The Sponge Docks 

anastasios "taso" karistinos: diving & tradition

 

"Taso", or  Anastasios Karistinos sits casually outside the Sponge Diver Supply, his son's popoular gift store. He sharpens his blade and then cuts swifly into a large, yellow sponge the way one would slice through a fresh loaf of bread. 

 

Taso would never tell you himself, but he is known around the docks as the most traditional and skilled sponge diver and dive captain in Tarpon Springs.

 

He tells me he's been sponge diving since the early 70's, and currently owns one of the [most well-kept] sponging boats on the Docks. The hull bears a version of his name, Anastasi, which he tells me means, "resurrect".

 

He's had the Anastasi since 1991, and today, is the only diver on the Sponge Docks  who owns and dives off of an authentic "Greek-style" sponging boat. He moved to Tarpon Springs forty-one years ago and still practices the traditional style of sponging he learned from his mentor -- he was the prodigee to the famous "John the Greek", who lived to be 84 yeras old.