Cabrio Cave-Lake, a photo from Kefalinia, Ionian Islands

Photographer's Note

Kefalonia is an island full of mystery and "peculiar" places. One of them is Mellisani cave, on the eastern part of the island, the first "cabriolet" cave i've seen in my life. Its roof collapsed after an earthquake some 5.000 years ago. You can make a small tour by small boat.

The other strange thing about this cave is the water that's running through it, which is half "sweet" and half "salty". It is connected with another of the mysteries of the island. On the western part of the island, close to the town of Argostoli, there is a place called "Katavothres", where in some point the waters of a small creek, suddenly get "swallowed" by the ground. For many decades people were trying to find out where this water was going. Someone came with the idea to throw tones of paint in it. Two weeks later, the painted water, appeared in the Melissani's cave, on the opposite part of the island about 40 km away.

Some more info from Wikipedia:

"Melissani Cave (Greek: Μελισσάνη) or Melissani Lake, also Melisani is a Greek cave located northwest of Sami, about 5 km SE of Agia Efthymia, NE of Argostoli and NW of Poros. The Ionian Sea lies to the east with the Strait of Ithaca. Forests surrounds the cave and the mountain slope is to the west. Near the cave is the entry to the cave with parking lots and is passed almost in the middle of the main road linking Sami and Agia Efthymia especially to the northern part of the island. (...) In Greek mythology, Melissani was the cave of the nymphs. The cave features a lake that are surrounded with trees and forests. The cave is located east of the mountains of Evmorfia and Agia Dynati. Tourism is common in the cave.

The cave features a sky-blue lake covered with stones at the bottom. the depth is thin. Plants are at the door of the cave. The color of the rocks which are stucco to honey-like brown is at the door of the cave. The lake is also inside the cave.

The cave was rediscovered in 1951 by Giannis Petrocheilos."

Copyright � 2010 � Hercules Milas. The reproduction, publication, modification, transmission or exploitation of any work contained herein for any use, personal or commercial, without my prior written permission is strictly prohibited. All rights reserved.

papagolf21, Leconte, bebbetto, Guenther, yeln, vasilpro, Budapestman, delpeoples, Cricri, dip, aphro, Katepina, ellelloo has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

npecanhuk (79329) 2010-06-18 2:56

Hello Hercules!
Another impressively beautiful place!
Lights and colors are always so wonderful in your pictures and I really think they're real (I was told many times that sunlight and colors in Greece are amazing!).
Your picture is very attractive too with excellent sharpness, exposure, pov, dof, pp, colors, contrasts, horizontal & rectangular format and composition!
TFS - congratulations!

Best regards,
Neyvan

erhan1958 (15961) 2010-06-18 3:06

SELAM
very very intresting place
good light and clearity
greetings
have a nice weekend
erhan

bema (26591) 2010-06-18 3:08

Jassu Hercules,

reeally an mystierious place and for sure an astonishing capture at all, must sure be difficult to handle the light in this splendid capture, so much different lights in that cave..

have a nice weekend, see you, Bernd

avishek_khan (544) 2010-06-18 3:38

Hi Hercules,

What an amazing place this is! And you presented this place with all your artistry in this gem of a composition. Lovely vibrant colours all around with perfect exposure.

Thnaks for sharing.

Avishek

CPD66 (960) 2010-06-18 4:41

Hi Hercules,
the colours in your shot are so vivid they look surreal and almost unnatural.
i have seen a similar effect whilst on a boat trip on Zante.
great shot with good colours, chris

JFS (32459) 2010-06-18 4:57

Hola H廨cules,
Tu fotograf燰 parece sacada de una pel獳ula fant嫳tica y la historia que cuentas es muy interesante, fant嫳tica tambi幯. Impresionante luz y espectaculares colores.

Saludos,
Juan

papagolf21 (152605) 2010-06-18 5:01

Bonjour, cher ami Hercules,
Le paradis : 彋ernel myst鋨e aux doux accents de promesses. A quoi ressemble-t-il ? Comment y acc鋄e-t-on ?
Eh bien ! en contemplant cette composition qui nous emporte dans des r瞚es insoup蔞nn廥 !
Magnifique gestion de la lumi鋨e et des couleurs.
Amiti廥.
Philippe

Leconte (5795) 2010-06-18 5:03

hello Hercules,

wow, amazing POV and framing, beautiful iridescent colors of the walls, beautiful color and transparency of the water, fantastic light management and incredible detail of this minusule bird overhead, large depth of field, impressive proportions and high definition to the details of trees outside, wonderful composition,

best regards,
Valerie.

mikolaj_kawa (0) 2010-06-18 5:17

Hello Hercules! Ar of nature. Amazing cave. Superb boats, gorgeous people, nice lightness and shadows, good colours and saturation. Well done!

tober (8797) 2010-06-18 5:36

Merhaba Giritli, it's the first time I see such a cave-lake which seems to be a fabulous place. It is a small corner from paradise and I can even call it "the most beautiful hole" in the earth. The turquoise area of the lake looks wonderful with its crystal transaperency. Congratulations, Tolga

Sergiom (117241) 2010-06-18 6:04

Bonjour Hercules

Magnifique grotte. La lumi鋨e qui entre par l'ouverture est superbe et fait ressortir toutes les couleurs de l'int廨ieur.Belle composition.

Amicalement

Serge

Guenther (10915) 2010-06-18 6:58

Him Hercules,

this looks like a spectacular place... incredible light and water colour! A fine composition and POV with the little boats.

Have a nice day
G𤦂ther

yeln (11516) 2010-06-18 10:32

hello Hercules
google
perfect colors, sharpnes and pov.
great!!
regards
vojko

Muse (35030) 2010-06-18 10:52

Hello Hercules,
Des couleurs impressionnantes et un pov parfait pour faire d嶰ouvrir cet endroit magique.
Excellent week end,
Denise

Aliine (2669) 2010-06-18 11:33

Hi Hercules,
Amazing cave !
This place is gorgeous.
Light and POV are very good.
Regards, Aline

Rehman_cp (228) 2010-06-18 12:07

What a beautiful picture, Excelent shot, and beautiful PT. and good note too. Beautiful....
TFS...
Zia ur Rehman.

vasilpro (41801) 2010-06-18 12:41

Γεια σου Ηρακλή,
Πανέμορφη εικόνα από την ονομαστό αυτό σπήλαιο στην Κεφαλλονιά, εξαιρετικά χρώματα και φωτισμός, πολύ όμορφη η σκηνή με τις βάρκες γεμάτες τουρίστες.
Καλό Σαββατοκύριακο, Βασίλης.

Rafer (0) 2010-06-18 13:07

Lugar fant嫳tico y preciosa luz y color...saludos Hercules

Budapestman (82620) 2010-06-18 15:18

Hi Hercules,
a fabled impression with spectacular composition and picturesque details, amazing colours and lights, great mood, Tfs! Have a nice weekend! Kellemes h彋v嶲彋 k癉嫕ok!
Gy顤gy (George)

delpeoples (60342) 2010-06-18 23:20

Geia sou dear Hercules, what a magical, unique place you have brought us to. The colours are wonderful, especially the aqua-marine tones of the water. The POV of the cave evokes such an air of mystery, tranquility and isolation. Wonderful work, as usual. TFS and have a good weekend, Lisa

Graal (103040) 2010-06-18 23:26

Kalimera Hercules,
unusual place, fantastic colours. Good presentation. I like it a lot.
Have a nice day.
Aleksander

emka (157280) 2010-06-18 23:53

Hi Hercules,

What wonderful colours! great light coming from above. fantastic place, something like in Algarve in Portugal. The people in boats have a wonderful trip (you also:))!

Regards

Malgorzta

jasmis (58653) 2010-06-19 2:57

Extraordinary place. I like crystal clear water here.
Regards.

Cricri (176) 2010-06-19 10:02

Hi Hercules
Un lieu myst廨ieux a d嶰ouvrir dans le calme et la tranquillit�, superbe cadrage avec des couleurs magiques
Friendship
cricri

dip (21408) 2010-06-21 22:51

Geia sou Irakli,
exo dei arketes fotografies apo tin Melissani,nomizo oti edo petuxes ton kalutero dunato fotismo se autes tis akraies sunthikes fotismou,
to meros einai pragmati monadiko!
Dimitris.

aphro (135) 2010-06-23 11:50

just a blink of my eyes and i'm there :)

wonderful Greece once again :)

alin-m (3716) 2010-07-01 7:10

Again a wonderful picture of this amazing place with great colors.
Yassas.Alin.

bona (15057) 2010-07-04 18:35

Hercules, this is a fantastic place. Here in Rio de Janeiro we have a place very similar with that but in the sea. Thake a look at this photo. This part of a cave in the coast of Arraial do Cabo and the entrance is only by boats.

You manage well the light, without any overexposed areas, is it a HDR photo?

Thnaks for the great note about this cave.
Regards
Andre

ellelloo (6572) 2010-07-05 4:46

Hi Hercules,
A fascinating Cave-lake. Reading your note makes it even more mysterious wonder of nature. Of all your photos from this cave I like this most. The colour shades on the are surface are really beautiful. A good balanced composition. It sure was a difficult task to control the light, but you have done it excellently. Well done! Thanks for sharing!
Greetings - have a nice week,
Lasse