21 September 2025 - Shengjergjit Bay, nr Vlore, Albania

The upside of moving further along the coast than expected last night, was that we didn’t need to go as far today. We had picked out a bay that we could anchor in, a few miles from Vlore. It’s on a peninsula with hills protecting the bay from southerly winds. Not that we expected any wind.

Transiting along this part of the coast gave us a view of rugged high high hills than plunge straight down into the sea. There are no places where you could take refuge, if you needed to. It means the distances between safe places to stop are far apart.



We timed our arrival to be late afternoon, in the hope that the locals would be heading back to the city, it being Sunday. The bay has two rather nice looking beaches, only accessible by boat. Lots of folks were enjoying their day on the beach and, as expected they departed on a day tripper boat, accompanied by various other motor boats and ribs.

It seems to be a fun pastime here for the high speed ribs to race through the anchorage, giving the visiting yachts at anchor an uncomfortable swell. The usual etiquette is to move slowly through, so as not to do that. A large catamaran close to us had put a tripping line on their anchor, which had a large white buoy at the surface. One of the ribs came and tied up to it. They were most indignant when the boat owner told them that they couldn’t do that, and after a brief stand off, the owner untied them from his buoy because they weren’t going to. All this sort of thing makes you wonder whether the locals want visitors. It is in stark contrast to warm welcome you get from the agents, who deal with checking you and your boat in and out of the country.



As the sun set all was calm and peaceful. The sky became a carpet of stars.

Distance today -         44 miles

Distance this year - 1306 miles 

Tricia (and Steve) 


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