The weather here has been cold in the morning warming up to less cold in the afternoon but with beautiful blue skies all day. The first day here it was nearly 1:00 PM before we went into town to do a little exploring and find the Post Office. Now that we're stationary for a while we managed to get the new TV installed and working. Glad that's done!
Tarpon Springs is a beautiful town with the Anclote River on the north, Tarpon Lake to the east and Spring Bayou and the Gulf to the west. Highway 19A runs north and south directly through the heart of the old city with Tarpon Avenue going east and west. Originally named for the large Tarpon fish caught off shore in the gulf. Historically the city was founded on the sponge trade by and still has a thriving sponge industry today along with shrimpers, commercial fishing, sport fishing and tourism. In the early 1900's there was a large influx of immigrants from Greece and they had a large impact on the culture of the town. To this day there is a tremendous Greek influence felt throughout the entire city with restaurants, businesses, churches and community centers bearing Greek names owned and operated by descendants of the original Greek immigrants.
Yesterday we went into town and walked around Craig Park at Spring Bayou and watched about 20 Manatees resting in the warm water from the springs. Across the way a school of skates or small rays (members of the shark family) cruised around the bottom of the lagoon. There were lots of others out watching with us. There is plenty to do in the area with miles of bicycle trails, museums, arts, fishing, beach walking, hiking and a couple of pool halls nearby.Today we drove down to Denedin and across the causeway to Honeymoon Island State Park http://www.floridastateparks.org/honeymoonisland/ where we walked the beach looking for shells. We found a lot of Florida Fighting conch shells along with some Tellins and Giant Atlantic 
Cockles. We have been on many beaches along the gulf coast and they were all different. some had gray sand with gently sloping beaches (Port Aransas and Matagorda), others had white sand beaches. Several had sharply sloping sand beaches with heavy surf while a few, like today, had limited sandy areas, lots of rocks and more seaweed than you could ever imagine. Along one of the beaches on Honeymoon Island the seaweed was piled up three feet deep in places and stretched out as far as you could see in either direction. It looked like someone had dumped loads of a very fine mesh net made of dark reddish brown threads in long skeins.
Cockles. We have been on many beaches along the gulf coast and they were all different. some had gray sand with gently sloping beaches (Port Aransas and Matagorda), others had white sand beaches. Several had sharply sloping sand beaches with heavy surf while a few, like today, had limited sandy areas, lots of rocks and more seaweed than you could ever imagine. Along one of the beaches on Honeymoon Island the seaweed was piled up three feet deep in places and stretched out as far as you could see in either direction. It looked like someone had dumped loads of a very fine mesh net made of dark reddish brown threads in long skeins.We ended the day by coming home and having dinner, putting in a movie (Tina) and curling up with a book (me).
To see all of our photos, click on the following link:
1 comment:
wonderful journey portrayed in your blog, where to next | hopefully clears waters, silky beaches, and warm sunny days | without the mounds of sea weed of course, cheers on your journey
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