Albania!

The 16th of June was our last day in Montenegro. Jozefina and I went with our taxi driver Marcos to collect Julia and Theodore from the airport in the late afternoon.  Julia had made arrangements for us to jump on a small boat at Virpazar for a guided tour of Lake Skadar.

It was a perfectly still evening and we had a wonderful time spotting pelicans and monasteries.  We said it looked like perfect hippo water and our guide responded with a story of two escapee hippos that used to live there!

The next morning we woke early and motored around to the customs quay on the other side of the marina. A quick visit to the harbour master, customs and police and we were checked out of Montenegro.  We sailed along the coast and as we crossed into Albania we lowered our Montenegro flag and once again hoisted our yellow quarantine flag.

After some alphabet yoga and a bit of school work the kids were let loose with a play make up set.

At 2pm on the 17th we arrived at Durres -our first port of call in Albania.  We were invited into the marina by the harbour master on the radio before we even announced our intentions.  We entered the industrial port and found our very basic marina squeezed in between huge cargo ships.  We dropped our anchor and reversed into our spot with helpful marineros taking our lines.

We were required to use the services of an agent to clear into the country. Mr Ilir had received our documents the day before and the check in process was completed in minutes.  We had the rest of the afternoon to explore the city of Durres,

We began with the Roman Amphitheatre that was only discovered in the 50's when a tree disappeared into a void in the ground! The Ottoman influence is quite visible in Albania, in the music, street signs, and architecture.  Zefi and Theodore were delighted to see caged exotic birds in many of the shops and cafes but their opinion changed when they got too close!

We left the next morning at 6am -before the ferry traffic picked up. The harbour master congratulated us on a smooth exit over the VHF as we slipped out of the port.  Our next destination was Orikum, the only fully operational marina in Albania.  The waves were forecast to reach one metre by mid afternoon by which time we hoped to be safely moored.

A couple of hours into our journey we spotted a green turtle on the surface. Delight was short lived as we realised the poor creature was making no progress at escaping.  It seemed unable to dive and just flopped around on the surface allowing us several passes to take photos.  We wanted to help but there was little we could do. Lifting the turtle would have been difficult, dangerous and cause even more stress.  We found the details for turtle rescue operation and sent them photos and our location. They acknowledged our messages and said they would pass on the info to the appropriate people.  Unable to do much more and with the weather window closing we reluctantly wished her luck and carried on our way. 

We reached Orikum surfing downwind on large waves. We clocked 10 knots a few times but made it into the marina without drama.  Albania if full of huge building projects and Orikum Marina looks like it will soon be transformed to the images below.  For now it is a bit more basic.

We checked in at the marina reception and rented a car for 24 hours.  We wanted to visit a vineyard that had been recommended on Navily and also the nature reserve threatened by the Trump families development plans.

We set off in our rental car well before our supper reservation so took the long tunnel to Palasa Beach where the waves were much smaller.

We then arrived for an early supper at Kantina & Ferma Dukat -a wonderful farm/vineyard/hotel where everything is produced on the estate.  We ate on the terrace surrounded by chicken, cats, dogs and even a tortoise.

The children were fascinated by the tortoise and Zefi even agreed we could get a tortoise instead of a cat we we get back to England.

Early the next day we set off for the Narta Lagoon with it's resident flamingos and pelicans.  This is the site of a controversial property deal involving the Trumps that has the whole country of Albania protesting as it is a protected nature reserve.

We carried on past the salt flats to a desolate beach with a few suspicious looking camper vans. There was a Breaking Bad vibe about the place but the kids had a great time collecting shells in the sand.

We passed this huge hill of salt on the way back home.

Around midday we returned our rental car and set off from the marina towards a tiny little bay that looked like it might provide shelter for the night.  When we arrived there was just one other boat so we anchored and took a line to shore.  Not long later ten tourist day boats arrived with music blasting. One politely asked if he could moor up beside us, misunderstanding I said of course and he proceeded to raft up with lines onto Dragonfly. within no time two more boats had tied to them.  Everyone was in good spirit so we didn't object and just enjoyed the 'flash mob' party.  Zefi and Dor were doing some disco dancing on the passarelle and high fiving the speed boat skippers. I launched the drone to capture the chaos however it looks quite calm from above.

Before long the boats all disappeared and we had the bay to ourselves. That's when a strong katabatic wind began gusting at 20 knots.  We had a line to shore that was now taking the full load of Dragonfly from the stern.  This was not concerning until the wind veered to our port side.  It became apparent that our anchor was not secure as we hoped as we moved close to the rocks. I jumped into the water to check, dropping a fin to the bottom in the rush. As expected the anchor had skidded about 20m alonbg a seabed of very thin sand.  We no time to spare we set up a second line to shore on the other side of the bay.  This saved us as the wind began gusting hard across our side.  With each lull in the wind we winched ourselves a little bit further away from the rocks and back to the middle of the bay.  The strong gusts continues for 5 hours.  With our anchor just resting on the bottom we were very vulnerable if the wind changed direction.  I set an anchor alarm on my phone for the slightest movement to stern and went to bed around midnight.

As is often the case -after a hectic evening we were treated to a beautiful still morning.  We explored the caves nearby and flew the drone again to capture the serenity of our private bay.  Julia also retrieved my fin from the bottom.

That afternoon we pulled in to Sarande, our last port of call in Albania.  We asked permission of the harbour master to moor for the night on the customs quay to help with a swift getaway in the morning.  Our check out process would be handled by an agent so there was nothing required by us.  We left Dragonfly to see the town, exiting through customs and passport control.

Our agent recommended a restaurant, with no other insider info we obliged -an odd place where they serve beer in boob mugs!

Beside us in the harbour were these 50 year old hydrofoil ferries -still in service!

Sunday the 21st of June saw us arrive on Corfu. It felt wonderful to be sailing in Greece again after ten years away.  Our joy was short lived as we began the most arduous check in process of the trip so far.  Brexit has made a big difference for UK flagged boats in the EU and it seems Greek authorities really want you to feel it.  I wont go into the boring details here as it's complicated and ongoing.  All I'll say is our documents and VAT status are all in order and have been approved by the countries we have passed through however here it is just not possible to move freely. We have to check in at each port we visit and acquire a certified crew list for every person who steps on board.

The port police station above was just one of four spread out buildings I was required to visit for various forms and stamps.

With temporary access granted we anchored next to a hotel we know well and swam in the 29' water, happy to be back in familiar territory.