Tampa youth retrieves Epiphany cross in Tarpon Springs

Chris Kavouklis comes up with the cross during Sunday's annual Epiphany celebration in Tarpon Springs. [Jim Damaske | Times]

TARPON SPRINGS -- Chris Kavouklis, 18, of Tampa today retrieved the cross during the 102nd annual Epiphany celebration in Tarpon Springs.
Kavouklis, whose twin brother Michael also dove for the cross, plunged into the murky 66-degree waters of Springs Bayou and burst to the surface holding the cross aloft seconds later.
As always, Tarpon Springs' Epiphany celebration -- one of the largest in the world -- attracted a crowd, with some spectators setting up lawn chairs by the bayou before 7 a.m.
"You've got to get your spot," said Harry Batuyios, 60, of Tarpon Springs.
Epiphany, which commemorates the baptism of Christ in the River Jordan, is a sacred holiday in the Greek Orthodox church, and Tarpon Springs is "a mythic place for people of Greek descent," Batuyios said.
Callie and Nick Meta, both 49, of Tarpon Springs, arrived early with a large themos of coffee, blankets and the newspaper.
"I like to read, meditate and chill out," said Callie Meta.
Before the dive, the faithful crowded into St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral for an Orthros and Divine Liturgy led by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, the spiritual head of the Greek Orthodox church in the United States. The archbishop and the divers then marched from the cathedral through downtown Tarpon Springs to the bayou, where thousands of people waited.
As always, Tarpon Springs police divers swept the bayou early Sunday morning to make sure there was no hazardous debris or counterfeit crosses -- as one radio station is suspected of placing there one year. Other than a few manatees, divers found nothing, and said visibility under water was just two to three feet.
About 60 boys -- a third more than usual -- took part in the cross dive this year. All had Greek ancestors and were 16 to 18 years old.
Before the dive, 16-year-old Michael Parr tested the water in the bayou. Parr, who had practiced for the event by diving into Lake Tarpon, said it felt freezing.
Retrieving the cross is believed to bring a year of blessings.

Michael Xipolitas, 19, who retrieved the cross last year, said before the ceremony that he still had goosebumps from the experience.

"The feeling of winning it was unexplainable," he said. "It was a heck of a feeling."

-- Elena Lesley, Times staff writer