Boating, Fishing, and Travel Information for Tarpon Springs, Anclote River, FL

Tarpon Springs is a city in Pinellas County. It is the city with the highest percentage of Greek Americans in the U.S. due to the recruitment of divers and crew members from Greece by John Cocoris in 1905 for his sponge diving business. The sponge industry was the leading maritime industry and business in Tarpon Springs for many years but a red tide algae bloom in 1947 ruined many of the sponge fields. While there still remains a small sponge industry in the region, many people are now more involved in shrimping. There are many beaches in the area that are popular for swiming and boating. Additionally the Anclote River flows near the town on its way to the gulf of Mexico. The Anclote River was and continues to be a part of Tarpon Spring’s sponging and fishing industries.

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Boating in Tarpon Springs, Anclote River, FL Map View

There are several small-craft facilities and a yacht club at Tarpon Springs. There is a marine railway 0.4 mile W of Alternate U.S. Route 19 highway bridge that can handle craft up to 95 feet for engine and hull repairs. Water and supplies are available. The yacht club is on the E bank of Tarpon Bayou opposite Chesapeake Point.
A public wharf and launching ramp are S of the entrance to Spring Bayou, the E arm in Whitcomb Bayou; and another public wharf is at the yacht basin at the entrance.
Navigation:
Click the “Map View” button above to see a chart of this harbor.
Anclote River empties into St. Joseph Sound over a broad shoal area. A tall powerplant stack on the N side of the entrance is reported conspicuous at a distance of 25 miles. The stack is marked by strobe lights by day and by flashing lights at night.
A channel, with dredged sections and with its entrance about 2 miles SW of the S end of Anclote Key, leads from the Gulf to a turning basin at Tarpon Springs. In 1999, the controlling depth from the Gulf to the Anclote River Entrance Light 1 was 8.3 feet; thence in 2008, the controlling depth was 7.5 feet (8.4 feet at midchannel) in the entrance channel to the turning basin, thence 3.4 to 8.8 feet in the turning basin. The channel is marked by lighted ranges and numerous lights and daybeacons. Above Tarpon Springs the river is navigable for drafts of no more than 2 to 3 feet.
Tarpon Springs is a winter resort and commercial fishing center on the S bank of Anclote River, 3 miles above the mouth. Tarpon Springs is the headquarters for the sponge fishing fleet on the W coast of Florida.
Alternate U.S. Route 19 highway bridge with a 41-foot fixed span and a clearance of 16 feet crosses Anclote River about 3 miles above the mouth at Tarpon Springs. A railroad bridge with a 28-foot fixed span and a clearance of 16 feet is about 1 mile upstream of the highway bridge.
Kreamer Bayou and Whitcomb Bayou empty into Anclote River along the W side of Tarpon Springs. The junction is at the N end of a small island; the river channel passes to the E of the island, and Anclote River South Channel to the bayous passes to the W. The South Channel branches at Chesapeake Point into Kreamer Bayou on the W and via Tarpon Bayou into Whitcomb Bayou on the E. The channel to Kreamer Bayou has shoaled, and only small skiffs can enter. Beckett Bridge, the highway drawbridge over Tarpon Bayou (South Channel) has a 25-foot bascule span with a clearance of 8 feet. The clearance of the nearby overhead power cable is 38 feet.
A draft of 3 feet can be carried from Anclote River through Whitcomb Bayou, which is centrally located in the town of Tarpon Springs.