Tarpon Springs, Florida: Spongeorama

Promotion of the Spongeorama's free video show and museum pulls in tourists to the gift shop and to consider an affiliated evening cruise.

The museum shows indications of both care and neglect. While the head to the little nude diver boatman had been reattached, the Sponge Diver's Nightmare was looking as bad as we'd ever seen it. The plexiglass was more clouded, the lighting dimmer, and boxes of merchandise were piled against the viewing window, as if they'd forgotten this was a museum.

However, it remains a must-see, with plenty of entertaining exhibits on the hazards and rewards of sponge diving.

I was there just a couple of weeks ago and it was GREAT! We saw the film and the diorama which is still in need of glass cleaning but very informative. We then boarded a large tour boat and were taken down the river port into the gulf, where we watched several pods of dolphins play. Then on to an island beach for shelling! This was a great afternoon on our trip to FL.

Owner Margie Fikaris let us see the Sponge Museum, after initially telling us it was closed to the public (RA: for some cleaning). It didn't hurt that we'd expressed an interest in buying a few of her store's natural sponges (and watching the video). The museum is in bad shape, quite dingy and in need of repair. Afterward she proudly showed off her display of postcards that had been done of the area over the years.

We specifically stopped here on our Fla. trip thanks to the great tips from RoadsideAmerica.com. After being disappointed that Weeki Wachee and the Burt Reynolds and Friends Museum were both closed when we tried to visit, Sponge-O-Rama was almost another disappointment. The shop and movie were going strong, however, the museum was dark and blocked off. I spoke to the Greek lady who was working and she explained they will be restoring and incorporating the museum into some sort of two-story restaurant project soon... but I couldn't leave without seeing what the hoopla was all about, so I asked her if it would be possible to take a look a the old museum, and she obligingly tripped the breakers and turned on all the lights and let us back there... what a fascinating sight. I took a handful of photos and purchased a sponge pack of various sponges, mango-coconut soap with a sponge attached, and a t-shirt that reads "I saw the movie, and now i'm an expert" with a nice graphic of a vintage diving helmet...

Still cheesy, still fun! Greek lady tries to put olive oil-based hand lotion on you the moment you walk in. The dioramas were in sorry shape - models with hands falling off, light bulbs out, tipped-over figures - very entertaining. The Movie was being shown every half hour or so - we had never seen it and enjoyed it thoroughly. Although they never come out and say it, the town's chief enemy seems to be: the synthetic sponge. Long may you run, Sponge-O-Rama!