The underwater river of Drakos (Greek: Dragon) is situated approximately one and a half kilometers from the village of Agios Dimitrios on the main road towards Trahila in Mani. The entrance to the cave system has a north west direction at a depth of 10 meters, whilst its deepest part reaches 56 meters. After approximately 1 kilometer distance this underwater river connects with the cave of Selinitsa or Katafigi. The entrance of Selinitsa is located on the coastline 2 meters above the sea level approximately five hundred meters from the entrance to Drakos. The entrance of Selinitsa can be accessed by land and has a North East direction. According to mapping and measurements conducted by SPELEO the entire Karst system of Drakos-Selinitsa is four kilometers.

It was named Drakos (Dragon) due to a phenomenon in the winter months where the increased flow of water from the river combined with the bad weather and increase in the sea level by one meter, cause droplets of water to be thrown from its entrance to a great distance, coupled with a loud roar.

The first official expeditions at Drakos took place in 1981, 1982, and 1985 primarily by English Cave Divers partnering with Czech and Greeks (SPELEO). The English cave divers mentioned in their initial reports that cave line was found during their exploration. In 1981 the primary goal of the English Cave Divers was το determine the possibilities to explore the underwater sections of Drakos and Selinitsa cave. In 1982 the first two hundred meters of the underwater river were explored and mapped. A further two hundred meters at Selinitsa following the flow of water and another six hundred meter in the opposite direction. This latter section is comprised of two sections so approximately three hundred meters in each section were explored. This is when a formal assessment was made that the water flowing to Selinitsa flows out from Drakos. The total length of the underwater section at the time was estimated at one kilometer. In 1985 the largest expedition to date took place. Six hundred and fifty meters at Drakos and a further eight hundred and fifty meters at Selinitsa were explored. This is when the assumption of a possible connection of both was made.

Since January of 2000, the SPELEO group started to systematically explore the underwater section of Drakos using the map created by the English Cave divers as a reference. They had received this by Mr. M.Piscula member of the Czech team. During this year a total of twelve expeditions were carried out and all areas which had previously been mapped by the English were explored. Additional sections were explored and mapped by the team. More than half of the expeditions were consumed in trying to find the passage from Drakos to Selinitsa based on the assumptions of the previous missions. Hence, a thorough study of all possible locations which could lead to Selinitsa was conducted. Eliminating all dead end, adding new sections to the underwater map of the cave. Only after many failed attempts towards the end of 2001 it was discovered the passage connecting to Selinitsa was located and situated at the deep section of Drakos which the English expeditions had mapped as a dead end. This gave the team new hope and further exploration was conducted. The dives now had started to become highly demanding with the dive time reaching almost three hours, the depths exceeding forty meters, and the distances per dive more than one kilometer. Four to five tanks were used per diver to complete these dives. In 2002 Trimix was first used in order to explore the deepest section which was more than fifty meters in depth. Dry suits and scooters were also used to assist the divers to reach the furthest sections they needed to reach in order to continue their exploration. In September of 2003 almost four years into the project the only obvious passage leading to Selinitsa was discovered. It was a narrow, vertical chimney twenty meters in the Western main section of the deep part of Drakos. The next five missions until the end of 2003 where done in order to map the new sections of the cave and locate the passage towards Selinitsa. In December of 2004 SPELEO group organised a large expedition with many cave divers from other cave diving groups. On the 28th of November of 2004 during the third dive the goal of connecting Selinitsa with Drakos was achieved. In total it took five years and twenty five expeditions to discover the final two hundred meters connecting the Selinitsa Drakos system. So far the entire system of both is approximately a total of four kilometers.

We first visited Drakos in June of 2021. After entering from the East entrance the divers enter a huge room measured 50 x 100 meters and need to navigate into the cave tο locate the two entances to the main system. In our first dive we followed the secondary line which ends after a further 100 meters. Videos will follow shortly on our dives at Drakos, a truly magnificent place for cave diving.