays on the history of sponging in Florida, which appear to date back to my youth (the museum opened in 1968) but, despite their age, give a detailed overview of all aspects of the industry and Greek culture and life in Tarpon Springs. Did you know, for instance, that red tide walloped the commercial sponging industry back in 1957? It’s not a new phenonmenon. After you’ve soaked in the history (be sure to stand under the fans), take a gander at the wide variety of sponges available for everything from artists brushes to keeping you clean in the bath. Buy a sponge, support a native Florida industry!

SpongeORama
510 Dodecanese Blvd, Tarpon Springs
(727) 943-2164

Cooters at Cooter Park, Inverness

Have you driven US 41 through Inverness anytime lately? If not, you’re in for a treat. Seems several years ago the city took on a serious cleanup and park creation project right along the downtown pondfront at the municipal complex, and the end result is Cooter Pond Park, notable for its big stack of faux cooter turtles at the corner with US 41. The boardwalk complex, which zigzags over the sizable pond, is an ideal place for birding.

I’ve been there several times since it opened, and it never fails that I encounter some large bird – a red-shouldered hawk this last visit – on the boardwalk railing by the gazebo. Look down into the pond, and you’ll see the namesakes of this waterway, docile and placid, and you might scare up a few gators, too. The boardwalk is a good half-mile-plus round-trip from the city lot, and offers little games and puzzles for the littlest ones.