Covering a lot of Ground

We collected a second group of Rory’s friends in Montenegro. Another great group of young adults – Julia, Maya and Will. They were able to spend a fabulous day at the beach, then visit Kotor and Tivat. At that point, Sabática  was ready to begin her journey south then west to reach her resting spot in Sicily for the winter, so the crew were now along for part of the ride. I think it’s fair to say they enjoyed medieval towns, beautiful swim spots, dinner chats, gorgeous sunsets, and starry nights.

We discovered a beautiful anchorage stop new to us, Sveti Stefan. We revisited the livable town of Bar, where it was sadly time for Julia to disembark. Then we anchored at a new-to-us southern town, Ulcinj, where during the summer months you are allowed to check in and out of Montenegro. We explored Ulcinj first, which felt very much like Albania to us, giving the crew a preview of things to come.

We checked out of Montenegro, and made our way back to Albania, checking in at the commercial port of Durrës. I think it’s fair to say we have never seen a mosquito invasion quite like we saw this time in Durrës. With everyone having a swatter in hand, the battle ensued. We declared Maya the champion as she could consistently catch them with her bare hands. Another long day saw us to Vlorë, where the crew finally had a chance to experience something slightly more exciting than very smooth sailing – a bit of wind and swell made things bumpy and wet. 😉

Now, if you’ve read any of my previous posts from this summer, you know that most of our well-intentioned plans get changed. This current plan was to make sure Rory, Maya and Will would make it to the capital city of Tirana to catch their flights back to the USA, and we could exit Albania the following day to make the long crossing over the Adriatic Sea to Italy. We had arrived in Vlorë with time to spare, which was great. We had a day in which we could rent a car and show the kids some of interior Albania. We made the short journey over to the marina in Orikum (the only marina for private boats in the country to-date) so we could safely leave Sabática and trek inland. Then, of course, weather conditions changed. A low pressure system rolling in would not allow us to leave Albania when we wanted, and it looked like we’d be delayed for another three days. Plus, it was extremely hot. So, Plan B…We had everyone pack up right away (ourselves included) so we could just leave the boat. We booked some AirBnBs, rented a car, and hit the road. Traveling along, you could see just about anything along the side of the road – cows, goats, a man cycling while holding a handful of dead turkeys, olive groves, vineyards, pomegranate trees, lovely hotels, ruins, oil rigs, well-loved cemeteries, and all kinds of modern buildings with funky textures and colors.

Our adventures first took us to Berat, often considered the prettiest town in Albania. Most tourists seem to visit this UNESCO heritage site, enjoying the Ottoman houses (which give Berat its nickname the “Town of a Thousand Windows”) and the hilltop castle with beginnings dating back to the 4th century BCE. The castle seen today was expanded and reconstructed in the 13th century, and many people still live within the village. We had a special location with our AirBnB directly inside the castle walls!

We then ventured on to the capital city of Tirana. It’s the largest city in Albania with a population around 520,000. Our main tourist stop was to visit Bunk’Art 2, one of two Albanian history museums housed inside preserved Communist-era nuclear pit bunkers. An honest, grim and brutal telling of activities during the Communist regime, it felt a bit to me like a Holocaust museum with a similar theme of “don’t forget.” Like any large city, Tirana proved to have plenty of interesting areas and squares to stroll, restaurants, bazaars, and lively establishments. Worth the visit before the kids took off to the airport.

Once everyone was safely on their way, Conor and I treated ourselves to an air-conditioned hotel for a night back in Vlorë, checking out at the very last minute. No point sitting on a boat for multiple days that’s too hot to get any work done! We did return, though, even as we kept watching the wind, swell and weather conditions all day long in preparation for the anticipated journey the next day. Conor even conferred with multiple sailing friends to get their opinions. We were going to go for it, leaving at 7am. Until we weren’t. By 6am thunder and lightning storms had rolled in, and our Albanian agent who was going to check us out confirmed that conditions outside the bay were quite rough. Another day lost. What’s the rush, you may wonder? Well, of course we would have more friends waiting to meet us in a week’s time in Sicily! We never take risks for the sake of safety, but the pressure was on. 

Fortunately, we were finally able to sail out the following day. Given the wind and swell conditions, we altered course. Instead of crossing from Vlorë to Otranto one day, then heading south to Santa Maria di Leuca the next, we headed downwind and went all the way to Santa Maria di Leuca in one go of about 72 nautical miles. For such an open water crossing with strong winds and swell, life jackets were on and we were clipped in. All went well with us even managing a second main sail reefing once the wind reached 25 knots. We had to spend two nights in Santa Maria di Leuca because we had to check into Italy and the police would only be available the morning after we arrived. Of course. Tick tick. 

A second long crossing of ~72 nm with more strong winds and swell, lifejackets, and clips saw us to Crotone. We were sailing downwind, which was great, but the large swell was at our beam. I don’t think Sabática nor ourselves have ever been this covered in salt before. And, I don’t think I’ve ever stayed hanging on in one place for a whole day. (Read: no potty breaks.) We would not subject any guests to this type of journey, but we were totally fine. I think it says a lot about how far we’ve come (or maybe that I’ve come) that I was never nervous. Sabática weathers like a champ.

Once in Crotone, we were feeling pretty positive about the weather outlook and our chances to arrive in Sicily in time to collect our friends in four days. Until we weren’t. Conor decided to perform an almost overdue maintenance task (clearing out the fuel filters to the engines) before we had our remaining long passages. As luck would have it, a bolt broke off rendering the bleed valve unit in an unclosable state. There was much “feckin and blinding” going on, an Irish phrase I learned this summer referring to lots of cursing. It was now looking like we’d have to wait for a mechanic to show up the next day and/or have to order a new engine part which could take days. We went to sleep feeling defeated but remotely hopeful.

Conor woke up around 3am. He spent the next five hours in thoughtful determination, feeling there had to be a way. He brainstormed multiple solutions, thought through how things could go wrong, and ultimately gave it a try. (I think the fact he had just finished a biography on Elon Musk provided some inspiration.) He got me up saying there was a chance we were leaving today if I could help him test his fix. The hack worked! Suffice it to say, refitting the bolt involved some epoxy resin, a heat gun, and a lot of patience. Conor has said over and over that having his plethora of tools and materials onboard has been invaluable, and it’s very true. With a solid hack in place and a part that could be ordered once we reached our winter resting spot in Licata, we were on our way again. Only about 150 more miles until we reached Catania to collect our friends. What could possibly go wrong?!