After more than two hours spent navigating the checkout process in Montenegro – Port Authority, Customs & Immigration, and plenty of paperwork – we were finally underway.
Fortunately, the sailing made up for it. With the gennaker drawing beautifully, its bright blue sail stretched against an equally blue sky as KORA glided south toward Albania.
This would be our first visit to Albania and we weren’t entirely sure what to expect.
Following the advice of fellow sailors, we hired a local agent to assist with check-in. While Doug and Buzz headed off by dinghy to meet him at a beach club in Shengjin, Kate and Karen settled into the cockpit with a glass of rosé and supervised from afar. Thirty minutes later the paperwork was complete, and Albania had officially welcomed us ashore.
Shengjin struck us as a laid-back seaside town with long beaches, growing tourism, and a noticeably different feel from neighboring Montenegro. It may not be the destination that draws sailors to Albania, but it proved a friendly and easy place to begin our exploration.
We dinghied ashore, where our first stop was the beach club where the check-in took place. Unfortunately, the wine situation was less than ideal, and the substitute sodas failed to impress. Fortunately, things improved later in the evening.
Following our agent’s recommendation, we headed to a local seafood restaurant for dinner, only to discover afterward that we’d accidentally chosen the inland location instead of the waterfront one. The meal was decent enough, but the real success came afterward when we stumbled across a dessert shop on the walk back to the dinghy. Priorities restored.
Back aboard KORA, it was all charts and paperwork as we mapped out the next phase of the journey. Ahead lies the Albanian Riviera – a spectacular stretch of coastline famous for turquoise water, dramatic mountains, hidden coves, and some of the most beautiful anchorages in the Mediterranean.
With plans made and excitement building, we turned in for the night.
