March 29, 2025 – Durres, Albania
Up at 0530 to get ready for departure. The sky was overcast,
and the wind was still. We floated off the craggy old concrete pier and headed
south for Vlore, 55 miles dead south. The seas were calm, there was a light
breeze on our nose, with the threat of rain in the clouds. We enjoyed some
brief moments of sunshine, and very little rain as we motored south. We saw a few
commercial fishing boats and a couple ships, but no pleasure boats. We were
greeted by a small pod of very large Bottle Nose Dolphin, but they quickly
moved on.
Arriving at our anchorage, a cove called Shengjergjit at the
NE end of the peninsula across the bay from Vlore. I remembered passing this
cove when we were heading to Vlore on our last trip, well protected yet close
to the entrance of the bay. We had no need to stop in Vlore again, this saved
us some miles of travel and it is a beautiful spot with the green hills rising
from a sandy beach and clear water. We dropped the hook in about 6 m of clear
water, 100 m off the beach and settled in for the evening.
The Admiral had the genset on in no time in order to run the central heat and do a load of laundry. I am not accustomed to the sounds of the washing machine on a boat, it was very distracting as I am always sensitive to changes and sounds when I am on the boat.
The cove reminded me of our Big Geiger Cove on Catalina
Island, a rocky beach, cliffs rising up on either side, a small taverna on the
hill not much bigger than our hut at Big Geiger. The big difference was the gun
turrets left over from WWII. It was a calm night for our first night at anchor
on this trip.
March 30, 2025 – Shengiergjit Cove, Albania
Up early under clearing skies, light breeze and no swell.
Lifting the anchor, I found that it was well dug in, I put tension on it and
let the small movements in the bow do the heavy lifting. Today was the time
change here in Europe, as a result we were getting a late start, 0700. The ride
51 miles southeast to Sarande, Albania was uneventful other than there being no
rain and lots of sunshine. We passed the islands northwest of Corfu, and we
could see Corfu for most of our journey. It is only a mile across the channel
from Sarande. We are officially in the Ionian Sea.
We arrived at the harbor at about 1400 and radioed into the Harbor Master. As we approached, we could see our agent, Juliya waiving us into the Customs dock. I had found her contact information on Navily and she was highly recommended. She arranged for us to stay on the dock for the night. Customs offices and police share the ferry terminal, surprisingly there were many travels coming and going on the hydrofoil ferry to Corfu, Greece.
Juliya took care of our paperwork quickly and returned to
the boat. We invited her on board and enjoyed some great conversation in the
cockpit under the Albanian sun. She was very informative and clearly
appreciated her country and what it had to offer.
After she left, we went of a walk in the city, a much
smaller city than Durres, gear toward resort living and beaches, very nice by
Albanian standards. They are trying hard to develop their tourist trade like
their neighbors. I think they will succeed and feel like they have a lot to
offer. We shopped at a street market where they had beautiful vegetables. Most
of the ladies running the various stands appeared to have been doing this for a
very long time, spoke limited English and were very anxious to sell you
something. Suzette was lassoed by a younger woman with a crew cut who was a
hard seller. We ended up with 3 or 4 bags of various greens and reds that will
be delicious for dinner.
Since it was Sunday, and the sun was out we could get a rise
on our pizza dough. We have a stainless-steel bowl with a black cover that we
make the dough in. Then we put it out in the sunshine and get a pretty good
rise. I got a little generous with the cheese and managed to make a smokey mess
of the oven, but the pizza was delicious with a bottle of Merlot from
Macedonia. We were confused by the time we had added an hour for daylight
savings, but our phones were reading two hours difference. It turns out that our
phones we were connecting to the network in Greece, the first time change we
have had as we crossed the Med.
In the evening, we could hear the eerie chant of the call to
prayer over the city’s loudspeakers. I guess there must be a significant Muslum
population here, though I do not feel like we saw signs of that when we walked
the city. The last time we heard that sound was when we were boarding a dive
boat on the easternmost island in Indonesia in 2013.
March 31, 2025 – Sarande, Albania
The call to prayer came at 0500, but I managed to go back to
sleep. We had determined that we wanted to get into Corfu later rather than
earlier in hopes that we would avoid paying the yachting fee for March.
Evidently it does not matter when in the month you arrive you pay for the whole
month. At 120 euros per month, that is an expensive day when all you will do is
enter the country. Unlike Montenegro the fee is due regardless of whether you
are using the boat or storing the boat, it applies to all boats over 7 m, but
EU boats pay a little less and Greek residents pay even less.
The weather was sunny, there was a light wind from the south
and very little swell. We departed about 1000 for the short 15-mile trip south
to Corfu Harbor to check into Greece. I thought I had done my homework on the check-in,
but it turns out I was supposed to register and pay the cruising fee online in
advance. I spent most of the ride online wading through the Greek language web
site and completing forms. I did succeed in completing the form, but it was
unclear as to how to pay the fee, 599.60 Euros for 5 months stay in Greece!
There was no “pay here” button. Further research resulted in only cruiser
advice. One said you could pay at the post office; another said you cannot do
that anymore. Another said you could wire money to the bank using an IBAN
number that the cruiser gave, but I did not trust sending 599.60 to an IBAN
from a cruiser’s forum. In the FAQ section of the Greek Language web site, it
said you could pay cash to the Customs office, I had brought cash specifically
for this purpose.
The decision made we proceeded to anchor in Patomas Bay, west of the Corfu Harbor. There is no Customs dock in Corfu, we anchored as recommended and inflated the dinghy for a short row to shore. Documents in hand we walked to the Port Authority Office and presented ourselves “we need to check in, we have arrived from Albania on a private yacht”. We were waived over to an office where an officer asked that we wait for a moment. As we waited outside the office she passed us on her way out the door and said someone would be along in ten minutes. As we watched others leave the building we realized it was 1530 shift change, we went for a walk.
When we returned a new officer was on duty and was very
helpful. She filled out several forms for us, stamped them and sent us across
the parking lot to customs. Contrary to the many reports we had heard about
rude officers and no help we felt very welcome. She did explain that we could
pay our cruising fee to customs or at a bank. Arriving at customs we again were
asked to wait; they were busy checking in a ferry load of passengers. When the
customs officer came out to greet us, he explained that he was new and had not
checked in a private yacht before. He asked that we return in the morning when
“the big man” would be in and he could check us in. Problem solved; I should
not need to pay a cruising fee for one day in March. It would seem that we had
satisfied our requirement to check in to the extent that no one will arrest us.
We walked back to the boat and enjoyed the time change as
the sun did not set until 2000. This is where I made a bad decision. In the
Port Authority office, they had the instructions for paying the cruising fee
online. Thinking I was doing the right thing, I did a same day wire from my
bank to theirs and felt satisfied that I had now checked all of the boxes.
April 1, 2025 – Patomas Bay, Corfu, Greece
April Fool’s Day. In our new time zone the sun did not rise
until 0700, but it did rise and revealed a clear sky. It was a quiet night in
the bay and continued that way. We broke out our bikes, loaded up the dinghy
and headed back to the customs office at the anointed time. We were ushered in
and customs officer took our paper work and passports while we waited outside
the office. When the officer returned, he informed us that something was not
right and we would have to return to Albania! As calmly as I could muster, I
asked him to explain. He put on a big grin and said “April Fools!” I was not
entertained but very relieved when he returned our documents stamped and showed
us to the next office. This turned out to be the money man to check that we had
paid our cruising fee. I explained that we had wired the money and showed him
my receipt. We did not have the approval number we needed from the Greek Bank
saying that they had received the money. It was all downhill from here, or is
it up hill? He explained that we could be fined 1,100 euros for not paying in
advance. I explained our situation and why we thought we were doing what the
web site required. He suggested that we cancel the wire and pay at the post
office. The post office?! We explained that it was a same day wire and could
not be canceled. He said that it typically took the bank 3 days to register the
money and give the approval number. “how long will we be in Corfu?” I guess we
will stay as long as it takes. We left there dejected, I have yet to figure out
how you know what to do in any given country to enter and exit with a boat.
Perhaps there is an App? Maybe I should make one, but am not that smart,
clearly, and I am retired.
At this point we were not being booted out of Greece and our
pass ports were stamped. We rode back to the boat and locked our bikes up on
shore. We had some lunch and then rowed back to shore to be tourists. It was a
good bike ride east into the old town passing the port and the New Fort, we
found ourselves on the small pedestrian streets of Old Town. There were some
interesting shops, one in particular was a stove shop. They had some very cool
looking old stoves that were well preserved or well restored. They also had new
stoves and other cooking gear like a giant rotisserie that you could cook a
whole lamb on.
We made our way past the various shops as Suzette window shopped the shoe and clothing shops. Me, I was taking in the pastry and gelato shops. The east side of town opened up to a huge park and a grand fort out on the point. This was the Old Fort built originally by the Venetians and later, improved by the British during WWII. The grounds were well preserved and the story boards included English language versions of the descriptions. The old British barracks were now the municipal library. Another building was repurposed as a classroom building for the Ionic University School of Music. We heard beautiful piano music being played as a class was taking place. We hiked up to the highest part of the fort for a fabulous view of the north and south entrance to the channel between Albania and Corfu. I could just pick out Raffaellesco bobbing at anchor in the Bay. The sun was out, and I was quite happy to be comfortable in short sleeves.
Outside the fort we stopped for a coffee and water at a café next to the park. It was a pleasure to be enjoying nice weather as we people watched and planned our journey in Greece. On the return trip we stopped at a bakery for bread and cookies. They claimed to be the oldest bakery in Corfu, 4 generations. Upon returning to the boat there were some rain clouds gathering to the east, but they only gave us a few drops and a fabulous full rainbow. I secured the bikes and the dinghy for the night and settled in. The weather was settling down for a quite night. An Italian boat anchored in but left before dark.
April 2, 2025 – Patomos Bay, Corfu, Greece
Up at 0345 to do a zoom meeting with the Blue Water Cruising
Club board of directors. With Starlink this has become an easy thing to do from
anywhere. Unbeknownst to those in the meeting we did the meeting from our boat
bunk, none the wiser.
Checking the status of our eTEPAI cruising payment online I
found that our payment had been received, and our status was changed to “Paid”.
I compiled an email to customs as requested and sent our documents along with
proof of payment. At about 0930 we loaded up the bikes and rowed ashore. Ironically,
just as we started to row to shore we had a big clap of thunder, but we
continued on. A short bike ride to customs, but the guy we spoke with yesterday
was not there. The surly guy was, and he was still surly. In his best English
he was evidently trying to explain to us that we need to print a Transit Log to
submit to him. We tried to explain to him that we were unable to register and
print a Transit Log, could he help us? Finally, he sent us to an agent in town
to help us. Of course, we knew this would mean hiring an agent.
On the way we passed the central Customs office, I ducked in
there and explained my situation and asked for help. They were very nice, but
they said that they do not know the online system for the Transit Log. They
recommended an agent across the street; they even wrote his name for me. We
found the agent; he understood our problem and offered a solution and some
guidance…at no cost! Loaded with all this new knowledge we headed back to the
boat where we had a laptop and good internet…and lunch.
I got online and tried the web site registration as
directed. I was happy when I got a confirmation pop up that said an email would
be sent with a link to finalize my registration. The email never came. We sent
test emails and checked to see that we were not blocking any emails. We had no
success. We went back into town to hire the agent but first another stop at the
customs office. We were more insistent this time and requested a manager. After
some banter he told us that the system does not function well, and we would do
well to let the agent get it done. Now we are convinced that we must hire the
agent. Within an hour we had our transit log and all of the documents we
needed. Plus, the agent called the customs office and let them know we had all
our papers and were headed their way. This only set us back 40 euros.
We rode to the customs office to be greeted with a reprimand
for not getting this done in the morning. I swallowed my pride and begged
forgiveness for being such a pain in the ass. He combed through our papers more
thoroughly than an IRS auditor. He was not happy about something and called
someone on the phone. There was a lengthy conversation then he hung up. He
seemed dissatisfied with our selection of agent. He called the agent next and
spent a long time talking to him in what seemed like an angry tone. When he was
done, he let me know that the main office for customs was closed so we could
not pay in cash, we need to pay to a bank online, shoot me now. He explained
that our agent was willing to make the bank payment, and we would need to
return to the agents office and pay him cash now! I think he was trying to help
me at this point. We left with our papers stamped and signs and peddled back to
the agent’s office. He was apologetic for not thinking about the time of day
and the fee payment. We happily paid 30 euros and went on our way. Last stop, I
hoped, was the Port Authority.
We arrived at the Port Authority to find the doors locked;
it was after 1700 at this point. I could see that there were people inside, so
I knocked and gave a yell. They let me in and called an officer to help me. He
took all my papers back to his office and reemerged 15 minutes later. He
returned my Transit Log, crew list and passports but kept the documents with
all the customs stamps. He asked me when we arrived and why it took so long for
me to return to the port authority to finalize the paperwork. My immediate
response was that it was a long story, and their system was very difficult,
broken even. I explained our difficulties, but I am not sure he understood. He
did seem interested in knowing the problem.
When I checked the Transit Log, he had not stamped it. It is
my understanding that we must have our log stamped each time we go in and out
of a port. He said he only stamps the crew list. I am so confused, and I told
him so. He assured me that this was correct. I guess we will see when we go to
stamp in at the next port. I guess I am fully checked into Greece and paid up.
It only took two days of frustration and running around.
We returned to the boat and stowed the bikes and dinghy in
preparation for a morning departure heading south. Checking in and out of
countries is stressful to say the least. It seems that there is an unnecessary
amount of bureaucracy involved. I cannot help but reflect on the fact that the bureaucracy
in California is what prompted me to retire, it was simply not fun building in
California when all you do is fight with the local government.
A quiet night at anchor made for a restful last night in
Corfu.
April 3, 2025 - Patomus Bay, Corfu, Greece
It was a lazy morning, sunny with a lite wind from the SE.
We were underway by 1100 and heading SE with hopes that we might get to sail
when the wind shifted. The wind did clock to NW as predicted but only climbed
to 7 knots. We motored to N. Paxos Island and found a beautiful little cove
called Kipiadi. The water was a clear sapphire blue unlike anything I had seen
before. We anchored in 5 m in sand about 50 m off of the rock beach. The stones
that made up the beach were about the size of golf and tennis balls and almost
white. The hills surrounding the cove were dotted with beautiful homes but
still shuttered for the winter. The sun was warm inviting us to lounge in the
cockpit and feel like we were finally enjoying Greece. It was so good to simply
relax and enjoy being here.
April 4, 2025 – Kapiadi, Paxos, Greece
We woke to an overcast sky that turned quickly into
torrential rain and hail! The downpour was brief and did a good job of scouring
the top sides clean. We felt rather spoiled with the generator on, washing a
load of laundry and running the central heat in the boat. That is up until the
generator quit! Not again! Error code 27 AC sensor not sensing! Fortunately,
the washing machine had just finished its spin cycle. We did have to check the
manual to see how you unlock the door without power.
My attention shifted to finding a Cummins service Center and
sending out a few emails for assistance. Needing a diversion, we did a bit of
exploration of the cove in the dinghy. We found no fish, but maybe the
fisherman earlier scared them away. I could see that my hull was still in need
of a real cleaning to get rid of the black streaks we had accumulated while
stored in Lazure. I have a great wax and cleaner made by Osculati. Surprisingly
it did not take too long to clean and wax one side of the hull, back to
gleaming! Suzette worked on the stainless steel, keeping it shiny and rust
free. Time for a lunch break. Such a tranquil well protected little cove.
We had a number of responses on the generator and ultimately had a connection in Lefka, our next port of call and ultimately where the boat will spend the summer. Back to work for a bit of cleaning and polishing. I have a couple other ongoing projects to simply improve the boat so I work them in as a pleasant diversion.
In the afternoon there was a lady lounging on the beach, maybe summer is coming after all. I am guessing she lives in one of the houses on the hill since she was also doing some beach cleanup in between lounging sessions.
April 5, 2025 – Kipiadi, Paxos, Greece
The wind had shifted to SE and a small wind chop was making
our cove a bit less comfortable in the morning. We got underway at about 0830
heading south to Lefkas. It would be only about 30 miles to our destination if
the floating bridge were working and we could use the north channel. Instead,
we had to go around the Island and approach from the south. The floating bridge
has the ability to open like a draw bridge on each end for small boat traffic
and rotate out of the way for larger ship traffic. I had heard that it had been
out of commission since last September but had hoped that it might be working
by now. All indications online were that they could not afford the cost to
bring it into compliance and it remained out of commission.
It was a mostly sunny day and though the wind direction was
favorable we only saw about 7 knots of breeze. The main sail did add about a
knot to our motoring speed, but with the added distance to go around the island
we would not get there under sail alone. We rounded the south end of the island
and found ourselves surrounded by the Ionian Islands. This was reminiscent of
Croatia with plenty of islands and coves to enjoy.
We tucked into a cove called Sivota. A picturesque little village with a handful of pontoons and lots of sailboats. We sounded the cove and anchored on the west side. There was a catamaran at anchor and later a monohull came into anchor, Italian and British respectively. We settled in and the wind clocked to the northwest as predicted putting us in a perfect spot. The town was quiet for Saturday, save for a for workers banging and cutting this and that. An incredibly calm night in this very well-protected cove.
March 6, 2025 – Sivota,
Lefkas, Greece
Awoke to partial sun and a light breeze. A lazy morning as
the air quickly warmed up. Underway and heading north at 1015. What little wind
we had was on our nose. I ran the RPMs up to blow out the turbo making it a
quick trip past various islands to the Lefkas channel. Along the way we
saw a few pleasure boats. I was encouraged by a catamaran sailing along with a
young couple in their bathing suits, summer is coming.
The Lefkas channel is very narrow, but well-marked as we passed shallows and sand bars on either side. When we arrived at the marina in Lefkas Town we hailed the marina but received no response. We knew what our berth was, so we managed to easily moor without assistance. Once the boat was settled the admiral was ready to go grocery shopping. We walked almost a mile pulling our folding wagon to the Carrfour, a sizable market and the only one open on a Sunday. It was a well stocked market, and we were low on everything.
There are many ancient churches here, more like chapels for
local worship within a neighborhood. We located the Port Authority office so we
can check in with our Transit Log but that process will wait until tomorrow. We
have 24 hours after arrival to check in with the Port Authority in each port
that we visit. With the pantry full Suzette had choices for dinner, roasted veggies
over pasta, very satisfying.
April 7, 2025 – Lefkas, Greece
We were woken by rain and high wind at about 0230. I was up
and out checking wind direction and lines. We were in the last berth on the
dock so we had only one boat next to us on our port side. I was concerned that
if the single bowline gave way we would blow to starboard and crunch into the
pontoon. Suzette suggested a midship line from our boat to the neighboring
boat, perfect!
I was too awake to simply get back in my bed so I started
working a more detailed trip plan that would get us to Athens by 4/22 to meet
up with my sister Tammy and her husband John. I worked on a variety of things
on my computer. At 0430 it was time for a Moka espresso. I contemplated sleep
at about 0700, but it was really time to wake up the Admiral to get an early
start on the day’s activities.
The first stop was the generator repair shop. They were very
helpful and said they would call when they were able to go to the boat and
check the generator. We walked into town and stopped at the Port Authority
Office. This is an interesting process as they rechecked all the documents that
we used to get the Transit Log. They made copies of the documents and after
about 20 minutes they stamped our log. We expected to leave the next day but he
would not stamp us out, he wanted us to return the next day. Suzette did engage
him in some conversation, she asked if the school kids here were required to read
Homer’s Odyssey? He smirked and said his son was reading it now and it was
enough to make the kid hate school. These are the home waters of Odysseus where
the story unfolds.
We stopped at a beautiful chandlery, and they had everything
on my list, even some odd items. It was not cheap but no worse than home. The
generator people called and said they were at the boat, so we hurried back to
the boat. The scene was familiar, two techs, expose the generator, hit the
starter, check the error code. DOA! They were certain it would need to be
removed from the boat in order to be repaired. They went on their way to report
their findings. We had lunch and concluded that we would be cruising without a
generator, again. Our plan was to let them pull the generator, either now or
when we return in June. Either way they would have plenty of time to affect a
repair.
After lunch we walked back to the generator shop and
discussed our options. They were certain that they could not remove the
generator this week. They were in touch with Cummins and needed some more
information from us to share with Cummins. I spent the afternoon pulling
together information, documents etc and sending them in an email. Satisfied, we
returned to the generator shop to confirm that she had everything she needed to
pursue our warranty claim with Cummins. She did and she indicated that she
would be in touch with Cummins and get back to us.
Since we would be anchoring out for the next week, we
decided to make another grocery run and really top up the pantry.
The early morning rain and wind storm this morning ushered
in colder temperatures, we were happy to return to the boat and the warmth of
our saloon. Feeling like we had a plan we could relax and get back, or maybe
simply begin to be in cruising mode.
The night was much quieter with only a bit of wind.
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