I often get a blank stare from people when I talk about Tarpon Springs. It's like they don't even know it exists.The wintering Europeans and Canadians have certainly found it and come in droves every season. I think the town of Tarpon Springs is vastly underrated as a vacation destination and is defintely one of Florida's best kept secrets!

The most exciting part about the town for me is the fact that Manatee consider it their Winter home and from January to about early May you can see them everyday bobbing lazily around in Craig Park which is smack dab in the center of town! You can easily rent kayaks and see them up close but I often just walk around Craig Park and enjoy them.

Tarpon Springs also has some of the best Greek Food in the country. There is a quaint and very walkable sponge dock area with lots of restaurants, tacky tourist shops, and several tour boat companies. The sponge diving industry is going strong again and boasts shops chock full of sponges and all things Greek for sale. You can even charter a fishing boat. If you like to bike, the Pinellas Trail runs from the Tarpon Springs to St Petersburg and there are a lot of cool places to drop into off of the trail.

And, Tarpon is centrally located. Once you have been to a few of the places I recommend you can still pop over to Dunedin or Clearwater or one of the several amazing beaches less than 10 miles away. In fact, one of my favorite beaches just South of Tarpon Springs near the town of Dunedin (near Clearwater), is located on Caldesi Island. It is far from the maddening crowds and was just voted the best beach in America for 2008 by Dr. Beach.

Where I Play: Beaches, Parks and Nature Tours

Where I Eat: Where the Locals Dine

Where I Shop: Tourist Goodies as well as Fine Shopping.

Where I Sleep: In-Town Accomodations

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