Fourth Time’s a Charm

Ok, so we’re still in Albania. We’ve entered Sarandë port four times now (three more than expected) in the past two weeks. We’ve anchored out at Livadhi Beach on four different occasions and have sailed passed the Green Coast four times as well. We evolved from Plan B to Plan C. We’ve had two rounds of guests in the past ten days, and they were great sports to change their travel plans last-minute to meet us in Albania instead of Greece. We’ve hosted our youngest crew member to date. We got to explore more of inland Albania. We experienced our first bizarre Foehn wind. But, we have finally made progress north. Stick around and I’ll explain…

Conor’s brother (Michael), our sister-in-law (Anna-Marie), our niece (Rachel – 11 years) and our nephew (Peter – 6 years) took about an hour and a half ferry ride from Corfu to meet us in Sarandë. I believe they win the “Furthest Traveled” award, originally coming from Australia to visit family in Ireland, then to us. Peter wins the award for the “Youngest Crew Member” (and yes, he had a job too!). Rachel wins the award for “Youngest Helmsman,” and she also coined the term “Sabátican” for us. Don’t know why we hadn’t thought of that! (So, all of you former crew members are now Sabáticans.) 😉 

The Aussies were with us for three short nights, but we packed in a lot of water fun. We were anchored out in Sarandë on their arrival, so they instantly got to experience UberDing as we ferried them and all of their luggage out to Sabática. Their first and last nights were spent anchored in Sarandë, and we had one beautiful night anchored in the small Kakome Bay. During the day in Kakome, we were entertained by all the pirate party ships that brought passengers in for a brief swim, and by night we were treated to a beautiful sunset and a fabulous starry night like we hadn’t seen in ages. If you know the McGann family, you know that sing-songs are common, and the lads treated us to a small one on the boat as well. 

Now Sarandë does not have a marina, it just has a busy ferry and commercial port. Our agent, Jelja, managed to secure us one night on the dock, though, which was fabulous. The Aussies and their luggage could just step off the boat, and our next group of guests and their luggage could step directly on. Our dear friends from California – Anup, Supriya and their kids, Prithvi (16) and Vikram (12) – also ferried from Corfu and arrived a couple days earlier than originally planned due to lots of various factors. Again, the dock was incredibly useful for filling up with water and washing down the boat. I believe Conor and I flipped the boat in record time – cleaning her inside & out and doing laundry in only about 5-6 hours! 

*Thanks to Michael for the photos!

With the Californians now onboard, our plan was to make our way back north to Vlorë so we could make progress towards Montenegro. We spent another starry night in Kakome Bay, then took them to my favorite Livadhi Beach for a night.

Now here’s where Plan C comes in… We were heading north from Livadhi for a long day up to Vlorë. Remember, the Albanian coast unfortunately does not have many stopping places. The wind and swell forecast looked completely fine, but we learned about halfway through our six-hour journey that weather forecasts in Albania can be way off. The swell in front of us became quite large, and for awhile Supriya and Prithvi (our resident adrenaline junkies) were enjoying riding the waves from the bow seats. However, after a while, we realized these two-meter (6.5 feet) waves were not diminishing and we still had another three hours of the journey to go. More importantly, we were seeing gusts up to 28 knots of wind on our nose. We watched three of our foredeck cushions unsnap and just fly away into the sea as we were scrambling to control and bring in the sails. At least we didn’t lose any passengers. Needless to say, we turned around and headed back south, once again to Livadhi Beach. Riding downwind is way more comfortable than trying to battle up into the wind.

The forecast was showing that conditions would really calm down in a few more days, so we simply headed back to Sarandë once again. We needed to take on more water and the Californians would catch their ferry back to Corfu from there anyway. There was plenty of water fun to be had along the way with every toy out – kayak, SUP, donut, and swim noodles. Each Californian also took a turn driving the boat, and I believe the youngest member did the best job. 😉 One night, we also introduced them to one of our family favorite games – Fishbowl – which provided lots of laughs. Highly recommend! (Here’s an abbreviated internet version.)

On our fourth visit to Sarandë, our agent, Jelja, and her husband continued to be amazing support. They sourced jerry cans for us so we could take on water without being at the dock. They rented us cars so we could visit a couple more sites inland. As we were trying to leave town, Jelja’s husband chased us down, asked to jump in the car, and proceeded to navigate us through a less trafficked route to save us time. Who does that?! We were extremely grateful for all of their assistance on each of our visits. Can’t recommend their services enough!

With cars, we explored two more worthwhile sites near Sarandë – the Blue Eye nature preserve and the Ottoman-era city of Gjirokaster. The drive in and out of the mountains was beautiful as well. The Blue Eye is a natural underwater spring with the clearest, most beautiful blue water you can imagine. It is at least 50 meters / 164 feet deep and pumps water up to the surface with much force. It was named the “Blue Eye” because it supposedly looks like an eye with a dark pupil and bright blue iris. I couldn’t quite see it, but that did not detract from its amazing beauty. The water is extremely cold – around 10 degrees C / 50 degrees F. (That’s typically colder than Lake Tahoe, for those Californians out there!) We had just started experiencing the European heat wave, so Conor completely dove in and the rest of us waded in as well. (Yes, even cold water wimpy me!) Photos just don’t do it justice…

Gjirokaster’s Old City is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and we’d definitely recommend a visit. We strolled its cobble stone streets, admired its stony architecture, and enjoyed its highlight – the castle. The castle’s construction began in the 6th century and it is amazingly large and intact. It has served different purposes, including being a notorious prison under Albanian’s Communist Regime. Set uphill, today it provides beautiful views of the city and hosts events like Albania’s National Folklore Festival.

**Thanks to Vikram for the rock band photo. 🙂

Back in Sarandë, we enjoyed one of our best dinners out, per Jelja’s recommendation. Authentic Albanian and Greek food served from a “family kitchen.” Delicious! We also experienced blackouts due to the extreme heat. From the boat, it was wild to watch half the city go dark. It was also a bit strange to hear the Muslim call to prayer at night at the same time strobe lights and discos were lively not far away. We still contend that Albania is a very interesting country to visit! I loved a quote from Anup – “…plans change, but outcomes you seek don’t have to!”

Once the Californians were on their way back to Corfu, Conor and I snatched our weather window to head north. Once again we anchored a night at Livahdi beach and sailed past the Green Coast for the fourth time the next day. Upon reaching Livahdi beach, we, of course, dove in for a swim to cool off. I find floating on my back an amazing relaxer. I find it easy in the Med because it’s so salty. The only sound I can hear is my own breathing (and the muted Middle Eastern music coming from the beach). We were looking forward to the calm, quiet night when all of a sudden a surprise wind kicked up around 7pm. It was bizarre because (a) it was coming from the mountainside, not the sea, and (b) it was hot. So much for cooling down. The strong wind gusted to 20 knots for a long time. A Google search came up with “Foehn wind” and Conor held station at the helm, engines ready to start, until midnight when the wind finally died down. Then a tired Skippy retired for the night.

The next day, we successfully reached the area of Vlorë (yay!!!) and anchored at one of our new favorite spots – the southeast side of the Sazan Island. This island is quite a mystery, even to Albanians, as it used to be a site of military operations, its waters only very recently made available to civilians. It has amazingly clear, beautiful water with interesting rock formations making swimming and kayaking a delight. We could even see our entire anchor and chain from the water’s surface. 

Today we have a fabulous wind day for our screecher (We reached 9.8 knots of speed!), so are aiming for Albania’s northern port city of Durrës where we plan to check out of the country and continue on to Montenegro in the coming days. Wish us luck!!