Cruising The Med - Sandy and Rob's Excellent Adventure: Foki Bay to Agia Efimia - Melissani Cave

Wednesday September 11, we woke from another good rest having been in the calm bay at Foki at the top of Cephalonia.

We motored (no wind again) south along the east coast of Cephalonia. There are many pretty bays on the trip south and Ithaca is very close by giving us lots of lovely views as we headed south.

I had done some research while we were up in Fiskardo (and had access to the internet) and discovered that there are some really interesting caves to see further south on Cephalonia.

As a result, we stopped in a large bay at a village called Agia Efimia which was noted to be near the caves and looked like a nice spot for cruising sail boats.

As soon as we anchored, we headed to town to find out how to get to the caves.

We met with Costas (Gus in English) an affable cab driver born and raised on the island who ferried us around to the caves.

The first one was the Melissani Cave. This is a cave inland but full of water. The water is around 3 metres deep of brackish water. It was formed around 5,000 years ago when the earth let go in the roof, exposing the cave below.

We paid 7 euros each for a ticket and descended into a rock tunnel leading to the cave below.

Melanissi Cave is also known as the "Cave of the Nymphs". In 1951, archeologists found a now famous lamp with images of nymphs and some other plates and artifacts here.

We boarded a tripper boat that held around 10 of us as our captain rowed us around and gave us various bits of interesting information about the cave along the way.

The sun lights up Melanissi Cave into lovely shades of turquoise. The water is transparent.

However, the water is only 15 degrees celcius so as nice and clear as it was it only a polar bear would like to swim here!

The water flows from a 30 metre deep system adjacent to the cave throught he cave and to the other side through a series of intricate crevices or 'kathavorthes'. Scientists only discovered this phenomenon in the 1960's by a series of experiements injecting dye into the water to find its path through the rock.

Melanissi Cave is shaped like a 'B' with an open area to the sun and a second cavern which has a stone roof which we accessed by gingerly sliding between rocks just wide enough for the boat to slip through. There is an island in the centre which was a hunk of rock which released from the ceiling and dropped to the floor below.

This was really cool and we were glad to see it. It was great for Rob who didn't get to see Odysseus Cave on Mljet, in Croatia as the water there was over 100 feet deep and we could not anchor so he hovered while Mackenzie and I went in.

Same thing with the Blue Cave also in Croatia so it was great for Rob to get to experience this one!

After our tour Costas was waiting to take us to the next cave, Drogarati.

"You like?" We like very much!!!

And with that, we were off to the Drogarati Cave.

It was only about 10 minutes between caves so this was really an easy trip.

Drogarati is also part of the unique system called the 'kathavorthes' which is an underground current of salt water which runs from Sami on the East coast of Cephalonia across the island to Argostoli through a series of crevices in the rock. Apparently the current was so strong at one point it was used to provide all the electricity to Argostoli. The massive earthquake in 1953 reduced the current significantly likely caused by rock blocking the existing underground water way.

This cave is like the ones in my Grade 10 geography books. It is very large with a cavern height of 196 feet and almost 3,000 square feet in size.

It maintains a temperature of 18 degrees celcius and is humid with a number of puddles on its floor.

The stalactites (mineral deposits which drop from the ceiing like icicles) and Stalagmites ( reverse icicles on the floor) are fabulous and crystalline in nature when you get close.

The acoustics here are apparently perfect and a number of concerts with very famous singers have been hosted here. Wish I got to go to one of those!

We took many photos before we left and met Costas and his smile at the top.

On the way back to Agia Efimia, Costas toured us past Sami, the other major town in this large bay which is now a major port. I am pleased we were in Agia Efimia as it had really good Tavernas and was very quaint with friendly people.

Costas also stopped along the way to show us a 1500 year old Olive tree. Hard to conceive but really neat to see.

We stayed the night in the bay at Agia Efimia and enjoyed a "swell free sleep" which was much appreciated.

Today we moored on the quay and were able to fill up with fuel and water which we haven't since leaving Corfu. (We are getting pretty adept at water preservation!)

We washed the boat, ourselves, and all the laundry which was great. We are at another nice Taverna, Spiros having enjoyed a lovely lunch. I did have to make a mad dash back to the boat as the wind was about to blow the bedsheets into the water!!

We are off this afternoon to a new spot. Where? Not sure.... Some where else on Cephalonia, Ithaca, who knows? We will let you know when we get there!

Departing Foki Bay - There were several Goats with Bells on the Left Rocks as we Left