A unexpected long journey
Logbook Day 15 – Mijet to Shengjin / Albania
Slowly further south. Easy cruising with some 7-8 kn tailwind. Slowly passing Dubrovnik.
Some 5miles off shore, the Coast Guard / Customs came by with a fast motorboat. “Where do you go?” – “Albania” – “You need to check out at customs before leaving Croatia!” – “OK. Cavtat is just some miles” – “Cavtat customs is closed. You need to go back to Dubrovnik!”. Grrr. 12 miles back, against the wind. At least 3-4 hours just to get back to Dubrovnik. No choice. Checking in books and online where the customs pier is. Should work, but losing a lot of time.
Albania was much in my focus, how to do the check-in, etc. There is not the typical customs and harbormaster. All done by an agent. Lots of googling, I found Mr. Frock. Contacted him by Whatsapp (00355682035531, 60 Euro for the service in 2024.06). Worked so far. Over all that hassle, I completely ignored that I also need to check out from Croatia. My mistake.
Customs is nice and friendly, even so it is a procedure. First to the harbormaster for crew list and boat documents. Than on to customs – nothing to declare. Finally to police for papers and passport check. Takes about 30 minutes.
After check out from Croatia, I am not allowed to go ashore or such. Not even sailing between Croatia islands. So sailing further on to the destination Shengjing / Albania.
It is getting night. Spaghetti for Dinner. Half through cooking … the gas ran out. Fixed the BBQ (using different gas cartridges, which I still have some) on the stove top to at least have the dinner done and some coffee the next days.
The cooling water pump at the boat engine leaks. Saltwater gets very slowly into the boat. About a cup per hour motoring. Interim I constructed some water collection bin. Good is, that I found the leak. During the cruise I disassembled the thing and “improved” the sealing. Need to monitor over the next days.
The port of entry harbour is load, noisy and buisy. Not a nice place to stay for long. But I guess mostly save, as the Jolie Fleur docked right near the police warden. There is still a lot of military. A sunken war ship, some on shore, torpedos lay arround, etc. (no photographs allowed). I take a stroll to the nearby beach, shop some fruits and get a pizza for dinner (pizza with a large beer for about 11 Euro).
Mr. Frock came by with the papers. We went for a coffee and refill my spare Diesel canister (another 20L for some 10h motoring). Interestingly, we set with the police chief and harbor master :-). Discussion around “ship agent” and why other countries don’t have such services. Also got a data sim (Vodafone, 25 Euro for 40GB). All friendly people.
Shengjin is a tourist city, like Rimini or such. 7 km of beach. This weekend is a huge techno festival (the bass sound was already apparent from about 20 km). Many young people on the street. Also lots of police control. Mostly searching for drugs in the cars and for drunken driving.
32h sailing, 126 nm
Wind 0-15 kn,NWN
