After almost three decades, the Tarpon Springs Aquarium plans to relocate from the historic Sponge Docks. The aquarium will remain up and running at 850 Dodecanese Blvd. until moving day in late spring, and luckily, its new home is less than two miles away.
The forthcoming facility at 1722 N. Pinellas Ave. is three times bigger than what the Tarpon Springs Aquarium has now. According to Bay News 9, two large open-air tanks — which can both hold up to 120,000 gallons of saltwater — are planned, as is a deck viewing area that allows visitors to catch all of the action below.
At the moment, the aquarium’s underwater creatures include tarpon, goliath grouper, a variety of sharks and other fish found in the gulf.
“On top of that deck area, we eventually want to let people snorkel in the tanks,” said co-owner Grant Konger in an interview with the local news network. “We’re also going to have where people can get food to feed the fish.”
More parking spots, a gift shop and outdoor touch tanks for turtles, sea urchins, crabs and stingrays will also be among the expanded amenities.
The Konger family built the original Tarpon Springs Aquarium in 1990. Co-owner Paige Konger told Bay News 9 that construction on the new site is 75 percent complete.
This article appears in Feb 7-14, 2019.