TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. — The Tarpon Springs community will celebrate its yearly Epiphany cross dive on Friday. 

This will be the 117th year that crowds have turned out at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral and at Spring Bayou in Tarpon Springs during the first week of January for the traditional throwing of the cross during Epiphany celebrations.

The cross dive is a commemoration of the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River. Boys ages 16 to 18 dive in to retrieve the cross thrown by the archbishop. Whoever retrieves the cross is said to have one year of blessings. Last year, 17-year-old Alex Makris retrieved the cross.  

Alex said he vividly remembers every detail.

“We were told to go, and all the boys ran through this area here and we all jumped off the ledge over here and we all swam to our boats, we all scattered out, everyone going to a different boat,” he said.

In that moment, Alex said he dove right in and swam to the right.

“I jumped on the boat, the second to the right, it was the only boat that capsized, but us boys flipped it over and started scooping water out,” he said.

Alex said they got the boat righted just in time for the archbishop threw the cross, and while he is on his high school’s swim team, he said it wasn't necessarily an advantage.  

“It’s pretty dark down there, so as soon as I went down, I went all the way to the bottom and I found a white little glow and I kind of followed the light, the glow, and I put my hand around it and threw it straight up and came out of the water," he said. "I felt so excited — I held it up over my head."

After that, the boys hoisted Alex on their shoulders and carried him back to St. Nicholas.

“That was a great experience," Alex said. "I was still trying to process it in my head as I was in the air, holding both proudly over my head — the trophy was starting to get heavy in my hand. I still remember it.”

And despite the weight of it all, Alex said looking back, he did in fact receive extra blessings during the year.  

“After getting the cross, I felt like I got closer to God," he said. "And I became more involved with my community at St. George, my church, and I feel like I’ve had a great year with many blessings."

Alex said he wants the boys diving this year to understand the magnitude of what they’re about to do — saying the dive is not a sporting event, but a religious one, and the blessing they receive is being closer to God.