We left Corfu for the port of Sarande.

We e-mailed agent Agim Zholi, agimzholi@yahoo.com, a very helpful fellow, who will have everything organised for you on arrival. The cost including four nights mooring was €100. Tie up on the new ferry dock, 24/7 security, close to everything. Electricity and water are available.

Eat and drink well cheaply, great internet from a local phone shop, €14 for 10mb.

Definitely worth a visit if in this area is the Blue Eye and the Amphitheatre of Butrint, a “must-do”.

Port of Palermo

We came in here in a thunderstorm on passage to Vlore. It’s an old disused military port.

We dropped anchor off the old submarine pen to the north of the port but were chased off by armed soldiers to the other side of the port where we took up a mooring buoy in 5 meters that held us overnight in up to 35 kts of wind.

This is an ideal port of refuge along this coast, no need of an agent if you don’t go ashore, although I did the next morning and was invited for Albanian coffee by a couple of local fishermen who were glad of the visit.

Vlore

On approach here I went into the old military port on the island of Sazant. Whilst the port looks derelict, we were chased off by some very aggressive soldiers.

We then proceeded to the ferry port of Vlore and anchored off in 5m off the east pier, again no need of agent if you don’t tie up or go ashore.

There are two other ports to the NW of Vlore, one is the oil terminal, the other an old fishing port that has less than 1.5m of water at the entrance, neither are suitable for sailing vessels. The marina at Orikum is a few miles to the SE. Beware of the shallow waters around this area which is badly marked.

Durres

On approach keep to the buoyed Channel as far as the port entrance. The entrance can be confusing as there is a new small craft Marina adjacent to the main port entrance, however, they don’t allow entry into this Marina and it lies empty (it is not yet marked on charts etc.).

Go into the main commercial port and tie up where directed by the port agent. We used Arben Ninga, arben.ninga@Kad.al, again the cost was €100 including four nights mooring. There was no water or electricity and it was not very secure to leave the boat for any length of time either. There were oil and dust everywhere and it was very noisy with cranes working through the night.

Tony Olin

SY DeDanann