Albania is overlooked by most cruisers rushing from Croatia to Greece, but what a fun, if surreal place. The harbor was full of boats from non-Schengen or non-EU countries that need to reset passport or VAT clocks. So it was us and several Aussies, Kiwis, and South Africans! Shawn and Lyn from s/v Yaama kindly helped us with our dinghy (plug was jammed), and later invited us onboard for drinks (where we watched our boat swing much much much too close to them – we upped anchor and moved), along with Lisandra and Andre from s/v Lilikoi.
Sarande is a charming beach side town by day. It’s flooded by Italians and Albanians looking for an inexpensive summer holiday, and it does not disappoint. The food is tasty and low cost (our lunch on day one fed us leftovers for dinner for two nights). The markets are full of local vegetables, honey (we bought orange honey, yum) and raki, which is a white lightening type of grain alcohol to avoid.
And then comes evening.
We had read reviews of the local pirate boats, but had no idea what they were talking about. From 9:30-11:00 each night, five, totally lit up pirate ships (two complete with Davy Jones on the back), circle the harbor, and are absolutely throbbing with techno music. They pass within a few feet of any anchored boat. A lot of people hate them, but we were quite fascinated and would come into the cockpit to witness the parade each night. Quite unique!
Albania is also a place of mixed messages and aggravation. We were told the water on the docks was not potable and began buying plastic jugs of drinking water only to find out that the dock water is just fine. We were told they could refill our propane tanks only to be denied after we had lugged the tank ashore. Laundry is very expensive (service only, no self serve), so I’ve been doing most of it by hand on the boat. The dinghy dock is crammed full of new police jet skis, and you need to walk through customs every time you come in ( they wave you by at least). But it’s still such a cool place.
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