Explore Sailing Voyages in Albania 🇦🇱

I finished up at customs and returned to the boat. The police were fine but the customs lady wanted to see the previous year's vignette, which fortunately I kept. The boat was tied up in a commercial port on a dodgy dock, attached to just one bollard with a light crosswind. I got everything ready, started the engine and released the lines. Typically, and my fault for not being careful, I got a wrap on one of the two lines so I had to leap nimbly back onto the dock, undo the wrap, throw the rope back onto the boat, jumpy back onto the myself and head off, all while making sure the crosswind didn't blow the boat to the other side of the port and disaster. All was well and I tried to sail in the light and shifty winds as I emerged from the port and turned south but there was insufficient wind so I started to motor. I motored to about Ulcinj where there was enough wind behind me to sail. I got the genoa out - it was about 14 - 20 knots true - and sailed almost all the way to Shengjin. The best sail on the boat for a long time. The wind died about 5 miles from the port and I motored the rest of the way. The port bailed me on the VHF asking if I wanted to enter the port and despite the noticeable swell I said I would prefer to stay outside and anchor which I did. I paddled ashore, tied the boat to one of the foundation posts of the not yet open yacht club, chatted to Mr Froku and was then invited to his house (the pavement outside his house that he had enclosed with plants and greenery - to drink home made raki. I eventually went back to the caff restaurant and had pizza while he watched the Champions League final. I clambered back down the rocks in the dark, returned to the boat and let the raki encourage me to sleep

I met Mr Froku at the cafe restaurant at 9:30 on a calm day and checked the weather again. I looked at Predict Wind and he scoffed a bit and said these things can't predict local wind, and he was absolutely right. I bought some tomatoes and cucumbers and pears from a lady from the villages and paddled back to the boat. I started the engine and motored in calm conditions pretty much all the way to Durres. About 5 miles short of Durres there was enough breeze to sail so I got the sails up, made lunch and waited for the wind to drop away to nothing as usual which it duly did. I had sailed about a mile. I turned the engine on and motored the rest of the way. I found a spot in the anchorage enough distance from a slightly oddly placed green channel marker - the first one as you left the port itself, and got the anchor down.

I turned the internet on to get a weather forecast and some info from Navily as I was sitting on the boat at anchor in Durres. My less than 5 minutes of online time cost me £33!! The weather forecast essentially said there were going to be southerlies again but they were going to be very light..I was making decent time down to Corfu to meet Wenna but the anchorage was open to the south in any case so I decided to move on. The alarm was at for 5am but I woke at 3:39am to what I first thought was wash from a ferry or something but which turned out to wind caused waves. I left about 5:15 and although getting out of Durres bay was ok, by the time I got to the next section, ie up to the point I could bearaway into Vlore Bay, the weather was atrocious. There were very steep waves, high 20s winds and significant waves over the deck, etc..They might not have been the strongest winds I have encountered in this boat so far, but they were certainly the worst conditions. Even the toilet when flying at one point. Eventually after motoring at 1.8 knots (maybe it was 2.8 knots) and feeling like I would never get there, I eventually had enough angle to bear away a little..The winds came off the nose about 15 to 20 points but the waves remained very steep until I got protection from the mountains on the far side of the bay. In fact, I could actually sail for a few minutes once I was through the worst of it but then the wind died. I turned the engine back on and had the full mainsail now up (previously I had two reefs in) when one of the shackles holding the mainsheet to the traveller broke.I eventually got to the marina which despite ignoring my hailing on the VHF had an enormous space for me to get into. Despite the very little cross wind, I gave up after a bit and went in forwards. I felt very tired. I ended up staying there for two nights to recover.

Having gone to the local restaurant to get good enough WiFi to check the weather I decided to leave the following morning. There were some southerlies forecast and some quite strong southerlies between Italy and Albania but the models showed these some way off..The alarm was set for 5am but I woke earlier. Unusually for this year then engine took three or four goes to start. I reversed off the dock (having gone in forwards) at about 5:20 and after some backing and filling motored out of the marina and headed for the entrance to the bay with two reefs in the mainsail. There was no wind and the bay was flat calm.. I was concerned about the area just south of the entrance to the bay on the seaside because there have been many difficult experiences there in the past, including my own. As it happened, despite some wind funnelling in at the entrance itself, the wind was actually light but typically right on the nose. There was a swell which was on the beam which was sufficiently big to knock things including very big heavy bottles of water over. I ended up putting them in the guest cabin. There were a few times when the engine seemed to make an odd noise but the gauges seemed ok and the bilge looked normal so on I went. I kept the mainsail up pretty much all the way to Sarande. As I was coming into the anchorage the engine seemed to slow and then when I took it out of gear and went back into tick over it seemed ok. After I got the anchor down I looked and pretty much all the oil was gone from the reservoir..from.Max to way below the Min line on the dipstick..It barely even registered. The agent arranged for an engineer to come over on a taxi boat and he discovered oil in the sweet water. He will return with his tools in the morning. I just hope the news isn't catastrophic.