Day 7 Ksamil Bay

Ksamil Bay

  Today after our morning briefing, knots and language we packed our gear into a taxi van and headed to Ksamil Bay about half an hour from Saranda.  The program had, to this point, only been to Ksamil Bay via boat but today we found it by road.  The road down to the bay itself was too harried even for the fearless taxi driver so we had him drop us at the top.  We hiked all of our gear, tanks, lunch, and other supplies down quite the road to the most beautiful beach.  It was very hot and the road a challenge so we were rewarded with some swim time prior to starting, it was glorious and rejuvenating.  

The gang enjoying some hard earned relaxation.

 After we cooled down a bit we geared up for snorkeling and spent time exploring and working on our skin diving skills and tired diver assists as well as cramp assistance.  Derek guided us to a beautiful swim-through, another gloriously beautiful experience at an amazing location.  After snorkeling we broke for lunch then headed back in to the water.  This time we teamed up with those nearest our size and after Derek demonstrated on Lee we practiced extractions from the water of an unconscious diver.  Though Derek made it look effortless and graceful we greatly lacked his experience and spent a lot of time giggling as we struggled to remove our partners to the shore without further drowning them, dropping them or causing greater injury.

Swim through with buddies.

Pretty sponge hiding under a rock.

Today we discovered that Cameron is ridiculously heavy when unconscious and for a simpler extraction it took the rest of us working together to form a human stretcher, though Dave was determined and did rescue Cameron on his own.  Today Chris and Lee were our saviors, they carried everything that could not get wet back up the large hill to meet the taxi driver.  The rest of us paired up, or in our case Effie, Leslie and I were a triplet, and we got to dive our way over to the next cove and the resort there. Lee and Chris met us there with the taxi to pack up.  The dive was gorgeous!  We found the swim-through again and experienced it again from another angle, we also enjoyed finding fire worms, sponges and all types of fish. 

Bristle worm, look but don't touch.

As I have mentioned diving is very uncommon in Albania so the looks we got when we surfaced at the resort beach were priceless.  Our group navigated well and surfaced right at the resort surprising a few people.  We packed up the van and headed back to Saranda, exhausted, happy and soggy.  After we rinsed our dive gear and ourselves we met up for todays classroom lesson, emergency oxygen provider and CPR/FA/AED training.  Derek seems to have a gift for making the serious also fun and educational. While making sure we learn what we need and understand the importance of it, he shares stores that get his points across both serious and amusing.  I already feel more prepared as a diver!  After class we cleaned up and headed in to town for dinner at a fancier restaurant down at the end of the boardwalk.  We were right on the water and the meal was fantastic! I enjoyed kebabs and grilled vegetables. After we finished the sun had completely set and we headed upstairs to the top level to snap some pictures of the boardwalk lit up at night.  It was a long exhausting day so after some boardwalk gelato we headed home and to bed. 

The Saranda boardwalk by night.

Leslie selects some tasty gelato for the stroll home.