Visibility was generally bad and the fresh/salt water mixing made impressive visual effects.


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2. Dive No2: Drakos 12/02/2000, 5 people
Description:
Date: 12/02/2000
Location: Drakos spring
Team: P. Gikas, N. Doxas, A. Baitsos, K. Koryllos, G.Tzavelas
Weather: fine
Dive Boat: Mr. Kelepouris
Dive Time =  50 min

Two weeks after the first dive the team returned with plans to start laying out a permanent line. The flow was even stronger than last time and the effort required for a diver to penetrate was similar to a rock-climber on a VI-class route! Alex was the only team member with a dry suit and also happened to be the front man with the reel. At the first restriction (approx 40m into the passage) where the flow increased, Alex demonstrated amazing dexterity in trying to climb using the right hand, lay the reel using the left and wiping his sweat with his left foot! George relieved him of his duties at that stage and took the reel for the next 25 meters. Kots and Nick were engaged into a tight-fit contest by exploring impassable routes. Those efforts proved fruitless. Phil was certainly the most agile underwater and the current seemed to have the least effect on him. He went on to take the reel further than we had gone.

Due to the problems encountered by the extremely high flow, the team decided to postpone all explorations for after the summer.
 

This was the first (and only, in 2000) dive in the Selinitsa cave system. Access to the dive site (The Pool) is through 1 km of generally wide passage of the Selinitsa cave. There are some narrow passages that pose some difficulties in the carrying of scuba bottles. The last part, a steep 10 meter extremely narrow  pit, is the most tricky part of the route. Once down the pit a beautiful pool/river encounters. From this point dives can be made both upstream and downstream. It is a beautiful and remote location giving a special flavor to the Dive.

GT was the lucky one to perform the dive (this was decided after strict democratically procedures), and KK with PG acted as support (thanks!).

Visibility was very good, flow was strong. Two short dives were performed downstream (-14m) and one upstream (-12m). The upstream part was exceptionally beautiful with stalagmites and stalactites and beautiful formations.
The downstream part becomes sandy very quickly, with lower visibility. This with the addition of strong flow (on the wrong direction) and the remoteness of the location made these short dives very memorable.. The same day AV with ND dived the sea caverns between Kardamili and Stoupa.
 

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4. Dive No4: Drakos 24/09/2000, 2 people
Breakthrough dive: We spotted the passage leading to the deeper sections of the cave.
Description:
Date: 24/9/2000
Location: Drakos spring
Team:  K. Koryllos, G.Tzavelas
Weather: fine
Dive Boat: Mr. Kelepouris
Dive Time =  87min

This was a breakthrough dive. By this time we had received the CDG report on the exploration of Drakos and Selinitsa in 1982 & 1985 so we knew that we had a long way to go. The weather conditions were now much more favorable with a water temperature of 23 degrees and no flow at all - a dramatic improvement!
George and Kots had one objective in mind, finding the 29m pot which opened the way to the large section of the cave. The map included in the CDG report was misleading in that it portrayed the continuation of the cave on the end of the entrance passage. Furthermore the line laid in the cave pointed exactly towards the end of the entrance passage which proved to be (after exhaustive search) a dead end.
After about 75 minutes of frustration, the side passage was located at the 50m point!
A new line was tied onto the main line and the junction has been marked with an exit arrow. 20 meters into this passage the old line was located, severed and loose. After that, the long awaited drop to 29 meters was located and the 1982 limit was reached! A very exciting moment indeed, and the two divers returned with a glow of satisfaction and a yearn to return.


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5. "Dive" No5: Drakos 08/10/2000, 3 people - Unsuccessful Dive due to the weather
Description:
Date: 08/10/2000
Location: Drakos spring

Team: A. Baitsos, K. Koryllos, G.Tzavelas
Weather: Very unpleasant!
Dive Boat: Mr. Kelepouris
Dive Time =  20 minutes, no deco!

This "dive" was a memorable experience indeed! In fact, only two of the divers got actually wet, the sea being only partly responsible!
The morning sprang off to a brilliant start when it was decided that we would have freshly squeezed orange juice for breakfast with bread, butter and honey.
Afterwards, we loaded up the fishing boat with 13 cylinders (between the 3 of us) and set off towards Drakos on a choppy sea-dance journey (5 on the Beaufort scale)!
By the time we arrived at the entrance of the cave, the orange-juice effect had started to kick in…
George, being the most seasick prone person in the north hemisphere, was the first to kit up and jump in the water. Alex, being the bravest at the time, decided to bend over the side of the boat and "hand over" a couple of stage tanks to George.
This worked out nicely, and Alex was the next one in the water trying to fight off an ever-rising urge to be sick.
Kots was left helpless in the boat with Mr. Kelepouris who kept mumbling stuff about his liver and intestines.
Furthermore, Kots was trying to convince the man to go near the cave to find the rest of the team which had already submerged (in order to regain their wits at the bottom of the sea).
George surfaced after 20 minutes and exclaimed: "You can puke into a Poseidon jetstream and it will still operate properly". "Great" Kots thought
Then Alex, like the lady of the lake, emerged on the surface, facing sky high, with no regulator in his mouth and a yellow-green mucous flowing from the side of his mouth. At the site of this, Kots feeling left out and still dry, went sick by the side of the fishing boat. The dive was called off.

Conclusion: Vitamin C impairs diving ability.

KK 12/10/2000


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6. Dive No6: Drakos 15/10/2000, 3 people
    495 m penetration, -35 m max depth, 132 min dive.
Description:
Date: 15/10/2000
Location: Drakos spring
Team: A. Baitsos, K. Koryllos, G.Tzavelas
Weather: Fine, calm sea
Dive Boat: Mr. Kelepouris fishing boat
Dive Time = 80min + 52min deco = 132 min

Dive to replace old line. On the total we laid 495 meters of 4mm line, with one knot every 5 m and one double knot every 50 m. Visibility very good, very nice dive with 495m penetration. K.K. removed a lot of the old line and stowed away more line to remove on next dives. GT laid the new line from the entrance of the cave. Penetration was slow due to the removal of the old line and replacement with new. Where we stopped, the cave continued like a round tunnel of 4-6 m diameter.



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7. Dive No7: Drakos 28/10/2000, 3 people
520 m penetration, -35 m max depth, 148 min dive.
Description:
Date: 28/10/2000
Location: Drakos spring
Team: A. Baitsos, K. Koryllos, G.Tzavelas
Weather: choppy
Dive Boat: Mr. Kelepouris fishing boat
Dive Time = 80 + 68 min deco = 148 min

Choppy seas forced the team to loose air because final stage setup could not be done at the surface.

Second explorer reel with 350m of 4 mm line with knots every 5m to continue exploration.
Fast progress was made up to the end the line (495m). We tied the reel and AB continued laying line. Very soon a narrow passage was observed on the right hand side (about 510m). This was assumed to be the "right-hand downstream" passage referred to in the CDG report which could potentially lead to the Selinitsa cave system.
AB went in with reel and GT followed. Very soon the passage narrowed, with sand on the bottom. After about 20m with visibility deteriorating AB hit thirds at 32.6 meters and AB and GT started returning. At that point the passage seemed to be getting bigger. Return to main passage was made with zero visibility and with difficult conditions since the line could not be belayed very well and passed through the narrows part of the narrow passage. KK was waiting at the entrance of the passage and, after placing the line on a bed of silt, the team made a fast return for a long deco.
Deco was done further into the cave than usual due to strong currents in the cave resulting from deteriorating weather conditions.
 

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8. Dive No8: Drakos 05/11/2000, 2 people 
    560 m penetration, -43 m max depth , 162 min dive.
Description:
Date: 05/11/2000
Location: Drakos spring
Team:  K. Koryllos, G. Tzavelas
Weather: fine
Dive Boat: Mr. Kelepouris fishing boat
Dive Time = 70 +  92 min deco = 162 minutes

Dive to continue exploration of side passage at 508 meters.
Visibility on the main passage was exceptional. An amazingly scenic dive! Two more side passages were spotted by GT before the 508 meters.
When the team arrived at the 508m junction KK went first and picked up the line where AV had left it. GT followed behind. Again the passage narrowed and visibility started to deteriorate. After about 15m, the passage widened again but a bit later, at 39.9 it narrowed again and visibility became worse. GT halted while KK continued some more, up to 42.2m (about 550m totally) where the passage narrowed too much to be penetrated with back mounted configuration. The team exited in zero visibility and the line was left in a bed of silt.
At the junction, with some air to spare, the team continued the main passage for about 60 meters, then returned for a long deco.






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9. Dive No9: Drakos 12/11/2000, 2 people
    508 m penetration, -35 m max depth, 172 min dive.
Description:
Date: 12/11/2000
Location: Drakos spring
Team: K. Koryllos, G. Tzavelas
Weather: Very Calm
Dive Boat: Mr. Kelepouris fishing boat
Dive Time = 176 minutes

The purpose of this dive was to explore the passages spotted by GT on the 5/11/2000 dive.
At (approx.) the 370m mark a large passage sprang off to the right. A new line and exit arrow were placed at the junction and the two divers swam on, feeling certain that this was the way to Selinitsa.
The disappointment was apparent when this proved to be the so called "oxbow" which rejoined the main passage after approx. 120 meters.
KK attempted a retrieval of the line on the 508m passage but decided this was a bad idea.
On the way back, GT explored two more passages, to no avail. They were too tight and too silty and no continuation could be seen.
This dive will be remembered by KK as the most absent-minded one so far. One should not allow oneself to experience strong emotions underwater...
Hopefully the passage to Selinitsa is not the 508m one, or else this exploration will be short-lived.


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10. Dive No10: Drakos 03/12/2000, 2 people
      600 (approx.) m penetration, -35 m max depth, 157 min dive.
During this dive we explored the main passage to the end. Visible signs of flow appear.
Description:
Date: 03/12/2000
Location: Drakos spring
Team: A. Baitsos, K. Koryllos
Weather: Ideal
Dive Boat: Mr. Mastoropoulos fishing boat
Dive Time = 157 minutes, 60 deco.

This was the best dive so far, as far as sea conditions are concerned. Ironically this is the only dive George (the most sea-sick prone person in the north hemisphere) missed! The end of the cave (calcite choke) was reached without any difficulty. The cave is waking up again and visible signs of flow appear. The halo/thermoclines were impressive (as well as freezing).  Unfortunately, no visible way towards Selinitsa has been found. The deep end is something to be explored, as well as a couple of holes between the oxbow and the last hope. Who knows.
Trying to communicate with Alex is becoming increasingly more fun, especially with the new ESP techniques we are learning to master. Also, trying to negotiate the canyon with a back-mounted twinset (7lt-300bar), "El Cheapo" in the back and 3 stages (14lt, 12lt, 10lt) mounted in front is pretty interesting...
We also found ourselves becoming sentimentally attached to Mani olive-oil.
KK 03/12/00 


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11. Dive No11: Drakos 10/12/2000, 2 people
      400 (approx.) m penetration, -41 m max depth, 120 min dive
Description:
Date: 10/12/2000
Location: Drakos spring
Team: G. Tzavelas, K. Koryllos
Weather: Ideal
Dive Boat: Mr. Mastoropoulos fishing boat
Dive Time = 120 minutes, 40 deco.

A break-through (literally) dive! This dive had a few unique characteristics... Firstly, due to extended rainfall during the past week the flow was tremendous.
This rendered any sort of swimming completely useless and the well known climbing techniques were generously applied during the whole of the penetration (approx 400m). Frequent stops to catch our breaths were necessary and we found ourselves depleting our air supply about 2.5 times faster than usual! Going out was great fun though, as the "superman" swimming position was assumed using the tilt of the fins to control the supersonic velocity. One must be wary, however, of the pinball effect whereby in the canyon and in other shallow and restricted passages the flow increased dramatically, bouncing the divers (who had neglected wearing a Kevlar armour) off of the majority of concrete cave formations.
Secondly, due to extended rainfall during the past week, the visibility was clear as mud. The use of a mask was purely voluntary and mainly for insulation purposes.
Thirdly, due to extended rainfall during the past week, the water temperature in the cave was five degrees cooler than the sea water (14 C vs 19 C). This produced the famous break-dancing effect during deco on at least one of the divers...
The purpose of this dive was to locate the place where the flow came from and thusly, having the flow was in fact a desired feature.
Having George on this dive was essential as well, as besides being the most sea-sick person etc.he is also the most able direction-finding cave-hound around.
Passing the deep-end junction he was the one to realize that the flow had stopped and had in fact slightly reversed (the famous sand-in-the-wind test).
Kots was at the time on his last martini (shaken and stirred) and was trying to negotiate the fact that he could not figure out what his surname was (it came back to him during deco). George reversed the direction of penetration and started laying a line from the main line and into the deep. Kots managed to place an exit arrow on the main line and went after George whose sole intention was to emerge in Selinitsa.
Fortunately, after clear cut negotiations (at 40m, with no visibility, lots of flow) the divers decided to fly back.

This was a very important dive. It is yet unknown whether a clear route to Selinitsa exists. What is clear, however, is that the water is flowing out from the deep end. This is the way to go and not the way proposed in the 1985 explorations.
KK 11/12/00

Some comments from George:
First of all I would like to point out that I always enjoy making this small trip with my good friend Kots. It is always an interesting trip with useful discussions on a variety of subjects (well, really, just  two subjects).
Apart from that, I was surprised to realize that the reason I really enjoyed this dive was the low (very low) visibility. Yes, I have to admit this is a bit strange but its true. Well, lets hope we will manage to have one more final dive for this season (if we are lucky enough with the weather).

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12. Dive No12: Drakos 23/09/2001, 2 people
Exploration of deep section. First Trimix dive at Drakos
Description:
Date: 23/9/2001
Location: Drakos spring
Team: G. Tzavelas, K. Koryllos
Weather: Ideal
Dive Boat: Mr. Kelepouris fishing boat
Dive Time = 163 minutes

The first dive for the 2001 season and very good conditions awaited us after a long time.
The purpose of the dive was to explore the deep section of the system from which we had noticed (on the last dive of the previous year) that a strong flow originated.
Since the depth would be around 60 meters we decided to use Trimix (yes, our filling station is now ready). A 10lt stage bottle with 18/30 Trimix was used. Unfortunately no new passages were discovered on the deep section but we will go back for a closer look.
On the way out GT was very lucky to discover a new passage that starts from the shallow part of the cave and seems to continue in parallel with the main tunnel. The most exciting thing is that there was a small flow of fresh, cold water emerging. This also has to be investigated.

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13. Dive No13: Drakos    10/2001, 3 people

Team: G.Tzavelas, K.Koryllos from SPELEO and N. Mitsakis from SELAS

Bad weather conditions force us to dive directly from the rocks without a boat. We showed Nick around, since it was his first dive at Drakos, and explored the parallel passage beginning from the 40 meters point and leading to the main tunnel at 150 m.
 

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14. Dive No14: Drakos 06/07/2002, 3 people
First "scooter dive" at Drakos
Description:
Date: 06/7/20002
Location: Drakos spring
Team:  K. Koryllos , G. Tzavelas, I. Tavoularis and 3 aquazepp scooters
Weather: Fine
Dive Boat: Mr. Kelepouris fishing boat
Dive Time =

We were really looking forward for this dive since it was the first time we took our scooters to Drakos. Our high expectation were met  since we were effortlessly speeding through the passages with the zeps, looking at the passages being illuminated by the 55W zep light. The images of the divers with the scooters speeding through the cave were amazing.

The line had to be repaired in a few places after the spring flow.
This was the first dive for IT at Drakos so  KT showed him around following the main passage up to 450m. GT went to the end of the main passage (he had missed that dive).

All of the team had huge smiles after the dive and agreed that this was one of the most enjoyable dives ever. They all agreed that a scooter is one of the best buys ever made. Finally the team agreed to set speeding limits in some parts of the cave to avoid speeding accidents (see GT) that can cause damage to the cave and stain the water with blood

GT


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