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

Corfu

Arriving at Corfu Island (Greece) on May 29th at 19:00, we anchored in Garitsa Bay (N39°36.926' E019°55.405') overlooked by an impressive old fort. We waved hello to 2 Canadian boats as we came in. They were both registered in Montreal. Always nice to see your countrymen.

Venetian Old Fortress

Corfu

The next morning, we dinghied ashore to check into port and at the same time, check out of Greece as this would be out last day and anchorage in that country. The check in was a snap but the country check out was different.

It took time for the office to process our official Transit Log for it to be retired then they sent us to an obscure office to hand it in to Customs and then get our passports stamped with an exit stamp. When we finally found the offices, the 2 women at Customs very lackadaisically replied We are on strike, come back tomorrow.

What! We declared that all we needed to do was turn in our Transit Log and couldn't come back tomorrow as we had to leave very early due to weather. There was predicted  only a slight breeze on the nose. But we didn't tell them that much.

They looked at each other and said Okay, just leave it then. Phew. The woman in the next office stamped our passports and we were done. Our Schengen clock then stopped ticking. By then, we had used up about 40 days of our 90 allowed in the Schengen Group of countries which is most of the EU countries,

Unfortunately, Customs wasn't the only place on strike. Garbage collectors had been on strike for about a week and it would probably continue all summer. Garbage piled in huge stacks. We would hate to be here in a couple of months with the smell and the rats that are sure to appear. The larger problem was Corfu had run out of landfill facilities. Apparently the EU had funded Greece to provide improved facilities but the monies evaporated before anything got done.

Rotting refuse

We walked through narrow alleys and streets of the charming Old Town, situated between what they termed the Old Fort and the New Fort. The Old Town is still alive with shops serving tourists as well as locals and everyday needs.

Bustling about

Very close buildings

On the 31st we went ashore one last time, crossed the bridge over the sea channel, and hiked up to the lighthouse above the Old Fort.

Sea channel

Judy and the lighthouse

Lefkas Canal

Since leaving the Gulf of Corinth, we were heading north in the Ionian Sea keeping mainland Greece to starboard and a cluster of Greek islands to port.

This is a popular place for cruising with lots of bays and villages to poke around in. We have limited time to cruise in most of the EU countries, Greece being one, so we kept moving past this area, making our way to the last port in Greece, Corfu.

Before we got there though, we took the shortcut on May 28th through the Lefkas Canal. This is a well-marked (with buoys) and dredged canal. Halfway through at the modern Lefkas Marina, we re-fuelled and spent the night (N38°49.857' E020°42.686'). This is a protected facility that services a large fleet of charter boats as well as private yachts where they can safely stay year round.

Lefkas Marina

Many masts

The east side of the Canal is mainland Greece and the other side is consequently an island with the Canal as the separator. For transitting road vehicles, there is a bridge ferry that parks itself across the Canal and lowers its ramps on each end to form a bridge. Then at specified times, it stops traffic, raises its ramps, motors to the side of the Canal, and lets waiting marine traffic pass.

Not aware of schedules of the bridge openings, we headed out of the Marina early the morning of May 29th heading north up the Canal. We soon came to a stop at the blocking ferry bridge and had to wait. But not too long. Then it was open waters for day sailing up to Corfu.

Swinging floating bridge

Nafpaktos

We left Loutraki Greece at 08:15 on May 26th under sun and cloud. It took the day to motor-sail across the Gulf of Corinth past a greener part of Greece. On the west end of the Gulf, we anchored at 19:15 (N38°23.489' E021°49.858') along the castellated wall of the town of Nafpaktos with 2 other sailboats as we took in the lush vegetation, coloured homes, and the castle high up.

Port of Nafpaktos

There was very little information about the town of Nafpaktos in mainland Greece in our guidebooks but we found it to be very charming and pristine.

We dinghied into the tight fortified harbour lined with historic buildings that now serve as cafes and restaurants to the many tourists. We picked a quiet one where our table was in the open window of the ancient wall and right outside was Sea Turtle.

Sea Turtle at anchor

The next morning, we hiked through the town and through remnants of the 5 levels of the Castle of Nafpaktos.

Ancient Castle door

At the 3rd level, we paid a couple of Euros to continue up to the top. The man gave us a bamboo stick to ward off any viper snakes hiding in the rocks, but we thankfully saw none! The views were magnificent as was the structure of the castle/fortress.

Castle levels

Port below

Apparently few tourists, compared to other Greek towns, come here as it hasn't yet received the publicity of other places. These are the little places that we like to find.

Leaving Nafpaktos at 13:00 we exited the Gulf under the modern bridge and into the Ionian Sea on a clear calm day.

The old and the new

Late that afternoon, we tried to anchor at Oxia Island but the entire bay was taken up by a fish farm, so we crossed a kilometre across and anchored next to mainland Greece at 20:00 on May 27th (N38°20.112' E021°06.957'). Naughty Chanty climbing the headsail kept us entertained.

Get down!!

Corinth Canal

At this point, we were in about the middle of the Greek islands of the Aegean Sea (the sea that is between mainland Greece and Turkey). We were making our way west for the Adriatic Sea (the sea between Croatia and Italy). We would take a shortcut to the Adriatic through the Corinth Canal.

On the way to the Canal, it was motor-sailing during the days and stopping each night at safe island anchorages...

Sifnos (N35°55.770' E024°41.508')

Poros (N37°30.449' E023°26.873')

We made it out of the Aegean without experiencing any of the unpleasant Meltemi winds, the name given to the sometimes fierce wind that comes out of the north and can blow for many days straight.

We were looking forward to this shortcut. It is a manmade canal cut between 2 seas by chiselling an impressive swath through to the Gulf of Corinth.

A couple of facts: The Corinth Canal is cut from limestone rock and rises 76 m (250 ft), it is only 25 m wide (81 ft), and 3.2 miles long. It is the most expensive PER MI canal in the world! It cost us almost $60 per mi.

Arriving at the Canal zone offices at 16:30, we were quickly checked and approved for passage through. It is alternating one-way traffic so we had to wait for oncoming before we were given the go-ahead at 17:30.

Canal cruising

We were through in exactly half an hour and anchored in front of the nearby town of Loutraki at 18:45 (N37°58.655' E022°58.547').

Sunset at anchor with tall ship