With a strong high pressure system sitting over us still, the wind overnight and the next day hardly got above F1 so we motored across to the main island of Corfu and down the channel between there and Albania. As you do so you are less than a mile from the Albanian shore, not a place to make a mistake when the previous Albanian regime was in power. Today there was lots of traffic on the Corfu side of the water but we saw nothing moving on the water on the Albanian side though it is now possible to visit certain ports in the country.

We had been warned by friends about the funnelling effect on the wind down this channel and they were right, but as it only trebled from 2 knots to 6 it wasn’t a major issue for us, with 15 knots behind you though it would have been time to take care!

We had targeted the bay a mile or so down the channel on the northeast coast of Corfu called Kalami. It’s a good sized bay with a stony beach and three tavernas on shore including one supposedly the previous house of Laurence Durrell and family. It has a reputation for being difficult to moor in because of the weed but we were OK on our first drop and the Rocna caught well. We had a pleasant afternoon as a few other boats came and went around us. The water was warmer here so we both had a swim before venturing ashore to ‘Thomas’s Place’ the tavern opposite us where the food and service were very good, as was the price. We even got a slice of the hosts birthday cake it being a celebratory evening.


The bay at Kalami, Thomas's Place is the taverna behind the sunshades

The weather overnight continued the very calm theme and we both slept well with the boat only moving when a large cruise ship or ferry went past in the main channel.......with the wake they create we certainly moved then!

Main Photo: Chris helms past the Albanian coast