Penetration of Kefalovryso - Polish expedition to Greek caves 2022

The Kefalovryso cave was the final point of this year’s Polish expedition that explored the flooded caves of Greece.

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Kefalovryso is a mountain spring cave located in a small village of the same name. A group of Polish speleon divers received information about its existence from a Greek friend who assured them that it was worth visiting. The team did not need to be told twice and a few days later they were already heading deep into the cave.

The first difficulties arose long before the plunge. Getting to the cave was quite a challenge. Even with precise coordinates, the group got lost several times on local roads and ended up in someone’s orchard. Looking for the right place, they ended up in the mountain wilderness, where their car had no chance and the plan had to be changed. Toll roads turned out to be much more friendly (although not for the pocket, and during the expedition every penny counts) and led them straight to their destination.

When the GPS let us know we had arrived we couldn’t believe it anyway. We landed in the centre of a mountain village. It turned out that our destination was a drinking water parade, where every now and then someone came up to get water. In my diving career I have already dived into various strange places, but the village water supply has not happened to me yet. Well, there always has to be the first time – reports Sabina Zapiór.

Group of cave divers from Poland caused a little sensation and interest among the local residents. Everyone was curious about what they were doing here and what they would be looking for in their water supply. Talking to the locals was also a great opportunity to do a little research on the cave and get some additional information.

We changed in front of a village pub, seeing a church and cemetery nearby. The locals had a lot of fun with us. One worried man even tried to dissuade us from going under the bridge, saying it was dark and narrow there. Too bad I could not explain to him that this is what I was hoping for, because this is exactly how I like it.

The inhabitants of Kefalovryso told the Polish divers about other divers who had been here two years earlier. They were probably acquaintances who pointed out the cave to the group as being worth a visit.

Immersion in the Kefalovryso tunnels

The entrance to the cave is under a bridge and you must be careful of the water pipes that run along the bottom. Carelessness on this section can end in a painful fall. You then walk into a beautiful chamber that is 1/4 filled with water. This was an ideal place to put a guideline.

The first part of the cave is very shallow and only descends to a depth of about 3 metres. Going through this section, you can swim underwater, but in places the corridor also has air chambers. The cave is undoubtedly very nice. At the beginning, it could lie on the bottom and you have to be careful not to make your way back. However, this is something that any moderately skilled cave diver should have no problem with.

After about 18 minutes swimming Kefalovryso cave It starts to get a little deeper. The Polish team dived to a depth of about 30m and abandoned the exploration of deeper parts due to tangled handrails. It would have taken too long to repair them, and the gases prepared for this particular dive were slowly running out.

Navigation in Kefalovryso is very straightforward and I didn’t notice any junctions. I think there were some two jumbos to the top, but I don’t know if they were by chance traverses to the top. As we didn’t have a clearly defined plan, we can only guess at that. We will definitely return here, as it is a very interesting cave and we have directions to another one nearby – Sabi reports.

It was the last stage of this year’s Polish caving expedition to Greece, which took place between 4-14 April as part of the project Sabicavetecdiving. The project was carried out by a team composed of Sabina “Sabi” Zapiór, Michał “Misio” Kobylarz and Andrzej and supported by Erikos. Future plans include another expedition, which the group intends to carry out in May 2023.

If you are interested in the topic of exploration of flooded mines in Greece, we recommend to your attention the article of Addicted2H2O team, which appeared in the 17th issue of our the DIVERS24 quarterly magazine! Digital version of the magazine is available free of charge, while the printed version you can buy in our online shop.