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.

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We have been in Albania for a week. We will start a 12-day road trip this Friday, but this post is about our trip “north,” and our entry into Albania. (Spoiler alert: we love it!)

After saying goodbye to Jennifer, Michael and I checked out of the hotel and walked to the port police office to check out of Patras. They were closed. So, we walked to the boat, thinking we would motor back and get to the port police via water. Michael hung around on Seahike just near the shore (we weren’t allowed to anchor or tie briefly to the quay) while I took the dinghy ashore. Still closed. We were a bit apprehensive because we’d heard that you could be fined for leaving a place without checking out with the port police. But we needed to be on our way, so we decided to cross our fingers and risk it.

Because we’d gotten a late start due to the whole port police being closed thing, we knew we couldn’t get as far as we had hoped that day. We had about 80 nm to go. Not to worry. We decided to head for a small bay – Goat Bay – on the NE side of Meganisi, about 84 nm away. We dropped the anchor and took two lines ashore. There were only four boats in the bay. It was a lovely, quiet night.

Here are some pictures of our journey from Patras to Goat Beach, Meganisi and of the anchorage.

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The last time we wrote we were enjoying the cliffs, caves, and beaches of Paxos. What a joy that was!

We had two main goals after that: 1) see more beautiful sights, and 2) get Jennifer closer to Athens so her drive to the airport would be of tolerable length. To meet goal #2, our end destination was Patras. We now needed to decide what to see along the way.

We decided to make Nidri (or Nydri), Lefkas (or Lefkada) our first stop. This was partly due to the location, but it is also a very popular destination.

Aside: For those who have noticed that we don’t post many sailing (with the sails up) pictures, it is because we have had either no wind or the wind has been going in the wrong direction while we have been in Greece (well, and before that, but we are talking about Greece now).

Let me explain. We started in Rhodes, the southeast corner of the Dodecanese Islands. We had been in Turkey so Rhodes was the logical starting point. The winds in the Dodecanese primarily blow from the N or NW, the exact direction we had to go to see the next island.

The same winds blow in the Cyclades and again we were moving N, NW, or W. This meant that we had to wait for days with light winds to get to our next destination to avoid going really slow and having an uncomfortable ride.

The Ionian Sea has light winds in general. They do blow in different directions, but they tend to be very light.

When we finally have any semblance of wind, we nearly shriek with joy and unfurl the genoa. We have not yet had enough wind from the “right” direction to hoist the main. This, however, was one of those days when there was just enough wind to keep the genoa filled. Hence, the picture!

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We are back! Jennifer Janeksela, the oldest of our five children, returned to Greece with us. She is visiting for two weeks and we couldn’t be more delighted!

When we last wrote, we were at D-Marin Marina in Lefkada on the Ionian Sea. We were still figuring out what our itinerary would be while Jennifer was with us, but she helped out by letting us know that she wanted to go to Antipaxos and Paxos (which were on our list as possibilities). Wow, am I glad we did!

But I jumped ahead. Let’s get back to the start of our trip with Jennifer.

We flew into Athens upon our return from the US. We visited the Acropolis (Jennifer’s first time, and I was happy to go again) and the Ancient Agora of Athens (ditto). But this trip we also added a visit to the Acropolis Museum, and was it ever interesting and informative!

I want to call out our lodging in Athens. We stayed at the Hotel Parthenon, which was the PERFECT location – walking distance to the Acropolis, Ancient Agora, Acropolis Museum, and numerous restaurants – and a lovely hotel to boot! Stay there. 🙂

Here are a few pictures from our visit to the Ancient Agora. (I posted pictures in a previous post, so these are just a few new ones.)

The following pictures are from the Acropolis Museum. I highly recommend it if you are in Athens.

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The past week has been simply amazing! We have much to share.

We went to Athens after Serifos. We spent one afternoon sightseeing in Athens and that almost felt like enough. We saw most of what we wanted to see and quickly tired of the crowds (Cindy did, anyway). We had planned to go into Athens again the second day we were there, but we spent much of the afternoon cleaning Seahike’s exterior. By the time we were done, Michael’s leg was really sore. I considered going into Athens alone but discarded that idea. In short, we didn’t see a lot. Here are a few pictures of what we (or I, when Michael needed to stop walking) saw.

Michael needed to stop walking after visiting the Acropolis, so I walked to the Ancient Agora of Athens. Some pictures:

And that was it for Athens. On the bright side, Seahike’s exterior (except for the sides) was nice and white again!

We left Athens by a sea of ships. Not sure why so many were there, but they were!

It was 32 nm from Athens Marina to the Corinth Canal. I was uber excited to sail the canal! First, the pictures we had seen looked lovely. Second, the canal itself is quite amazing. Here’s a bit of info about it. (When I say “a bit,” I mean a lot. I really like this canal!!)

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It is actually June 12 as I write this, but let’s talk about what we did last week.

I was a little tired after the previous week so I was ready for a bit of down time. The wind decided to provide us with some down time whether we wanted it or not! 🙂 We had planned to go to Milos, spend a day there, then come back “north” to visit a few islands before we went to Athens. That plan fell apart because it looked like we wouldn’t get back “up north” in time due to the N/NW winds. (When I say “in time,” I am referring to our deadline for getting to Lefkas to catch a flight to the US later this month.)

So, we skipped Milos. I regret that, but it is what it is. We’ve skipped other islands we’d hoped to visit due to the broken leg and the weather, and we’ve learned to accept the changes.

We went to Sifnos instead. Sifnos is one of the less touristy islands (you might have noticed that we tend to pick those types of islands) and it feels quite laid back. We rented a car and drove around a bit, had a nice meal with four cats, bought some honey, and enjoyed the slow pace.

I should mention that all four cats were ideal lunch guests and didn’t really beg. That could be because we pretty much ignored them . . .

Our next stop on the revised (Plan H?) itinerary was Serifos. We anchored out for the first time in a long time because Michael’s leg had healed enough to allow him to enter and exit the dinghy with little pain.

This big guy screamed past us on the way to Serifos. Look at how churned up the water behind the boat is!

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We left Rhodes after staying there for a week. We completed two necessary tasks: purchased two propane tanks (turned out they couldn’t fill the ones we had) and a passerelle. For those who don’t know, a passerelle is a gangway used to board or leave a yacht. We knew we would need one in the Med as soon as we started Med mooring again.

Our next stop was Tilos. We took a day to get there and spent the next day (May 27) touring the island via rental car. We chose Tilos because it isn’t populated with tourists and has some interesting sites. In antiquity, Tilos was popular for its herbs, and it prospered during the Classical period, which was also the time when Irinna, a famous ancient Greek female poet lived. Now it is a quiet island, said to be more true to its traditions than the more developed neighboring islands.

Our first visit was to Mikro Chorio. It isn’t wheelchair accessible so Michael waited in the car.  Mikro Chorio is a deserted village standing between Livadia and Megalo Chorio, the capital of Tilos. After the year 1940, the village was gradually abandoned and most of the inhabitants moved to Livadia. Today, only ruins of impressive buildings and stone built houses can be seen. It is an amazing experience to walk through the abandoned village. One can imagine how active it once was. Some pics of and from the village:

Our next stop was at the Charkadio Cave. Well, we didn’t actually go to the cave, but to the museum that displays the findings. The cave has become an important sight after a phenomenal discovery of 1971 by the geologist and speleologist Nikolaos Simeonides. His team brought into light Neolithic artifacts, including hunting tools and pottery. But the most important discoveries were of the fossilized bones of elephants, turtles and deer within the cave. According to scientists, dwarf elephants lived on Tilos 45,000 years ago and disappeared about 4,000 years ago. The museum contains actual fossilized bones as well as reproductions. This first picture shows the bones of a baby elephant. The human skulls give you an idea of just how small the elephant was.

This is Michael sitting next to a skeleton of a dwarf elephant (full grown – see how small it is!!), made of both real and manufactured bones (the elephant, not Michael). 😉

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We are learning about traveling via wheelchair. We are also learning how inhospitable some places are to people with mobility issues. I never knew how much we would appreciate smooth surfaces and curb cuts!! We are also noticing things that could be done to make places more wheelchair accessible without a whole lot of effort. And, we continue to encounter generous souls to offer to help us. It is all a learning experience and we continue to appreciate the good things.

Let’s recap. We stayed in Bedri Rahmi Bay until May 15th. We needed to give Michael’s leg time enough to heal until he was in a more manageable amount of pain. Luckily, we were “stuck” in about the best possible location! We ordered food from the restaurant every other day to show our appreciation to them for allowing us to stay beyond the typical two-day maximum. They brought the food to our boat, which was ideal since Michael has to crawl off and on the boat.

We moved from Bedri Rahmi to Göcek because we had to check out of Türkiye in Göcek. Here are a few more pictures of the bay and surrounding sea and on our way to Göcek.

I am sharing the following because it again shows how the broken leg added complexity to an otherwise non complex process.

We contacted our agent early on Monday (May 15th) morning and asked if we could check out of Türkiye that night at about 10:00 or 11:00 p.m. He said that was fine. He asked if Michael could leave the boat by dinghy to go to the port police. I told him it wasn’t possible. He arranged to have the port police come to our boat provided I pick them up in the dinghy and return them to shore. So that was the plan.

We elected to get a berth in D-Marin marina because it would be easier for me to run the errands I needed to run. Also, we mistakenly thought that the port police could come to Seahike more easily if we were in a berth (and I wouldn’t have to pick them up at night – assuming we would have to anchor out quite far – and I wasn’t looking forward to a long dinghy ride in the dark). But when we told the agent that we were in a berth, he told me that I still needed to pick them up by dinghy because the boat had to be at anchor when we checked out. The good news was that he told us we could anchor temporarily right near the shore.

So, we had a plan. I needed to give our agent the boat documents, then get them back and take the documents to the marina office, then provision and find navigation lights for the dinghy. No problem! I had several hours.

I actually enjoyed my time ashore. Here are just a few pictures of the beautiful sights.

We left the marina at 8:00 p.m. and anchored near the shore. I need to tell you how we left the berth because it was new to us. First, you need to know that we were sandwiched between two other cats:

Since we got into that position by backing in the starboard side first then bringing the bow in, we assumed we would do the reverse to leave. But no! A dockhand in a dinghy (a.k.a. tender) tied a line from our port mid-ship cleat to his dinghy and threw his engine in reverse. He pulled us out of the berth like you’d pull a block from the tower in Jenga. It was pretty cool!

At promptly 9:50 p.m., I took the dinghy to shore. Turns out the port policeman did not need to come to the boat. Rather, the agent came with me to the boat and called the port police on videophone and pointed his phone at Michael. I guess that was all the police needed! Anywho, I took the agent back and we pulled up the anchor.

We had decided to leave as soon as we checked out then motor to Rhodes overnight. The winds were pretty much nonexistent so it would be a smooth ride, even though it meant motoring. The sunrise shows how calm the waters were.

We arrived at about 7:30 a.m. This is Mandraki Harbor:

We stayed in the New Rhodes Marina. They follow the same protocol many marinas do: they sent a dockhand out in a dinghy to lead us in. But this time, the dockhand saw that Michael had a broken leg and told us to sit tight while he picked up another dockhand. The second guy came on the boat when we got near the dock and worked with the guys on the dock to get us tied up nice and good. And they allowed us to dock side-to rather than Med moor because it would be easier for Michael to get on and off the boat. They also placed a set of stairs by our boat (which Michael doesn’t use, but I do). So nice!!!!

If you want to find our boat at the New Rhodes marina, just look for the cat with a wheelchair next to it:

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In case you need to catch up, Michael broke his left fibula on a hike on April 26th. After getting a ride to a nearby hospital, getting an x-ray and a cast, we came back to the boat, where we have been ever since.

The doc didn’t prescribe painkillers for Michael because he said it would slow down the healing. Instead, Michael was instructed to complain and whine to his wife. 🙂 🙂 🙂 (Hence, the title of this post.)

Actually, we took a second trip to the hospital with the same driver two days ago to get another x-ray. The bone is still in place, so no surgery will be needed. Whew! The doc asked us to come back again in two weeks for a third (and final) x-ray if we are still in the area. We spoke to the folks here at Bedri Rahmi Bay (a beautiful bay you must visit if you vacation in Türkiye!) and asked if we could stay two more weeks. They said that they have a couple of flotillas coming into the bay over the next two weeks but they could help us anchor out for a day or two each time and then come back to the dock. (The maximum stay here is typically two days, so they are being very kind and generous to us.)

Fingers crossed, we will leave here in about two weeks. It all depends on how Michael is feeling. He is still in quite a bit of pain, but, oddly enough, he keeps forgetting to whine. Maybe I am just such a gosh darn good nurse/wife that I anticipate his every need to keep him from whining. Ha ha ha!!! Oh, and we bought a wheelchair. We think/hope it will make our sightseeing easier. The crutches are good for a very short distance, but not much beyond that.

We eat at the restaurant here every other day to show our appreciation. The food is good but pricey. The staff (both the dock staff and the restaurant staff) are all simply wonderful. We couldn’t have had this happen in a better place, really (well, unless the hospital was right at the shore). More of the bad luck/good luck thing going on in our lives these days.

Speaking of the restaurant, that sneaky husband of mine wanted to “get some air” sitting at the stern of the boat the day after we returned from the hospital (April 27th). I paid no attention to him since: 1) he wasn’t whining, and 2) I was working on a crossword at the time. The next day, April 28th (my 65th birthday – where does the time go?!), the manager from the restaurant walked by on the dock. He asked how Michael was doing. I told him he was resting but doing well. Then Michael told me he wanted to sit outside again and that I should join him. I did. A few minutes later, two gentlemen from the restaurant delivered a cake to our boat. They lit three candles and sang the “Happy Birthday” song. Awwww. So nice! I am not gonna lie: I was 100 percent surprised. More so, I was touched that Michael thought to do that when he was in pain from his broken leg. He is a keeper!! Later that night, we got food from the restaurant and I treated myself with a shot of tequila. They served it with an orange wedge. It worked!

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The last time we wrote, neither of us had a broken bone.

But I digress, let’s talk about what happened before that. We left Kaş for Göcek on April 17. We chose Göcek because one of the marinas there had the charts of Europe that we needed for our chart plotter.

We spent the first night on the way to Göcek near Gemiler Island. We’d had to pump out our black water and get diesel in Kaş so we didn’t get an early start and wanted to travel fewer nm that day as a result. Gemiler Island was the perfect distance. It was a very picturesque trip. We saw the mountain I’d walked off of into the air the previous day, among several other beautiful views of the shoreline.

We picked up a mooring ball at no charge. . . provided we ate at the restaurant on shore. We’d read mixed reviews of the restaurant but we decided to try it to get the free mooring. Turns out the food was not good and too pricey. We probably should have anchored in a nearby bay instead, but all is well in the end. Here is a picture of the restaurant from our boat.

We’d planned to take the dinghy to the island the next day, but the marina contacted us in the morning and told us that the charts were ready to be picked up that afternoon. So, we just sailed around the island and took some pictures (which, in the end, was just as good as going there I think). Here is a short history of the island from Wikipedia:

“The Byzantine ruins of five Greek churches built between the fourth and sixth centuries AD remain on the island, along with a 350 meters (1,150 ft) processional walkway. Other remains from the same period include around forty other ecclesiastical buildings and over fifty Christian tombs. One of the churches was cut directly from the rock at the island’s highest point, and is located at the far western end of the processional walkway. It is possible that the Island was used by Christian pilgrims enroute to the Holy Lands.

Modern archaeologists believe that the island may be the location of St. Nicholas‘ original tomb. The traditional Turkish name for the island is Gemiler Adası, meaning “Island of Boats,” which may be a reference to St. Nicholas’s role as the patron saint of sailors; the island was also referred to as St. Nicholas Island by seafarers in the medieval period. Archaeologists believe he was interred in the rock-hewn church following his death in 326. His relics remained there until the 650s, when the island was abandoned as it was threatened by an Arab fleet. They were then moved to the town of Myra some 25 miles (40 km) to the east.”

Here are a couple of pictures of the very small island. You can easily see some of the ruins:

. . . . and we are on our way to Göcek. As per usual, I took pictures of our short journey from our mooring spot to our anchorage in Göcek.

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