Risan and Perast

The pass to the back fjords

After passing through the narrow pass from the first bay of the Gulf of Kotor in Montenegro, we approached Risan at the end of the second bay (N42°30.669' E018°41.655').

Tourists visit Risan to see the ancient, unearthed, Roman mosaics. Apparently many more such ruins exist beneath current residences which of course cannot be accessed. This was a mosaic in one of the rooms of an ancient building. Many if not all the rooms had intricate mosaic floors of varied design. It was also the home of a rich ruler with an obscure history where he minted his currency for his domain.

Roman bedroom mosaic

We dinghied from Risan to visit the 2 small islets in front of the hamlet of Perast. These flat low islets are so incongruous with surrounding lands you get a sense that they are floating. One solitary islet, the St. George monastery, is off limits to visitors (on left). Click on any photo to make larger.

Here come the tourists...

...to islets in a perfect setting

The other islet, Our Lady of the Rocks, sees hundreds of visitors a day to its church and museum which dominate this man-made islet (on right). The ceiling and paintings inside the church are a spectacle and the pieces of the attached museum speak of an intriguing seafaring history.

Looking up

The historic town of Perast, a UNESCO site, where former palaces (mansions) and traditional buildings, squished together, compete for the limited space between shore and mountainside. In the center is the tallest bell tower on the Adriatic coast. We transcended the precarious steps to share the panoramic view with the timeworn bronze bells.

Stairway to steeple

We hunkered down back in Risan for several days to wait out the strong katabatic winds as we had a secure holding in the head of the inlet.

Enjoying the Gulf

The 3 large bays of the Gulf of Kotor (Montenegro) are almost like an inland sea. Any 1 of the bays can be sailed from 1 end to the other in a couple of hours. The 2 bays further in are accessed through a narrow pass and once inside, you are looking at steep mountainsides that can define these waters as fjords.

Looking up the Gulf from Herceg Novi

Small towns, some with enchanting history and classic architecture, speckle the shores. We could see defining elements in the architecture with stone walls, dormers, arches, and clay roofs.

Suitable anchorages are limited because of the steep drop offs and there is only 1 significant marina, although another is being developed at Meljine.

We chose our anchorages carefully as the katabatic winds can be strong. The bonus is that the fetch is usually not a concern. Sometimes it was evident where we were NOT allowed to anchor...

Cruising along the shore, we occasionally saw the remnants of submarine bunkers...

The tide range is only a couple of feet here and the fetch insignificant so many of the buildings on the shores are close to water level. Even a few islets where churches or monasteries got first dibbs used every square foot.

Floating monastery

We anchored a couple of nights in front of the new marina development underway at Meljine and were able to quickly dinghy over to nearby Herceg Novi to see the Citadel and fortified town that climbed up the steep hillside.

A short distance across from Porto Montenegro/Town of Tivat is the Island of Sveti Marko (aka Saint Marko or Stradioti). It was once a popular place for the most basic of travellers with thatched huts (no water or electricity) that peppered the island. Now all vacant, nature is taking them back. It provided pleasant anchorage with good holding where we spent a couple of nights listening to the gusting wind in the rigging.

Porto Montenegro, a recent comprehensive and exclusive development includes condos, shops, and eateries and a marina where yachts of all sizes berth, even the most mega. They even retained the old naval crane, painting it red and white as a noticeable feature especially with colourful night lights.

This picture here shows the Golden Odyssey at 123 m (404 ft) long, one of the largest private yachts and its support ship, the Golden Shadow, both owned by a Saudi prince involved in ocean research.

The sheik's toys

Our anchorages included:
N42°27.159' E018°33.828' Jun 19 Town of Meljine
N42°24.499' E018°41.718' Jun 21 Sveti Marko Island
N42°25.436' E018°42.030' Jun 23 Porto Montenegro

To the Gulf of Kotor

In the far north of Montenegro is the Gulf of Kotor. This huge Gulf has 3 large bays with many places to anchor and visit. We would be spending a few weeks in the Gulf.

Gulf of Kotor (copied from internet)

On the way, we spotted many caves and also noticed several tour boats stopping. We decided to anchor at a small cove (N42°22.847' E018°35.537') and dinghy over to the caves to check them out. We went in several of them and then wanted to snorkel through one as we pulled the dinghy behind us.

Going in...

...and coming out the other side

But oops...we were a few minutes too late as when we were only halfway through snorkelling in the water and pulling the dinghy, 4 tour boats loaded with people entered the same cave and stopped. In jumped everyone to swim!

We had to get out of the way of the hordes and boats. I got back in the dinghy to avoid the props and Jordan swam forward and snapped a couple more photos underwater before we quickly left. Back to Sea Turtle.

Bigova

In our Adriatic Pilot cruising guide, it made mention of the village of Bigova, a quiet place tucked in a cove a little further up the coast of Montenegro. It was an easy choice - with a couple of restaurants, a few mooring balls, tiny pebble beach, and fishing folks - after 2 days of boisterous Budva.

We anchored in front of Bigova (N42°21.340' E018°42.055'), a small hamlet with a really laid back and reclusive feel. The focal point is the pier and seawall serving the small local fishing boats and the few yachts that stop and the kids diving off the wall. At the pier are a couple of open air restaurants and a postage stamp pebble beach.

Beaches are hard to come by

One of the restaurants offers free use of their mooring balls if you patronize them.

This bay was described as being seldom visited by yachts, however we saw quite a few coming and going during our stay. It was probably the couple of rallies that came through that made it the exception.

Transient fleet

But regardless, it was quiet and we spent 2 nights there - swimming in the ocean off Sea Turtle, relaxing in the cockpit with a nice breeze, and doing a few of the never-ending boat jobs.

Sveti Stefan and Budva

Our first stop after leaving Bar Montenegro was Sveti Stefan (N42°15.255' E018°53.540'), a truly unique spot. Formerly a wee island, it was connected to the mainland by a narrow isthmus and the local inhabitants all moved there and built it as a fortification from Turks.

Over time, with no need for homes to be protected and people to live in confinement, the islet became the appeal of the rich and famous and recently has undergone a restoration and is now a very exclusive hotel resort where guests stay in private room, suites, or cottages and can wander in complete security and privacy through its lanes and olive gardens. No one is allowed to tour the islet unless they are a registered guest.

A few previous notable guests: Marilyn Monroe, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, and Orson Welles. Why not book your next stay with rates a measly 810 to 3456 Euro ($1250 to $5300 CAD) a night!

Island glamour

We only anchored there for a few hours until the winds picked up, then we moved over to anchor in a more protected bay in front of the very touristy Budva town (N42°16.915' E018°50.715').

The weather was calmer but not the activities. It was the playground of seadoos, jet boats, paragliders being pulled by noisy boats, water skiers that zoomed about; and when they died off in the evening, it was replaced by thumping bar music that drifted across the water until the early hours of the morning.

From Sea Turtle, we could see the fortified Old Town built prominently on the point where it could protect the bay.

Medieval walled city

We dinghied past the pebbled beach domineered by sun worshippers...

...to the yacht harbour where behind the Med-moored mega yachts, we found a gate to Old Town.

Typical lane in Old Town

It was a surprising treat to wander through the narrow cobblestoned lanes exploring shops and eateries in nicely restored and preserved buildings within the confines of the old fort walls. Yes, we have seen a lot of Old Towns as this is the Med with fascinating histories.

Top castle wall and walkway

MONTENEGRO

June 14th, a nice day of actual sailing for a change from motoring that ushered us into the country of Montenegro and into the Port of Bar. Maybe a sign of better cruising?

The town was tidy and had a pleasant shore-front presence with a gorgeous mountain backdrop.

Bar nestled against the mountains

We tied up right in front of the Harbour Police and Customs offices (N42°05.875' E019°05.376') where we were instructed to go a short distance to the Harbour Master and then return for passport stamps etc. (all without an agent). With only a modest cruising permit fee, we were good to explore Montenegro for 1 month.

After spending a rare night at a Marina (N42°05.841' E019°05.276'), it was off to downtown Bar to get a SIM card and data so that we could have internet while in Montenegro. We signed up with M-Tel and what a deal! For only 5 Euro ($7.50 CAD), we got a SIM card AND got 10 gigs data for free! Things are definitely looking up so far for Montenegro!

Durrës and Shëngjin

June 12th was a long day of motoring (10.5 hours) up the Albanian coast from Orikum to Durrës, the second to last port. It is the country's largest port where the big commercial inner harbour is sheltered behind breakwaters. It services large freighters and ferries and it's not set up for cruising yachts. So we tied up alongside the high concrete pier under the shadow of old towering Ganz cranes and tried to avoid smudging our hull on the hefty black tire bumpers (N41°18.287' E019°27.117').

There was a faceoff between Chanty sitting on the dodger and 3 large dockyard dogs that wanted a feline dinner. Apparently the large silos next to the cranes housed wheat so we were wary of rats about. Maybe Chanty could earn her passage fare!

Sharing with ships

Albania requires cruisers to do formal check ins at each main port that they stop at and an agent is required for paperwork. In Durrës, it was fast and efficient and all done on the boat. However the fees vary port to port and agent to agent so it can get expensive. Durrës cost us about $125 CAD.

However our agent was happy to relate some interesting history sparked by Jordan's many questions. Albania's lengthy communist control came to an end in the early 1990s. During that regime's control, their defensive military built 700,000 bunkers in tiers that line from the coast all the way up the mountains. The coastal waters were scattered with minefields and even though there were endeavours to eliminate them, our OpenCPN charts warn of areas of possible existence.

Durrës was simply a safe overnight mooring, so with no real interest there, we moved on in the morning for about 8 hours to Shëngjin, our last Albanian stop and official check-out port.

Shëngjin is also a commercial port. A little grimy with noticeably more rubbish, both in the water and on land. We tied up again to the concrete wall along with other commercial vessels where the agent greeted us (N41°48.399' E019°35.277'). He checked us in at his "office cafe" where Jordan was refreshed with a local beer. His service was not only a check in to this port but also a country check out as next stop was Montenegro the next day.

Dirty digs

Our short walk to town took us past smelly trash bins and along an unkempt street of general dinginess. The beach area in front of town was better, but this place, with no architectural or planning merits, will never make Conde Nast's Gold List (a travel magazine with lists of best)!

However it was nice to see a sand beach instead of the usual pebble beaches we have seen so far in the Med. The last sand we saw was in Egypt - the Europeans should have stolen some sand from there along with the artifacts!

Moving north

Around these parts, it seems it's either calm or winds that blow from the north with an unpleasant chop and there are not a lot of bays or islands to tuck into along Albania's coast so there were some 50+ nautical mile days.

While at a protected spot, we watched the weather and then headed out when it called for light and variable breezes with motor and sail. Not unlike our days heading up the Red Sea. But at least here, safe spots seemed to be closer together.

After leaving Saranda, for the next few days we continued to move north up the coast, stopping the first night in a semi-protected anchorage at Qeparo Village (June 7th N40°03.005' E019°48.814'), and around the corner the next night at the much better protected Bay of Palermos (N40°03.194' E019°47.920').

We found a tight little cove in the south part of the Bay and anchored behind fish farm pens with a stern line to the shore. (The navy was kicking out a couple of other boats from the north part of the Bay.)

Stern line to shore

We took the dinghy ashore to visit the Ali Pasha Castle and another of many of his forts that he built to secure his hold on the territories in these areas about a couple hundred years ago. This one is still in excellent condition and used even up until the end of World War II.

The pirates' perspective

From Ali's perch

Strong winds were predicted in 2 days so we made a long day's run north with a breeze on the nose and short steep chop. We were headed for a protected cove we saw on our charts in the south end of the big Bay of Vlorë (N40°21.322' E019°24.388').

When we pulled up to the cove, we saw it was filled with fish farm pens and almost the whole cove was roped off. We jockeyed around the pens to the lee side of an old dilapidated concrete pier with menacing old broken rusty rebar sticking out like porcupine quills. To keep us off and the nose into the wind, we ran a line from the bow to the pier and we again ran a line to the shore right behind us and tied off on a tree.

We were snug as a plug to wait out the coming north winds. It was a quiet 2 days (except for the herd of cows - each with a bell that gave the sound of wind chimes as they moved about munching grass - and the bleating goats). Jordan did some cockpit painting.

Porcupine pier

On June 11th, we moved over to the Orikum Marina (N40°20.338' E019°28.404') about 3.5 nautical miles east and entering over depths of 2.8 m (we draw 1.8 m) where we Med-moored. Poor Sea Turtle needed a bath to wash off all the salt and some stainless scrubbing, not to the mention the crew. The Marina was easy to distinguish with its red castle-like buildings.

Touring around

With the couple that we met from BC, we rented a car from our agent to tour areas around Saranda (Albania). We crossed a rickety cable ferry to see the Venetian Triangle Castle, which is as exactly as it says - a castle in a triangular shape. Wasn't much to see but we walked around the small perimeter and peered in the open windows. Wished we had a drone!

Cable ferry

Venetian Triangle Castle

Next was the adjacent ancient town of Butrint. It was a naturally near perfect site for the ancients as it is located at the end of a lake with a contiguous fertile delta. The channel to the ocean allowed shallow draft ships from far and wide access to it.

Delta

The Romans developed most of this site, then others that came later added to it. There was a well-defined amphitheater and many other ruins.

Ancient amphitheater

We drove into the foothills to the most unusual natural phenomenon called the Blue Eye. It was surreal to see a small spring of sparkling clear blue water come bubbling right out of the ground, up from a deep abyss that has never been explored past 50 metres deep, flowing at 7.5 cubic m/sec. It is always only 10°C but the cold water didn't stop people from getting in or diving from up above.

Blue Eye

Bubbling Blue Eye (4-sec video)

We crossed over a mountain pass via a narrow road with hairpin turns into an interior fertile valley to the City of Gjirokastra where the main attraction now is the old Gjirokastra Castle. Perched on a promontory on the side of the hill, we had to wind our way on narrow streets through a charming Old Town to get to the gate.

Modern Gjirokastra below

Cool arches

It was interesting to see rock roofs on many houses and on areas of the castle. Heavy! The castle was used right up to the end of the Second World War.

Rock roof

Clock Tower

ALBANIA

Leaving Corfu Greece at 12 noon May 31st, we laid anchor in Saranda Albania 3 hours later (N39°52.331' E020°00.578'). Albania requires an agent to check you in and out of the country. While we were still in Corfu, we contacted an agent in Albania that others had recommended (Saranda Summer Tours and Sailing) and they met us on arrival.

While we stayed for a number of days in Saranda, they were always available with helpful info. For boaters wishing to contact:

(http://www.sarandasummertours.com/shipping-agent) or (sarandasts@yahoo.com)

Saranda (aka Sarande)

Many cruisers and in fact many foreigners bypass Albania as a place to visit. Up until 1991, they were a communist country and closed to visitors. But now they are making progress towards the standards of the rest of Europe.

Their currency is the Lekë and is the preferred method of payment (currently $1 Canadian = 83 Lekë). Most, but not everyone, accepts the Euro in Albania. English is taught in schools so communication was almost always understood and people were helpful and friendly.

Saranda was a pleasant port where you can either anchor or Med-moor at the many city piers. The waterfront has an esplanade where, come evening, many would stroll in comfortable temperatures and dilly dally with friends and neighbours.

Many ferries visit Saranda. There is a small fleet of fast hydrofoils shuttling passengers to and from Corfu. When up to speed, the hull is lifted out of the water by the underwater wings and it then zooms along at 32 knots!

Hydrofoil

When we tied up at the pier, we noticed a Canadian flag on a beautifully outfitted and maintained older classic sailboat of over 15 m (50 ft). Right away we introduced ourselves to Kaspar and Trisha and it turned out that their home port was Victoria, actually Brentwood Bay where Jordan grew up, and we had a lot of friends or acquaintances in common.

They have been sailing Starfire, their 60-year old ship, for a couple of decades chalking up well over 100,000 nautical miles (they lost count many years ago) to some of the most intrepid countries. They must have saltwater in their veins!

Starfire

Greece postscript

Sailing Greek waters met or even surpassed our expectations.

The people are notably friendly, helpful, and easygoing. We enjoyed stopping at quaint villages tucked in coves on the many islands where they live a simple and peaceful life largely unchanged for many decades. We saw a varied beauty in the scenery and found the many castles and fortresses a reminder that this area was the crossroads of great cultures and civilizations.

Jordan at Nafpaktos Castle

In some places, the architecture was proudly maintained in the Neo-classical style in blues and whites or simple earth-tone hues with cheerful coloured doors and shutters. Wrought iron work was also prominent. Plodding the cobblestone narrow alleys and streets was a nice break from the boat.

Old cobblestone paths

Thousands of tiny stones intricately placed

Seafood was in abundance. Our favourite was their way of doing calamari (especially at Rhodes Island!) And of course their delicious Greek salads and Greek yogurt and other specialties such as delectable fresh-off-the-vine olives were ever present.

We were surprised by the acceptance of smoking in public places and the number of smokers, but that's probably because we are used to such non-acceptance in our home town. Ripped jeans seemed to be the in-fashion even in hot weather.

Some places had little vegetation but as we progressed further north, the hills and mountains became covered with green trees and bushes. Birds, butterflies, and even cats were prolific. We didn't see many beaches on our route and the ones we saw were more gravel than sand. But that didn't stop people from taking pleasure in them.

Gravel beach!

We would have loved spending more time in Greece but our time is limited for the Schengen Group of countries. We hope to revisit Greece another time.

Happy at Ios Island