VOULIAGMENI CAVE DIVING

Information:
The lake was created when part of the roof of a large underground cave collapsed some 2,000 years ago due to erosion and tectonic movements, and therefore there are no references from antiquity, not even Pafsanias. The cave is located within the limestone rocks of the surrounding area. The explored length of the cave is 3,123 meters. There are 14 tunnels in the cave, and a large underwater stalagmite has been found. The bottom of the lake consists of a muddy substrate rich in sulfur compounds. The lake waters have an increased content of minerals and trace elements, such as potassium, sodium, lithium, ammonium, calcium, iron, chlorine and iodine. The water is recommended for rheumatic diseases, sports injuries, nervous system disorders, skin diseases and gynecological diseases.

Official Greek exploration, which began in 1988 through a program funded by the Ministry of Culture, brought to light new impressive features from the cave. Leading the investigation was the Swiss cave diver Jean Jacques Bolanz, who, following an unknown narrow passage, discovered a huge underwater area with a capacity of 1,200,000 cubic meters. Bolandz's colleague Luigi Casati had brought to light an oversized stalagmite, which is located at a depth of 105 meters.

Logistics & Support:
George Vandoros.

Cave Divers:
Erikos Kranidiotis, Stelios Stamatakis, George Vandoros.

Video:

[EleanorCharlotte]

I lived in a nearby town called Saronida in Athens quite long before, and I know this place quite well. Vouliagmeni has got a very strange rumor about it, there were a couple of people who dived down in the lake cave right under the cliff of Vouliagmeni, ended up gone missing still, said to have died in underwater caves for some unknown reasons. I went there many times for a nice walk on the top of the cliff, it has fantastic views up there, but the lake always looks so mysterious and that overshadowed area by the choppy rocks in the west seems so pitch-dark and creepy. That area is now blocked by fences for swimmers' safety. I guess there might be some subterranean channels with sudden deeps where the water could flush flow underneath like a fall with some rooms for air, or some narrow small crags where the pressure becomes higher than what people (especially small and slightly built) cannot resist so they never could come back to the surface again once they squeeze in. I'm not sure, I never go myself for swim there, but the collapsed craggy rock formations in Vouliagmeni (Greece is prone to the earthquake) together with Greece's particular weather condition between dry and wet seasons there, could suggest that the underwater geology there could keep changing and probably be most likely the case of The Fosse Dionne in Tonnerre, France?? Or else otherwise a small-scale earthquake unluckily happened while they were diving and some rocks fell underwater so the channel they got in was blocked, etc. There are several theories. I hope someday some marine biologists arrange the professional investigations on the geology underground there.

[alessandrosalvador]

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