Caving on Crete

[busty_caver]

Hi Guys,

The Costa Blanca seemed rather touristy and the beaches were all covered in red burnt brits in pictures so we are now thinking of organising a trip to Crete or Greek mainland.  Crete seems to offer everything from secluded coves, to maountain walks, large impressive canyons and a hell of a lot of caves.

Does anyone have any information on Caving in Crete and also any recommendations on whether the east or west of the island is best place to stay?

many thanks,
Hannah

 

[Slug]

You might try and ask Nigel Graham of the Wessex, I think He went there with them in about 1991 ish, I remember Him telling Me about the expedition (and a dead Donkey  ) when we were in Norway.

You might also want to contact these good people,
http://www.fhs.gr/eng/news/news.php
and may be look here as well  http://www.speleologicalsociety.gr/index_en.html 
and here  http://www.plata.gr/caves/

  until then Kallenickta

 

[graham]

Haven't SUSS been there a couple of times, recently?

 

[Peter Burgess]

Their website has an entry for a trip to Crete July 2008.

 

[caverholic]

Haven't SUSS been there a couple of times, recently?

We have! There are lots of caves there, a few that could probably be done as sport trips. We have some contacts in the Athens based group SELAS that might be able give you ideas for caves which are a bit more sporty. Otherwise Rob Eavis who I'm suprised hasn't already replied to this thread can help you out.
An alternative could be Greek mainland in the north as there lots of caves and canyons.

 

[Skyrmy]

Contact the Hellenic Spelological Society- Department of Crete (google it for address).  The chairmans name was Kostas. 

I was out there for a holiday last year and was supposed to have a trip with them - but it turned out that they don't cave much in the summer months.  I ended up having a scrat about in Skotino Cave (see trip report on BRCC website) as it was only a few km's from where I was staying.

 

[Les W]

Malc Foyle has some contacts out in Mainland Greece as well Hannah. He is often at the Wessex at weekends.

 

[busty_caver]

Many thanks for all this information.  We are looking at a couple of nice villas to the west north coast of the island so want to make sure this is within easy reach of canyons and caves.  I will try to contact the greek crete caving people as suggested and look through the links.

If anyone else has any information please send it through.  It is all much appreciated!

many thanks,
Hannah

 

[Rob]

The Costa Blanca seemed rather touristy and the beaches were all covered in red burnt brits in pictures so we are now thinking of organising a trip to Crete or Greek mainland.

A wise descision...

Does anyone have any information on Caving in Crete and also any recommendations on whether the east or west of the island is best place to stay?

We (SUSS) have only really spent time in the west mountain range (The White Mountains) and only on exporatory trips, so we probably are not the best to help! However there definitely are some fantastic caves that are done for sport spread all over the country. NW Crete is very nice, we have spent a lot of time in Chania. It is very close to the mountains and I know there are lots of caves on the Northern slopes, some very deep (+1000m), so as long as you've got some local info you should be sorted.
If you contact any of the Greek/Crete clubs (via google) i'm sure they will all be keen to help you more. We have had many dealings with SELAS but the Hellenic Speleological Society (H.S.S.) and the Hellenic Federation of Speleology would also be helpful. They are proud of their caves (rightfully so) and are very happy for British teams to go and explore them.

A more info here:
http://www.canyon.gr/index.html
http://ukcaving.com/board/index.php/topic,4028.0.html
http://www.selas.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_view&gid=11
Descent Issue 186 - October/November 2005
Descent Issue 193 - December/January 2006/2007

Good luck...