Albania

[Guest]

By the end of sept. we are planning to leave Croatia with destination Greece and Turkey, we also have to cross Albania would there be any difficulties with the Albanian authorities. Do you need any special permissions??
regards Jensjak

 

[spark]

I crewed on a delivery to Croatia last year and we called into Durres (Albania) just for the hell of it. No problem going through their waters (although you might want to keep outside the uncleared minefield that's marked on the chart) but you must request permission before you enter the port. We didn't and were told that a $3000 fine was a possible penalty. The port security (possibly army) were keen to enforce this but we got off with it because the harbour master was keen on football, was an admirer of Glasgow Rangers and had a taste for cheap whisky.

 

[MedMan]

We made a direct passage from Dubrovnik to Corfu a couple of months ago. We used the nice, convenient Waypoint of 40.00N 19.00E which took us straight down the middle of the Adriatic and through the Straits of Otranto and kept us well outside Albanian Waters. We carried with us a very detailed report of a passage made port-to-port along the Albanian coast last year by a fellow CA member. He said it was interesting but he would not do it again, so we didn't either! We had also spoken to an Austalian Yachtie in Croatia who had just come up via Albania. He said it was less scary than Eritrea - not an overwhelming endorsement! However, both he and the fellow CA member made the passage and survived to tell the tale so, if you are looking for adventure ... ...! Both said that the southern ports were OK but it got less organised and more worrying as you got further north.

Bon Voyage!

 

[Roberto]

If you just want to transit towards greece and have no specific compulsory irrational desire to visit Albania, I would definitely skip it.
Apart from "authorities" (I doubt there is any left there), with whom you would expect the normal hassle in various degrees from just overzealous to menacing, the place is unfortunately full of weapons and desperate people. As you may know the Otranto strait has become one of the main gateways used by refugees/immigrants from irak, sri lanka, "kurdistan", and of course albania etc to come into europe. Countless people are found trying to cross the strait with small old inflatables, or are being brought by organized criminals which simply drop them in the water when near the italian shoreline.
I suspect a sailboat would represent too much of a tempting opportunity, btw it has already, I ll try to find the piece of news..

 

[Metabarca]

I live in Trieste and cruise up and down the Dalmatian coast. Although I've never done it myself, the perceived hassle-free route adopted by locals here is to sail down to Vis, one of the most outlying islands in Croatia, then pootle across to Vieste on the Gargano and coast down as far as Brindisi or Otranto before crossing again to Corfu. It sounds daft, but if you look at a chart of all the Adriatic, you'll find it's a fairly straight line and you have more options in the case of bad weather or desire for a decent meal!
Buon vento!

Lucian Comoy

 

[cpthook]

hi,

Am travelling from Split to Dubrovnik next Tuesday.
Could I ask how your journey went down to Corfu? We want
to end up in Corfu and don't know whether to cross to Italy
and potter down to Brindisi before making the final crossing.

Did you stop or do some night sailing? How was the weather,
currents and how heavy is the commercial traffic round there?

 

[rotorman]

Hi,

I just come through the Otranto Strait. Not from Corfu but from Valetta.
From Otranto To Brindisi we passed ships almost every hour, later
on the open sea we had ships almost every 3 hour.

Actually we sailed all the way non stop day and night.
I did not found strong currents.

Regards

Geza