Caving Adventure (Yes, I know I'm getting really creative with titles here)

9 May 2009
So there I was, grimy and filthy, perched on a damp rock in the pitch black cavern hyperventilating. “I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m okay,” I chanted to myself, not sure whether I was saying the words for my own benefit or Greg’s.

He was ahead of me somewhere in the inky atmosphere. He had the dim flashlight, but I could barely tell he was still there, even though he was only a few feet from me. The day was nothing like I expected. I was thinking we’d walk across the island, crawl around in an open, non-scary cave for awhile, find a place to hang out, and then walk back easily.

Instead, we spent a grueling ten hours climbing trails (sometimes literally) that seemed to only ascend. At one point, the trail actually ended and we were forced to continue down a rocky ravine frequented only by goats. We were warned that we would encounter goat paths masquerading as trails, but I wasn’t’ prepared for trail 5 to end as abruptly as it did.

We had read in the guidebook about this insane cave on Iraklia. I’m sure that’s in part why we chose to come here. The guidebook author suggested to take as many light sources as possible and to take tea lights and a lighter if you could. We bought a roll of string for 3 euro and had one small flashlight. We couldn’t find any light sources at the tiny overpriced grocery store in town. So we went without.

The guidebook description of the cave wasn’t exactly accurate. We were informed that there would be waterways, but we only encountered a couple of puddles and some dripping stalactites. However, the author was dead on when he/she said we would need as many light sources as possible. Our one little flashlight was completely insufficient for cave exploration. Before we even entered the cave I was scared.

I thought we would be entering through a person-sized hole (as in walking upright), so I wasn’t expecting to have to crawl to enter the first chamber. I was actually ready to give up and return to the domatia even before we entered the cave. We had walked a significant distance to arrive at the cave, so I couldn’t give up. I had come so far already. I should probably point out that I was the only one that wanted to turn back.

Although I didn’t want to (my nerves had gotten the better of me), I crawled into the first chamber and stood. I could see almost nothing; the light from outside the cave was incapable of lighting the entire chamber. I tried photographing what I was (not) seeing. The room was filled with stalagmites. There were tea light remnants and an old piece of string, but not much else.

As far as we could tell, the cave was uninhabited. We saw one small flying bug in the entire cave. In the first few rooms, I admit I was terrified that something was going to jump out at me: perhaps a bat or a homeless person. The further we crawled, the more scared I became and the harder it was to breathe. I was absolutely terrified by the time I was asked to unhook the string from a spongy feeling rock. We were barely out of the first chamber.

“I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m okay.” I tried repeating my mantra (if you can even call it that. I say the same thing on airplanes during takeoff, landing, and turbulence). I finally became more or less at ease with what we were doing. I realized nothing was going to jump out at me and that I was more or less safe and not going to die. Towards the end of our adventure, I even explored a bit by myself (meaning I explored behind the stalagmites of the first chamber whilke Greg took photos of the same chamber).

There were supposed to be 15 chambers. I think we must have explored 7 or 8. With the light we had and with our handicap (me), 7 or 8 is a lot. I don’t know, but we must have spent at least a couple of hours cave exploring. After exiting the cave, we tried to clean up the best we could, which meant pouring a little water on my grubby hands. I felt so disgusting. My pants were damp and dirty and I could feel the dirt on my forehead.

Thinking we were more energetic than we actually were and also thinking that the beach was within easy walking distance, we started walking on a path in the direction of the beach that was on the southwest side of the island. Sooner than I wanted, the path ended. Able to see the beach, we (stupidly) decided to continue and try to follow one of the many goat paths. We had seen goats running all over the hills and mountains and I suppose we figured that if they could do it so could we. We are not goats. We never will be. Why we thought we could be as nimble as goats I don’t know.

We ended up climbing down the mountain (seriously climbing) to get to an awfully dirty beach. The beach didn’t look dirty from the top of the mountain, but we were met with empty colored buckets and debris and trash of all shapes and sizes. No wonder there was no path to that beach, who would want to go there?

At around 6.00, we were all the way over on the other side of the island at the beach, kilometers from civilization. We had figured out that the island was eight kilometers in length. We walked the entire eight kilometers to the opposite side of the island. Accounting for the severe elevation increases and decreases, and twisty turny paths, we probably walked somewhere around 20 or 22 kilometers in total. I was so exhausted I really did not think I could possibly move. We were miles from the domatia and had only 2 oranges and a half liter of water between us.

Every few steps my muscles seemed to give. At one point I was so tired I lay down on the path. Seriously. I was that tired and my body and feet were hurting that much. Looking back, I have no idea how I possibly made it back to the other side. I was ready to give up and die right there on the side of the mountain.

The trail started out easy(ish).

And got a lot harder. Believe it or not, this is in fact the trail.

The cave entrance.
We tied string to a tree outside the cave and let it unroll as we climbed (so we wouldn't get lost). The guidebook suggested tealights, but we couldn't find any at the tiny grocery store on the island, so we went with string.

I was absolutely terrified. I kept thinking that a bat or a homeless man would jump out at me. Fortunately, there was nothing living inside the cave, but I don't think that I ever quite got over my apprehension.

There were some really awesome formations inside the cave. Funny, the cave was so dark and our light sources (a small flashlight and my camera flash) were so dim that I didn't actually know what the cave looked like inside until I was reviewing these photos.

There is light at the end of the tunnel. If you look closely, you can see the string we used to help us navigate our way back through the chambers.I made it! Alive!

The beach we went to is sort of visible in this photo. Look for the cove. The beach is right there. Too bad we couldn't tell from up here that the beach was dirty and littered.
The goat path we climbed down to get to the beach. Goats are such nimble creatures.