Since 1968, Tarpon Springs' Sponge-O-Rama Museum has welcomed visitors from all over the world to come and gawk and learn all about our friend the sea sponge and its many household uses. The building apparently has changed very little since 1968, and the orientation film hasn't either. Wait, orientation film? Yep. A man who used to run the gift shop next door (but doesn't anymore) appears on screen and says thoughtfully, "If a few of you were thinking about buying a sponge today, and I sure hope you are, there are a few things that we think are so important for you to understand about the natural sponge...." And it only gets better from there.
Snarkiness aside, though, it really is a fact and not mere PR hype that Tarpon Springs is the sea sponge capital of the world. I had never given the topic much thought, but had I done so, I might have previously presumed it to have been someplace like Madagascar, Okinawa, Australia, or something.
Technically, the name of the place is spelled "Spongeorama" but since their cruise ship renders it with hyphens, I'm going with that. Hyphens around O's make everything better.
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