We will be heading out for an 11-day road trip in Albania this Friday (today is Wednesday), but this post is about our first week in Albania.

We’ve been on Seahike in Orikum Marina the entire time, save for many trips into town (Orikum), a couple to the beach, and two to restaurants.

My initial impression of the marina was that it was out in the boonies. I wondered if we’d made a mistake. Turns out I was both right and wrong. It is pretty much out in the boonies but we didn’t make a mistake. Well, for one thing, this is the only working marina so we had no choice, but it is nice here. I mean, of course we are taking the road trip to see more of Albania, but this is a fine place to stay if one is looking for a quiet, relaxing locale.

When we first moored, we found that our electric cord didn’t fit the outlet at that particular berth. Michael talked to a gentleman who has a boat here and he told Michael that different berths have different electrical outlets. So, we moved to one that worked for us. Problem solved.

Here are a few more pictures from or near the marina:

Michael started working on the starboard AC as soon as possible. After a bit of troubleshooting, he figured it out. So we have cool air “down below” (in the head and our cabin) on the starboard side. The “main level” still gets a bit warm, but it is cooler than outside and we turn on the fan.

Speaking of the heat, it’s been feeling like 90-100 degrees Fahrenheit every day since we arrived. I say “feeling like” because weather.com always gives the actual temp and the “feels like” temp. I think the latter is what counts. In any event, it is warm.

One of the first things I did when we arrived was pack up a carry-on size duffle bag worth of dirty laundry and walk into town to drop it off at the laundry service in Orikum. The women who work there don’t speak English and I don’t speak Albanian, so we use the Google Translate app to communicate. (It has been a lifesaver on numerous occasions!) One of the women and I really hit it off. When I “told” her that we live on a sailboat she “said,” “you are great!” which led to a high five with a hand grip. 🙂 I hit the supermarket after that and headed back to the boat, about a 2.25 mile round trip, carrying either laundry or food and drink items . . . in the heat.

I made a similar trip the next day with another load of laundry. It’s been awhile since we’ve washed clothes. 🙂 I’ve gone into town almost every day for one thing or another.

In addition to housekeeping duties, we are making time to have fun. We found a beach a short walk from the marina. The cost for two chairs with an umbrella and two 50 cl Efes beers was only 1400 lek (about $13). Given that just renting a chair at other beaches can cost $10, we consider this to be a great deal! We also met the owner of the hotel and restaurant, who was intrigued and rather excited about our retirement plans.

To get to the beach (and the hotel and restaurant) we walk along a dirt road then a small and dirty stretch of shoreline, then we wade through a little cold and refreshing river that is dumping into the sea, then walk a bit farther to a good spot on the beach. It’s quite lovely. The little river varies in depth, anywhere from just above the knee to mid-thigh. It has a bit of a current, so we watch our steps.

Michael has been chatting up the boat owners at the marina. Each one of them tends to have some advice about where we should go on our road trip. I’ve also done hours of research, of course. As a result, I think we have an exciting, yet busy, trip ahead of us!

We ate dinner at the restaurant referenced above a couple of nights ago. Join me to see my yummy dinner and join us on our walk back to Seahike. It was a beautiful night!

VEGAN ALERT: SKIP THE DINNER PICTURE

And now, two cloud pictures:

The little we have seen of Albania thus far is quite pretty. We are looking forward to seeing more of this country’s beautiful and varied countryside and will share our adventure with you in the next several blogs. Good night!