Kotor - went for two days, stayed for four

Kotor sits at the very end of what feels like a box canyon. A long narrow seaway into steep mountains on three sides dominated by a mountaintop fort accessible via two city gates. With battlements all the way up to the top it cannot help but conjour deadly medieval clashed.

The motor to Kotor was 14 spectacular miles and it was suggested that on the way we look for these.... 

Also conjouring deadly clashes of a more recent time. Submarine silos.

We had tried to book a berth online but got knocked back. Fortunately our Aussie mates had been moored there for a couple of days and they made a reservation for us. We ended up right next to them. 

Not 100 meters from our mooring sat the Queen Victoria alongside the same wharf giving an idea of the depth of this bay. Each day there was at least one and sometimes two large cruise liners disgorging thousands of tourists and giving Al a weird head shape when photographed in Pano mode. We did need to time our entry to the city to avoid this tourist crush.

A walled city with various entry gates, Kotor is a fully functioning city with multi coloured marbled streets, some the width of one person, some with piazzas large enough to accommodate a cathedral. As you’d expect, many places to sit, eat, drink and watch.

Al and I decided we wanted to see the sunrise from the fort at the very top which would require a 5:00am start. What we didn’t decide on was the 3:00am night before, having been mesmerized by an amazing three piece band. 

When 5:00am came around we would have blown 0.15... 



There are two climb lines you can take. 

A steep and dangerous shorter climb on the right side of the mountain.. or the more sedate staired 'walk' of 1500 plus steps on the left but still no doddle.

Unfortunately the start gate for the steep climb was much closer to the boat than the sedate.... so up we went. 


You know that feeling when you’re close to the edge of a cliff and you feel drawn to it….? Try it in the soft light of dawn when you’re blowing 0.15, far out! There were a few moments there when we really questioned the sanity of this decision. 

Then suddenly, thanks surely to our state of mind, we were at the top!

We got there before sunrise and for those who don't follow on Facebook, I hope this works for you. I discovered Time Lapse mode, or truth be known it was probably Al who pointed it out, but it is the duck's nuts. 

Prop the IPhone on a rock, choose Time Lapse mode, press the red dot and boomba! 

Re-provisioning the boat was easy. The market was literally across the road from our mooring. Fresh fruit and veg, dried meats, nuts, cheeses, fresh fish and meat. 

Sally is usually in her element in these places, but the prices were getting the better of her temperament. For those who sail here be aware, it is ridiculously expensive. 

Ten Euro for less than a kilo of olives.

There are some remarkable art pieces that give the impression that Montenegrins don't take themselves too seriously. 

This Pippy Longstockings adorns one of the main city gates.

There are several trees with eyes...Looking a little like stoners from the 60's, or perhaps Astor staff circa 1982?

The final, final concert by the Tragically Hip, a band with a cult following in Canada was going to happen at 8:30pm on the 20th Toronto Canada time. 

Final, final because the lead singer Gordon Downie has incurable brain cancer and this was the last concert of the last ever tour. 

Why am I telling you this?

Well, it marked the end of Al's time with us this season. He'd bought tickets before leaving Canada and as with the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, there was no way he was going to miss it. 

Spotify some of their work, it's hard to understand how they haven't bust out of Canada?

Really pleased you made it Al. We know how important it was to you and your mates. Thanks for being such great company and a huge help yet again. 




Not sure how we now cope without you.... but hey.  We're going to try!

Boka Kotorska - The Gulf of Kotor - Simply gobsmacking!

Montenegro is blessed with the Boka Kotorska.

Best described as a fjord that cuts its way deep into central Montenegro. It is dramatic, it is beautiful and somewhere you must go if you haven't been.

Our objective was Herceg Novi, a small harbour just inside the entrance to the gulf which is defended on both sides by fortresses. It is clear that the people of those times lived in constant fear of attack. Game of Thrones it would have been and in fact many of the episodes have been filmed here and in nearby Croatian cities like Dubrovnik and Split.

We were moored alongside thinking we'd only be one night, but by morning we had decided to make it two. Once again a really quaint town with narrow ally ways breaking into piazzas with a confusion of shops and eating venues.

Herceg Novi has three forts. One is used as an outdoor cinema. You can see the screen poking out of the top at the end of the wharf.

One is used for opera and stage productions with a fantastic back drop...

and the last is a long way up, derelict but still worth the climb.

But the best was to come.

Google Meister Al Reid found that Herseg Novi has the only winery in the Boka. It could be visited by appointment only and it cost 35 Euro per person for the tasting..

We made an appointment and were told how to get there. High above the town, higher even than the monastery sits the best little vineyard we have been to... and I do mean ever!

Branko, son of the founder and owner and his wife Millionaire (Will's name for her because it sounded like that) were on hand to show us around. Standing in for his holidaying parents and not very knowledgeable on wine making Branko, really hung over from the previous evening with a large group tried his best. Both such nice people it just didn't matter. 



This is the pool in front of their really beautiful family home.




Savina Winery is a stunning location with super views up and out of the Boka.

Millionaire was the perfect host. The snack plate was five star, the wine tasting started with Rose.... a bottle of it. Then the Chardonnay, the Cab Sav and finally the Merlot.

The Merlot is their special special, "we don't do tastings with this it is too scarce" drop.

"What? just whack one on the bill man and bring it on will ya..."

All four wines were right up there and naturally, a case of each was the order. Branko could not believe it and offered to drive us and our wine to the port.

We polished off the snacks and the wine, loaded his car and down we went, all the way to a police road block... where he realised he had forgotten to bring his licence and was instructed to go back and get it. Back up we went Sal and I grabbing a nanna nap in the sun while he tried but failed to locate his licence and finally ordered a cab. 






He seemed quite concerned about the consequences of not producing his licence, giving us a clue as to the authorities and their level of authority in Montenegro.

We somehow found space for all the wine on the boat and headed off for a seafood platter at a restaurant recommended by Branko and Millionaire. They were right on the button.

An unfortunate name for such a great restaurant!

That evening we were courteously asked by the Harbour Master to vacate our mooring by 9:30 the following morning to make way for a large super yacht. That settled our plans which were to head for Kotor at the very end of the Gulf and so at 9:10am on the 15th August we cast off and motored on glass through a most stunning movie set post card.

Budva - Our first ding with another yacht.

Only 16 miles away so a leisurely start at 10:00am on the 11th August we motor sailed for a couple of hours and anchored for lunch at Sveti Stefan.

This is a lump of land on the end of a sand spit where the residents were asked to vacate so it could be transformed into a very exclusive award winning hotel starting at 1500 Euro a night. The Book recommended a stop here saying there was "particularly clear and clean water for swimming."

We dropped the anchor and the kids were overboard in no time... They were also back on the boat in no time complaining about the filthy smelly water. An hour for lunch and we resumed or journey not a little disappointed with the place we'd heard so much about.

Budva harbour and marina are a combined affair and it bustles with very large and very expensive motor yachts. We'd tried to make radio contact with no joy so we just headed for a spot that looked like ours. Mr Wavy Arms was soon on hand telling me to go to channel 8, then telling me where we could park.

Pontoon 'F' Dukly Marina. A spot we are not likely to forget in a hurry..

We got slime lined on and nicely set when we heard the sound of panic. Raced out on deck to see this 70ft motor yacht heading a little too fast and at a strange angle for the gap between ours and the next boat. There was no way to stop what happened next...

He hit us at the angle right in the middle of the port side and rode up our safety lines to the back of our boat. He then seemed to reverse and come at us a second time. 

They were Italian so I was able to unload in both languages.

It turned out that as he was coming in, the cable between his controls and the inverter that directs energy to engines and gives forward, reverse and sideways motion with the bow thruster broke. The poor sod had no control at all. Luckily on his way in his propeller caught the mooring rope of the other yacht which stopped his engine, stopped him from doing further damage to us or hitting and climbing  the wharf.

Three dingies, a diver and about 10 staff were on the pontoon in no time. They helped him in and within minutes he was on our boat with all the necessary documents and was appropriately apologetic.

We were to report to the Harbour Master's Office the following day to sort an incident report. So with that, his insurance details and boat certificate I should be able to claim through his insurance and avoid the excess.

The damage will not stop us but it is annoying. The stantions, the poles that hold the safety cables up and the ones that form a gate for when moored alongside were badly bent and will need replacement. The huge rigging screws that attach the shrouds (those cables that hold up the mast) to the hull were also bent. I'm estimating $2500 - $5000 to fix.

Cost to stay in the Marina? 315 Euro for two nights!

Budva is a very beautiful walled city and Montenegro is beginning to show off. Dramatic topography and everything is so well preserved and still in full use. 


These should give you some idea...

Bar - Great name for a town don't you think

Albanian flag down, Montenegrin flag up, we didn't bother with the yellow T-Shirt this time. We'd left Duress at 6:05am, the sales went up in an ideal NE at 8:25am and down at 1:10pm and docked at the Customs Quay at 1:45pm.

Having had such a smooth experience checking in to Albania, we thought this would be similar... Ah, no. At 3:15 we finally left that dock and headed around to the Marina Bar, and no it doesn't serve drinks. Who would have thought?

The first thing that hits you here is that it is a whole lot more expensive than anywhere we have experienced. 107 Euro per night in the marina and only one thing of mild interest to see in the area. For yachts it really is just for checking in or out of Montenegro

We hired the guy who had helped us dock to take us to Stari Bar, the original Bar. Abandoned in 1878 after it was devastated in the war between the Turks and the Montenegrin. Two churches were used to store gun powder and in 1881, one went up and in 1912, the other basically totaling the town.

The new Bar or Novi Bar is now the most important commercial port in Montenegro.
For 10 Euro the guy drove us up there and picked us up an hour and a half later. The town was indeed a wreck but worth a look.

Half an hour was plenty so time for a meal in a great little place on a lovely narrow marble stone road with the usual tourists shops, bars and restaurants.

The following day we got the same guy to take us to the big supermarket where he waited an hour for us to buy the resupply. He then returned us to the dock, helped unload and took me into town to acquire some wifi.

For those coming to this part of the world, best deal in the Med with M-Tel. 5 Euro for 15 days of unlimited internet.

Unfortunately I had intended to slot the sim into my IPad Air and make it the boat hotspot but it did not allow for this. The IPad has unlimited internet so getting my hands on it has been a mission.

The town is an ugly place. Nearly all the buildings are the old soviet era concrete monstrosities and because they were so sturdily built, things won't change unless they have a major earth quake.

I did spot this amazing franchise opportunity though and thought I'd bring it to all my FB friends so they don't miss out. Whose in?

Vlores and Duress - Albania in the raw

The only yacht marina in Albania read well, but as we entered the Gulf of Vlores it was obvious that this marina was a very long way from anywhere, stuck in the very most southern corner of a very large gulf. A small marina with great facilities, we were moored next to a deteriorating wooded hulk half filled with fresh rain water and a mozzie breeding ground as a result. Fortunately, power is included in the price to stay, so aircon on and boat closed... no mozzies could get in.

We had met two couples from the Gold Coast on a Lagoon 450, the next one up from ours. The parallels with these guys are amazing right down to where they ski.... Big White. They also enjoy a tipple with good food, so despite the isolated situation we did manage to find a very good restaurant and had a big night with them. This has only happened three times in three seasons which we have found both surprising and disappointing.

This is a shot of their boat as we screeched past them. We never did come up with a reason why Summer Amy is so much faster with same engine revs, same sails etc but by the time we arrived in Duress, they had disappeared over the horizon behind us providing Al with plenty of humorous ammunition that evening....Go the Summer Amy!

In the morning we booked a cab to take us to Appollonia, another one of those must see ruins from 800BC. Kids excited, not, off we went without breakfast, straight into bumper to bumper traffic for two and a half hours. No aircon, Summer on my lap, narrow coast road so no way to even turn around!
We finally arrived, went straight to the restaurant and pigged out.


A well used well...




The cab driver was booked for the entire day to take us to wherever we wanted to go for 50 Euro. Poor guy had to wait three hours in a place that should have taken half an hour.





The ruins were ok. Still got the imagination going and the kids were content to catch grass hoppers, crickets and lizards.

Rather than explore the city of Vlores, the return trip was simply to find a supermarket for resupply while we had a taxi to cart it all to the boat.

That evening everybody went out while I caught some shut eye before the 1:30am board meeting. The winds the following day for our trip to Duress looked ominous so we decided that we would set sail right after the board meeting at around 4:30am, everybody resolving to make it an early night. Ah, yeah right...! When I woke at 1:00am nobody was home! It's what happens when we hook up with another bunch of Aussies. Board meeting ended at 4:15 but I could not locate the port policeman to release us until 5:00 so at least they got a little more sleep. At 5:15am on the 8th of August we cast off and headed for Duress 60 miles away in a growing NE wind.

Duress is a port used by coal freighters, ferries and cargo ships and the docks are designed for that purpose. Definitely not for pleasure boats.

After a epic sail, the wind big but in a good direction we averaged over 8 knots nearly all the way. We contacted Arben Ninga, an agent recommended by Akim from Sarrande'. He was on hand to direct us into a space where we would not need to move to make way for arriving ships.

It was quite a spot.

The center of attention for the dock workers, it all felt a little insecure but after discussing security with Arben and having a long chat in Italian with some dock workers about the differences in wages and living standards between Australia and Albania it was decided that this place was quite safe and that if we moved to Albania we could "live like kings".

We had low expectations for what we'd find outside the docks, but as has been the case in Albania, we were blown away. An endless promenade with the now very familiar carnies for kids. Sal discovered a Venetian Castle right on main street that had been converted into the coolest of rooftop bars and internal night club. After indulging the kids in their carnie activity, the castle was a great place for a spritza and a surprisingly good play list. 

This is how you reach the rooftop. Via the original stone staircase...

It is a feature of his part of the world, rather than preserve the ruin as a ruin, they make very good use of them while maintaining the ancient feel of the places. This is the night club inside the castle..

Pizza on the pavement, we could have been in Paris. An early night for an early start for a 56 mile sail to Montenegro in the morning. At 6:05am we cast off at exactly the same time as the other Aussies and motored into a beautiful windless sunrise. Bye bye Albania, hello Montenegro.

Albania - never take advice from the ignorant.

To enter Albania, you fly a Q or Quarantine flag. Basically a yellow flag until you've checked in, then fly the Albanian courtesy flag. No yellow flag?  the Champion T-Shirt did the trick.

Our long suffering Greek courtesy flag finally coming down for the last time, a shredded wreck.

First stop was Sarande'. It is the southernmost port, a port of entry for customs etc and there has only recently been a space built specifically for leisure boats, otherwise it is for ferries, freighters and cruise ships. The check-in procedure is the same for all... The potential admin nightmare we'd been warned about.



The Book advised we use an agent to smooth the process and provided the contact details of two. Nearing Sarande' I called Agim Zholi and was advised he'd meet us at the dock on arrival.

A tidy looking port on the western end of a large open bay necklaced by the sprawling city of soviet era architecture and fronted by an endless promenade. There, as promised stood Agim, smartly dressed, welcoming smile and good English directing us to Med moor against a very high dock designed for cruise ships. We did as asked but stayed as far off as the gang plank would permit to allow for the surge coming into the bay.

Agim required our ships papers and passports. He would take care of the admin,  I could stay or accompany him, my choice. Given what we'd heard, I chose option two not being too comfortable watching our most important documents heading off across the Tarmac.

Agim introduced me to Leaonardo his well spoken, well educated son who took over and off we went. Unlike Turkey and especially unlike Greece, I was ushered into a clean, paper free, hi-tech, air conditioned office. Leonardo keyed in the relevant passport and ships data and another smart young Albanian entered, asked if we'd like our passports stamped and left with them and the relevant paperwork. Not 10 minutes later, just long enough for Leonardo to show me the places we really must see while in Sarande', he was back. €60 for the admin plus €20 per day, power and water included. I hired a car from the place next door, we were moved to yacht birth and our entry to Albania was complete.. Could not have been smoother or quicker.

Three must do's here are Butrint, Gjirokaster and the Blue Eye. It was stifling so we closed up the boat, whacked on the aircon and headed for Butrint having been assured that the boat and its contents were secure.

Declared a UNESCO World Heretage Site in 1992, Butrint dates back to the Illirians around 800BC then the Byzantines, the Greeks, the Romans, the Turks and each conqueror left their footprint making this another fascinating place. 

Although standing in the museum section Sal remarked that it felt as if she had been there before...

William chimed.. "Duh Mum, all these places look the same, they have the same piles of rubble, same broken pots, same jewelry and same statues missing their noses and arms. No wonder you feel like you've been here before!"

Kids on bikes and a walk along the promenade that evening was the plan. After 200 meters of promenade we found a pole to lock the kid’s bikes to. It was hard enough walking through the crowd, cycling was impossible.

After a few tries at waterside restaurants we decided to head inland and find something a little more local. Success. Great meal till the kids became restless. Too many fun things to do on the promenade like shooting galleries and knock over the bottles with cool things to win.

“OK kids, here’s the deal… you have your own money, half an hour of that fun stuff, find your bikes and ride home. You can watch one movie and then bed. Got it?” Such was our level of comfort around their ability and the sense of security for kids here. 

Into the burgeoning carnival they went. Our indoctrinated perceptions of Albania and Albanians fast dissolving.

Given that, it was a relief to find their bikes locked up at the boat and to be shown their booty. Among their winnings a bottle of white wine and 5 Euro note. More money that they had to start! Our meal for five with a liter of wine, AU$33. This place is so cheap, the service is unreal and everybody speaks English or Italian.

GjiroKaster and the Blue Eye on the agenda for day two. 

GjiroKaster is a 60km drive over a range of mountains and into a huge patchwork river valley. GjiroKaster as an ancient castle city with roads and buildings including the roofs all built from local stone. . It traces Albanian history right through to modern times. The castle is in very good condition with a particularly interesting museum containing the usual, as Will would put it, to weapons captured by Albanian partisans from the Italians and Germans during the second world war. Will's face lit up. He loves guns.

In the 1930's King Zog had a prison built in the castle to house resistance to his reign. This was then used by the Italians who 1939 - 1943 then the Germans 1943 - 1944. Cells designed to hold one person were accommodating up to 10 people at their height. Enver Hoxha, a national hero for his leadership on the Partisans who ousted the Germans in 1944 became leader of the Albanian Communist Party from 1944 - 1985 when he died. 

He ruled with Marxist ideals and an iron fist using those same prisons for any dissidence and a torture chamber where prisoners were forced to stand knee deep in freezing water for days. 

Isolating Albania allied only to China and North Korea he used fear of attack as his justification. Albania has slowly emerged from this isolation and now is the time to discover this place before it spoils.

This is the old town of Gjirokaster with its stone buildings with stone roofs and roads...

Late in the day and hot. We were looking forward to the Blue Eye. 

Ice cold (8 degrees) water gushes out of a hole in the river bank which looks like a blue eye. Nobody knows its source nor depth. Italian divers have tired to dive it but only managed 20 meters before being blown out by the force of the current.




No climbing over the fence, no swimming, no diving allowed. Please click here to see what happens next. 8 degree swim challenge

Another UNO challenge. The person staying for the longest time in the water out of Will, Summer and Al gets a foot massage, drinks poured all day and addressed as they choose by the losers. Now imagine taking on a Canadian in such a challenge? You'd think the kids had picked up on the perils of gambling by now! 

This shot is the river downstream from the Eye. I have never seen clarity like this anywhere on this planet.. That weed is at a meter under water.

Two nights and time to move on. Vlore's, the only yacht marina in Albania and with a looming 1:30am Board Meeting by phone, it looked like a suitable place to do it.