March 23, 2025 – Bar Marina, Montenegro
An overcast rainy day with plenty of time for writing and
reading. I always have maintenance items and things to check just to break up
the day. I have been concerned about the health of my batteries. I checked the
battery chargers, two for the house batteries, and discovered that the factory
installed charger was set to lead acid not AGM. I have AGM which like a lower
voltage and higher amperage. I switched the charger to the proper setting and
will now monitor the batteries more closely. I spent a great deal of time just
researching to learn more about the batteries and how to maintain and test them
with the equipment that I have on the boat.
The rain let up after lunch giving us the opportunity to go
exploring Bar. The promenade along the shore is a paved path lined with palms
and olive trees. The city appears to have been prosperous as they had invested
a lot of money in the promenade, sidewalks and parks. Today it appears that
they are having a difficult time affording the maintenance.
On the shore with a beautiful view of the Adriatic is King Nicola’s Palace, a beautiful building that is being carefully restored to its 19th century glory. The grounds will need some work, but you can see that it was once a beautiful estate. Next door is a grand hotel with indoor and outdoor swimming pools at the water’s edge. Heading inland we passed a sports park with clay tennis courts and soccer fields, but no one is playing on this damp day. It is Sunday however, that means lots of locals out strolling as a family, it is a heartwarming sight.
From our boat in the Marina, we could see several gleaming gold domed roofs in the distance. Now we see that they are the Temple of St Jovan Vladimir, and Orthodox Church. The grounds were purchased and consecrated in the 60’s to celebrate 1000 years of Jovan Vladimir, but it took nearly 50 years to raise money and get past the bureaucracy of Montenegro in order to build the church. It stands out against the skyline with its white walls, gleaming gold roof and sea blue adornments. Inside is an amazing display of frescos and painted walls telling its story as painted by many painters. Every inch of the interior is part of an endless painting, stories, portraits and bible verses. Visually this is a very moving interior that sours to the heavens with its tall walls and huge domes.
We returned to the boat where Suzette made an incredible Butternut Squash soup, perfect for this cool and rainy day. Butternut squash is very popular here in Montenegro, and one of my favorites. My Mom made her pumpkin pie from Butternut Squash, a dear memory, but I guess that would make it Butternut Squash pie…not much of a ring to that name.
In the middle of the night the wind picked up and the dock
lines were making an awful croaking sound.
It must have been fairly warm as I was out adjusting lines in my
underwear and a tee shirt. I had made the spring lines too short and left no
length for stretching. Retying the lines longer quieted the croak and let me go
back to sleep.
March 24, 2025 – Bar Marina, Montenegro
Another overcast and rainy day made for a productive day
below. I spent more time researching AGM batteries and battery charging, switching
on the Refresh Mode on the battery charger and now satisfied with my system. The
next project was to finish the water maker repair and test it, no leaks and no
squeaks! Next, I downloaded an update for the Fusion Sound system, but I am not
sure that I really changed anything. It is amazing how quickly a rainy day can
go by. A much quieter night as the weather settled.
March 25, 2025 – Bar Marina, Montenegro
Overcast but dry I could see all the red dust that had
settled on the boat from the rain. It seems that the Sahara would run out of
sand with all the dust being carried across the Mediterranean throughout
history. Being side tied I could inspect the hull and saw that it was streaked
with black. With a reprieve in the weather, I broke out the soap and scrub
brush and washed the entire boat. Suzette cleaned down below.
With the boat ship shape we checked the weather comparing
Windfinder with Windy in an effort to decide when to depart. It was a choice
between tomorrow, less wind and swell, but more rain or Thursday, less rain and
wind, but larger swells. The Admiral said Wednesday, tomorrow, is the day. This
set in motion a series of activities in order to be prepared to Leave
Montenegro and enter Albania. But first a shower and a respite at the Boulangerie
Parisienne for coffee and pastry.
On the way we stopped at the marina office to settle our
bill and confirm that the tourist tax would be addressed by the marina. We
received a confused look and they indicated that they did not handle the
tourist tax, unlike the Lazure Marina. She explained that there had been a
change of government, and she was not sure what the requirements were. Sounds
like the United States! She directed us to the Tourist Office in town to
inquire about the tourist tax. As luck would have it the Tourist office is
right next store to the Parisienne, we inquired, and we were told that we
needed to “register” within 24 hours of arriving in Bar if we were staying more
than 24 hrs. There is that word again, “register”, last time I heard that word
was just before the Marine Police wrote me a ticket in Croatia! We would need
to return with our papers. Coffee first!
We retrieved our papers and presented them to the Tourist
Tax lady. She suggested that we arrived yesterday and asked when we would be
leaving. I chose not to correct her assumption and told her we would be leaving
tomorrow. She filled out a form, gave me a copy and thanked me for registering.
I asked her if we owed her any money and she said no, as husband and wife on
the boat we did not have to pay anything. We went on our way happy to have our
receipt and recognizing that it was in fact a registration not a tax, I guess.
Next stop was the Harbor Master one door down. He was very
helpful, stamped our papers and gave us copies to give to the border police and
customs on our way out. It turns out he had been a ship’s captain on the east
coast of the US. He ran a ship from Boston to Corpus Christi.
Since we were leaving in the morning, we decided to make a couple
of stops for some sundries. First stop was the bakery for a loaf of fresh
bread, .70 euros. Next was a hardware store where I was looking for some kind
of outdoor thermometer but found instead the heavy duty black zip ties that I
was out of, these are so indispensable. We passed a Vilo Hypermart, a huge
grocery store and decided to stop there on our way back to the boat. Next stop, Okav, similar to a Lowes, but with
more housewares. They had an outdoor thermometer in the shape of a fish and in
Raffaellesco blue!
The hypermart was fantastic, they had the brands we were accustomed
to but could not find in the small grocery stores; Hendricks Gin, Lavasa Coffee
and Loreal Purple Shampoo (the secret for keeping our gray locks silver not
yellow). Of course, there were a few other food items to fill the pantry as we
did not count on any decent stores in Albania over the next few days.
It rained hard all night; my only thought was that it would get it out of its system for tomorrow’s voyage.
March 26, 2025 – Bar Marina, Montenegro
Up at 0500 to prepare the boat for departure. We were
underway by 0630 and headed to the customs dock in the inner harbor. It was
overcast with a little drizzle and light wind. The dock at customs was a
concrete quay with enough room between the big black tires for bumpers that we
could easily side tie. I took our book of documents to the border police and
then to customs with no problems we were checked out of Montenegro heading to
Durres, Albania 55 miles south.
The rain was off and on all day, but we were dry and warm in our foul weather gear. The wind was on our nose and built to 15 before clocking to the east and dyeing down to 5 knots. The swell was running about 3’ from the south with a comfortably long period making for a gentle ride.
We crossed the Albanian border at 1120 just as another
sailboat was crossing in the opposite direction. They hailed us on the VHF and
we enjoyed a brief exchange, where you been, where you going, any tips, fair
winds, out. As we approach Durres the swell built to 4’-6’ from the SW for a
rolling arrival in Durres. The long approach to the harbor is well marked and
had the seas following us. On either side of the approach were rock out crops,
shoals and shallows…follow the markers. We radioed the marina, but we received
no response. This usually means they do not speak your language but there is
usually someone on the dock to waive you in and there was. We side-tied on a
pier that had long since shed its outer layer of cement exposing its rebar to
rust and contort as the ships came and went. The pier was lined with old tires,
none the same size but frequently spaced. We managed to get our bumpers between
the tires and the boat to avoid skid marks as several hands helped us tie up.
There was a woman on the dock who spoke English well and directed us to bring
our papers to the office so she could check us in to Albania.
The check-in was painless and quick. I finished organizing the boat on the dock while Suzette prepared dinner. We were exhausted from a long day of wind, waves and rain, none were severe, but taxing all the same. Fortunately, it was not to cold outside, but we were happy to go below and enjoy our warm dry cabin.
As the tide was coming in it occurred to me that my bumpers
could get caught inside of a tire, so I rearranged them. The wind was holding
us off the pier, but better safe than sorry.
March 27, 2025 – Durres, Albania
The wind and sea were boisterous in the early morning
precipitating a groggy check on our position with the dock. We were being blown
away from the dock, which was a good thing, but the lines were growling in 25
knots of wind and rain. So now I am up, guess I will write. A cup of espresso
to further kick start the day. The wind and wavelets settled by 0700 as
predicted, but it rained into the afternoon.
After the rain cleared, the sun showed itself. We walked
into town to see what it was like and to see if we could buy butane. I am not
sure which is more depressing in a place like this, the appearance of a poor
country without much going on in terms of trade and the economy or the realization
that we do not realize how good we have it in the USA. We have so much freedom
and opportunity, not to mention a high standard of living. Though I sense that
we may need to get accustomed to a lower standard of living in the near future.
We stopped at a marine store, no butane. We stopped at a grocery store where the meet and cheese case reminded me of the anemic presentations in Russia. The hardware store had no Butane, but he did direct us to a department store that had everything…except butane. They did expect to get some in a week from now, must be seasonal. Suzette wanted a jigsaw puzzle, so we bought a 1000-piece puzzle of Van Gogh’s Starry Night, it looks like a challenge to me. The sky was darkening, and raindrops were starting to fall, back to the boat.
Cocktails and a puzzle as the sun reappeared in earnest and
set beyond the ferries in the harbor. We did some weather planning and decided
that the weather window looked good for a Saturday departure. This would work
well for checking out of Albania and into Greece on Monday. We puzzled into the
night, and it was a quiet night.
March 28, 2025 – Durres, Albania
Up with the sun, and partly cloudy skies. I did some
shimming and adjusted the engine room door, checking that off my list. I added
cleaning up one of the engine mounts to my list but took care of it and checked
it off. The day started very nicely, and we hoped we did not make a mistake in
not moving on in our travels, we would explore old Durres instead.
Like Montenegro there must have been times of prosperity
where the Albanians built beautiful building, waterfront resorts and inviting
parks. Now they are in desperate need of significant maintenance. There are
more half built buildings here than anywhere else we have been. One in
particular looked like they built and occupied the first third of the high rise
30 years ago, the second third appears to be occupied for maybe 10 years and
the top third is still under construction. That might be generous, it appears
that construction has stopped and there is, what I call, a see through
building.
We checked out the Venetian tower and old city walls, left over from a time when Venice ruled the Mediterranean and required walled cities to protect the people. From here it was a short walk to the beach and the promenade lined with palm trees, play areas and restaurants. With the emerald green water of the Adriatic as a back drop it looked very inviting. Back into the city there is a huge 20,000 seat Amphitheatre that dates back to 200 CE. All things considered, it is well preserved and looked beautiful with a green grass field and the sea in the background. This was the extent of the ancient Roman world left here in Durres.
After the sun had set, we watched a lightning show off in
the distance, happy it was out at sea and not here in the harbor. It was a very
calm and quiet night.
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