A SECOND expedition to continue the search for Atlantis in waters off Cyprus is not likely to happen before summer 2005, American researcher Robert Sarmast has said.

Sarmast said he would be leaving Cyprus on Monday for the launch of the Greek version of his book Discovery of Atlantis: The Startling Case for the Island of Cyprus. He will then be returning to the US, and is unlikely to return to the island before the Spring, he told an audience at a lecture in Limassol this week.

Last month, Sarmast claimed to have “definitely” found Atlantis after sonar scans appeared to have located a rise on the seabed around a mile down in an area halfway between Cyprus and Syria.

He had promised to present his findings on Tuesday, but the visuals were not ready, he said.

Sarmast now needs to raise at least $250,000 to launch a second expedition that will employ submarine technology capable of determining what, if anything, is underneath the sediment, of what he called a “table-top mountain”.

To raise money, he hopes to co-operate on a documentary with one of the six big documentary makers that he says have contacted him.

The American researcher has been challenged by several scientists, who say all he has found are old mud volcanoes.

Michel Morrisseau, a French geologist living on the island, has challenged him to prove his claim, saying the Mediterranean has been under water for the past five million years, which does not tally with Plato’s accounts which places the sinking of Atlantis at around 12,000 years ago.

Morrisseau, who attended the Limassol lecture, again challenged Sarmast.
“This is complete nonsense to any geologist,” said Morrisseau. “We are shocked with the presentation of this data.”
Sarmast responded that if any scientist came forward with a sample taken from the area he believes to be the Acropolis Hill of Atlantis city and proved their theories, he would “go away”.

“They have never taken samples from the area I’m pointing to,” he said. “It’s not a volcano and it’s not a landslide.”

He said that what he had found during his expedition was a “table top mountain”, and two walls three kilometres long, that he believes to be man-made, and matching Plato’s description.

However, Sarmast admitted said he was unlikely to find the remains of any buildings. “It’s a nice dream but it’s not going to happen,” he said. “But in a matter of a few years we are going to put this matter to rest.”

Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2004