About the Natural Bath & Body Shop

Tarpon Springs Sponge & Shrimp Fishing boats on the Aclote River - Sunset Thank you for visiting our web site, we are a small company and sincerely appreciate all of our visitors and satisfied customers.

The Natural Bath & Body Shop is located in a small Florida coastal town called Tarpon Springs. Our city is so small and historic, that even the city web site looks like it was created many decades ago.

Some of you may have visited our downtown antique district, or have come to see the famous Sponge Docks located on the banks of he Anclote River. Many of our residents are of Greek descent which gives the town a feeling of being in old Greece. If you would like to know more about the history of Tarpon Springs, visit here.

Most of our Sponge products are purchased at the Tarpon Springs sponge auctions. Similar to a regular auction, we bid on net-full's of un-processed sponges that were harvested by local sponge divers during the week.

We pride ourselves for having the largest selection of sponges available anywhere, whether in a brick-and-mortar store, or online. Many of the large specimens of decorative sponges we sell by request, as they are subject to availability. If you are interested in an extra-large sponge, call us as we can check with the local sponge divers to see what they have recently harvested.

We are in the process of creating a sister web site, that goes into detail about the process of sustainable harvesting sponges here on the Gulf coast. It will also explain why natural sponges are safer and better for you and your family to use than artificial petroleum based ones.

So again, welcome to our web site,

Marc Washburn

Proprietor - The Natural Bath & Body Shop

P. S. if you are ever in town, come visit our brick and mortar store the Sponge Factory located at the Sponge Docks.

What's My Line?

Some Photos chronicling the process of getting natural sponges to your home.

Click on the photo to enlarge it.

Coming up for Air; 40-50 days at sea and 7-10 days on land to rest.	Largest haul in years; 2007's recovery from the Red Tide Blight. 40 Days at sea netted $60,000 worth of sponges.	Cleaning and Sorting; Step two, clean and sort the sponges for Auction.
Cleaning sponges at the Sponge Docks; Raw sponges are pungent, couple that with 90+ Degree heat and 100% Floridian Humidity.	At Our Sponge Auction; We strive to get the best prices for our customers.	Our Famous Sponger Statue in the middle of the Sponge Docks; He watches over our Spongers, Shrimpers and Fisherman. Tarpon Springs truly is still a community of local Americans trying to eke out a living in hard times.
Sponges arrive in Nets, are hung and then dipped in a Hydrogen Peroxide solution.	After the sponges have been cleaned and brightened, we put them in commercial dryers. You can see the empty nets hanging in front of the rows of dryers.	Last step before we sort them, sponges are cut to different sizes. The nicest ones are kept as forms. Notice the Sheep Shears hanging over the band-saw, they are used to cut coral shell and rock that may be stuck in the bottom and to give sponges their round shape.