Hellas Underwater Explorers - Cave Diving Exploration Aggalaki Kefalonia

Εξερεύνηση Αγγαλάκη Κεφαλονιά

Ένα από τα γνωστά λιμνοσπήλαια της περιοχής στη Σάμη είναι το σπηλαιοβάραθρο Αγγαλάκι. Η ομάδα αποτελείτο από τους Γιώργο Πέτρου, Νάσο Ζερβόπουλο, Κυπραίο Τάσο και Γραβάνη Ηλία. Περπατήσαμε στο υπέροχο χερσαίο σπήλαιο, γεμάτο νυχτερίδες, σταλακτιτικό , σταλαγμιτικό υλικό και τυρκουάζ λιμνούλες. Καταδυθήκαμε στη λίμνη του με τους σταλακτίτες αιώνων να κρέμονται απο πανω μας. Θεαματική, καταπράσινη, φωτεινή ατόλη με εύκολη προσβασιμότητα. Ιδανικό για τουριστική αξιοποίηση αλλά το θέμα είναι η περιβαντολογική του προστασία.

The beautiful cave of Aggalaki is found 2 km east of the village of Poulata near Sami. It is clearly part of a system of 17 caves very close to each other, most of which have underground lakes - rivers with fresh or brackish water. It is certain that the waters of the caves communicate with each other through narrow underground passages due to erosion of the limestone walls. Aggalaki is clearly the largest and most impressive and is surrounded by olive trees and bushes. Its entrance has a circular opening with a diameter of 30 meters, while its depth is 50 meters. The age of the cave has been calculated to be perhaps older than the Pleistocene period (2,000,000 – 12,000 BC). According to the Hellenic Speleological Society (www.ese.edu.gr) the direction of development of the cave is N.N.W and takes place on 2 axes. These axes intersect at the NW end of the cave, bringing into communication the caves created on each axis, at the ends of which a natural lake also develops. In their extension there are 2 communication roads. The road of the eastern lake is below the water level and connects it with another inaccessible lake in which blind eels live, which confirms that there is communication with the sea. The second road, that of the western lake, is above the water level and bat populations have been identified. At the NW end of the cave there is a third communication road which functions as an escape route for the water. The impressive stalactites of the ceiling are reflected in the caves' lakes, while at the bottoms there is lake vegetation. Aggalaki, together with the other 2 large and publicly accessible caves in the area, Drogarati and Melissani, which are located S.SE and N.NW respectively, extend on an axis and develop 40-50 meters above sea level and in some places 5-15 meters below its surface. It is possible that they are connected to each other through subsurface domes and corridors, with the length of Aggalaki reaching 200 meters and the total length of the 2 caves exceeding 3.5 km.

Aggalaki was included in 2007 by WWF in the program "Protection of Wetlands of the Islands of Greece" having been characterized as one of the 803 wetlands of the island country and one of the 21 of Kefalonia.