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.

 

Day 6 Let's dive!

Derek giving the morning Albanian language lesson.

Today we had our first dive!  I love the communal breakfast then morning short meeting/debriefing, with our Albanian phrase and knot of the day.  It is a good way to get started and get rolling.  We learned a figure eight, a double figure eight and good morning (Meire Menjes). 

Derek and Dave working on knot tying.

Today after we finished up and grabbed our gear, we headed down to the military base/our home base.  We had a very minor hiccup when it was realized out regulators were all set up for yoke valve tanks and the tanks here are for DIN valves but they got them switched out and ready to go in no time, while assuring us we would learn enough about our regulators during the program that we would but our first stages back in ourselves at the end.  We were buddy paired up, Cameron and I got to be buddies, and Dave was assigned shore master duties, meaning he recorded everyone’s PSI before and after the dive, as well as time in and out. After half gearing up we walked to the water, left our BCD’s and swam around the point to place the float. Derek and Chris demonstrated some entry options from the surface to get to depth skin diving while in thick neoprene suits, which make you buoyant.  We practiced our skin diving skills on the way back to gear up fully.  We went over skills such as mask, BCD, weight, and fin removal and replacement at depth as well as multiple out of air buddy sharing scenarios which Cam and I completed just fine under the watchful eye of Chris.  Don’t misunderstand, some of our tasks were challenging, taking your BCD off, which has all your weight in it while wearing a buoyant suit is fairly simple, getting it back on can be challenging and comical.  I ended up turtling, I was on my back on top of the BCD pulling myself down into it and kicking up sediment the whole time.  The skills like BCD and fin removal and replacement are more for problem solving under water rather than real scenarios. After Cam and I finished we all went for a short dive around with Chris tailing us, we explored a bit, swimming over lush sea grass beds and sandy patches.  Cam spotted a eel and pointed it out fast enough I saw it as it fled into the bottom compartment of the engine block it is living in.  The thermocline is very apparent but due to the hot weather shifts constantly and is unpredictable, you can swim a horizontal line not changing depth and swim through it several times. It does feel good though hitting that colder water that is about 65 F, especially after being in the sweltering sun lugging gear and surface swimming in black neoprene.  Visibility is pretty good, I would say about 30 feet, which compared to Pacific Northwest diving is wonderful.  After cleaning and hanging gear we had our first self-driven lunch hour.  I learned that the lunchmeat we bought has a thin paper around the outside you should remove prior to making your sandwich.  After lunch we headed to the ice box, otherwise known as Cam and Dave’s room, for the start of our rescue course, we talked a lot about liability, and assessing a situation and the choice to help or not, what that choice means to you and what happens once you choose to help.  It was a really interesting discussion with all of our backgrounds.  Derek worked at the Catalina Island decompression chamber (among several) as well as being a fully certified ETM, in all his time diving and teaching he has dealt with some pretty crazy and sometimes heart breaking stuff.  He did an amazing job getting us thinking and discussing.  Class ended abruptly as the slats under cams bed gave way and Cam, Effie, and Chris all hit the floor.  We figured that was a good stopping point for the day.  We all enjoyed a quick break and met back up to all head in to town together for dinner.  Tonight was a more traditional restaurant above the beach overlooking the swim test area.  I had an amazing stuffed eggplant dish.  I should start paying attention to what Lee gets, she has been here before and everything she orders is wonderful.  Unknowingly I order that same thing as her and therefore didn’t have to be jealous.  The moon was gorgeous and huge climbing through the sky above the bay as we ate on the patio.  Kayla showed up soon after we finished and it was nice to see her again.  Apparently my guess of the 90’s was conservative and it have been over 100 F everyday, which is unusual for this time of year, so I feel less wimpy now knowing that.  After dinner everyone headed home except Effie, Michael and I, we strolled down the waterfront, buying souvenirs and eating gelato before getting back to our residence around midnight. 

Gelato on the boardwalk.

Day 5 First official program day

Our first breakfast together in glorious Albania.

 Today marked the first official day of the AAUS program through the Albania Center for Marine Research here in Saranda, Albania.  Every morning the students all meet in the courtyard of our housing for breakfast, provided by Alma, it is ever changing and delicious. 

Our beautiful and always cheerful host Alma.

After breakfast Derek, Chris, Lee and Michael show up and we have a daily short briefing, language lesson, knot tying instruction, and some team building exercises. We learned how to tie a bowline (pronounced bow-lin) knot, and a dragon bowline, which is a bad joke.  Our Albanian for the day was I’m sorry: me fal.  We then grabbed swimsuits and goggles and headed into town to the waterfront beach.  When Albania had Olympic swimmers an Olympic pool sized area was built with blocks and such right on the shoreline in town.  Today it is a popular swimming area for the local children and serves as our swim test pool. 

The swim test area in the ocean.

The program has three skills to achieve, 25 meters on a single breath, 400 meters in 12 minutes and a 10 minute water tread. Though we attempted the skills today, they must be achieved successfully by the end of the program.  The single breath swim was the first skill and I missed it shortly on my first attempt, I tried three times and called it a day.  I do have a partner to retest with later though.  We all completed the rest of our skills crowded around by many local boys who were very curious, cheering, and trying to trade goggle with us.  Michael let one little boy probably around 6, swimming in his whitey tidies, to take some pictures with his camera. Not only was it the cutest thing ever the kid has a really good eye.  On our return home from swim tests we picnicked on crepes on the stairs right off the beach, rounded out with fruit, cookies and chips from the market.  We then went to the farmers market to get fruits and vegetables for our lunches.  So much great stuff, all fresh and in season.  Everyone was happy to give you samples, often no matter how polite you tried to be and refuse you ended up eating an apricot, or little cucumber. 

Farmers market offerings.

After the market we headed up the street to the market for the rest of our supplies.  I’m gad we had experienced people with us to help with the meat and cheese counter and to steer us away from certain items. After shopping was finished and we settled in back at home we had our first lectures.  Today we focused on the history of AAUS, and the history of the knowledge of decompression illness leading to prevention and treatment, as well as recompression history. After lecture we headed in to town for dinner at the Eagle’s something, what that something is can be of debate, possible claw or leg.  Along the way we ran into an Albanian family that people from the program knew with their son and his band from the American south, Sunny Farlund. (So I thought they said, I can’t find them online.) When we arrived at the restaurant as usual Derek, Howard, Lee and the rest of us by association were warmly remembered and heartily welcomed. The food was delicious, group salads with many tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions with a light vinaigrette, tzatziki, delicious melted cheese, bread, then your main course.  All that eating leads to after dinner wandering on the waterfront and eventual gelato eating, followed by a good nights sleep.

Day 4 Arrival of the rest of the crew

How early did I wake up?

Gorgeous beach we found nearby.

As Cameron and I finished a wonderful breakfast  provided by Alma, Derek showed up with our next member Dave, who took the morning ferry from Corfu.  After he situated a bit we all headed out to do some snorkeling.  After getting clarification we headed past the graveyards and down a dirt road that led to a much nicer beach than I had found the day before.  This one is in front of a hotel and well maintained.  There was a man spreading gravel along the beach as we swam.  Many beaches here are reminiscent of home, rocky not sandy and people spread gravel in response. We swam and explored, again there was considerable trash, but not as much as the day before. 

Dave explores the depths.

We did keep finding porcelain dishes, our first artifacts we joked.  Hungry from snorkeling we headed into town, were I was an old hand by this point, compared to the guys that is.  We hit up Lemoni for lunch, were we went the first night I arrived.  The food was again delicious, though Cameron’s Cesar salad was not quite what he was expecting, mayo as dressing.  I enjoyed a fabulous cold seafood salad and Dave had amazing grilled shrimp that were huge. Lunch was followed by complimentary lemon sorbet served in little cups, which perfectly rounded out the meal. After stuffing ourselves silly we wandered the waterfront, enjoying gelato, and taking in the sights.  The guys were done after a bit but I decided to explore further up into the hills, the less touristy area.  I wandered and wandered in the hot sun, exploring, getting higher and higher into the hills.  I realized at one point I needed to meet everyone at the ferry around 6:15 to greet the rest of the crew, arriving on the evening ferry. 

I think I'll find one without swimming poo.

Gorgeous side street of Saranda.

It took some figuring but I found my way down the hillside, once I got into more familiar territory I picked up some cherries from one of the many street vendors that are all scattered around selling fruit.  I was the first to arrive at the ferry and ordered some ice tea (chai limon) and ate my cherries, reading through a guide to Saranda I picked up at the tourist center on the waterfront.  I need to adjust to Albanian time, because I was the first one there by a long shot, Howard showed up with “our” cab driver since so many people were arriving with luggage.  He caught me as I was ordering my second tea.  You have two choices lemon and peach, he explained you want to use Albanian and order “peeyeshka” as in Albanian peach is a dirty word, slang for lady parts.  Advice to remember.  Cam and Dave showed up and eventually so did the ferry.  Everyone else was here!  We got the other students, Leslie and Effie, as well and Dr. Chris Bagley, the professor from Transylvania University who co-teaches with Derek, Michael Blades the photographer from RCM and Lee the student teacher.  Howard got all the luggage situated in the van and headed up to housing while we all wandered to Limon for dinner, then back home to get situated and get some needed sleep.  I chatted with Effie and Leslie, the boys are sharing the middle room that has three beds and there are two other rooms, the one I am in, with the view and laundry and one with a kitchenette and bunk beds.  Derek and I had thought that one person could take the kitchen, as we will all be preparing lunches in there and I could share my room.  After chatting the girls both enjoy high AC, not my first choice, so they decided to share a room but wouldn’t let me switch, so I have my own room. 

View from the heights of the hillside neighborhoods.

Looking back across at part of the city on the hillside.

Day 3 Saranda, Albania

I can see Greece from my balcony!

We are the building on the right, on the left is "our" cafe and staff housing.

My first full day in Saranda was wonderful.  I awoke early to the view of Corfu, Greece across the ocean from my balcony, bids chirping and glorious warm sunshine. It smells amazing here, the scents shifts from sea, to flowers, to cooking foods, to what I think is a citrus orchard, on the whim of the breeze.  I honestly had no idea what time it was when I woke up, Derek told me last night is was about 10:30 when he left, my phone said 11:30, my computer thinks it is 10:35 pm on Monday.  A guess it that I woke up around 6:30. I situated my stuff, did a little writing and headed over to the staff housing where I sat on the café patio and had a morning espresso. I returned to my housing for my computer after I learned there was wireless available at the staff housing cafe.  Etta, the restauranteur) is very patient with me and is trying to learn English, she is super sweet and smiles all the time.  I reassured the world that I arrived safely and was alive and well in Saranda.  From there Derek and I headed into town to run some errands, after returning I had an accidental siesta at the at the dive locker waiting for the guys to deal with bureaucracy.   

Gear locker and nap site.

We are located on a military base that is mostly abandoned except a radar tower and the few soldiers to run it.  I wandered off after lunch planning to snorkel, I had misheard that there was a trail through the graveyard up the street to the beach so I spent some time wandering around the graveyards up the street a bit.  I eventually gave up and headed back past our residence and down some streets that had been pointed out as a way to the beach, I wandered along dirt road, down what looked like an alley that led to the water and found a beach to snorkel at.  I had to get into the Ionian.  Not only was I itching to get into a sea I’ve never been in before but it was sweltering out, it has been easily over 90 F every day. I drank close to 3.5 liters of water today and felt like I should have had more.  Swimming was a lot of fun, poking around exploring somewhere new.  Sadly there is pollution here, as most everywhere.  After cleaning up from swimming I met up with the others and we headed to greet the ferry from Corfu and met Cameron, the next arrival for the program.  In true “Albanian time” the ferry was over an hour late, we chatted, drinking iced tea watching the water.   Derek picked out Cameron right away even as the ferry approached the dock, he stood head and shoulders over everyone else.  We all enjoyed delicious crepes for dinner tonight, Derek and Cameron headed to get Cameron situated and I had a wander through town with Howard to grab some necessities and headed home for the evening.  Today I also met Alma’s twin twelve year old daughters, Anna-Maria and Emily, they speak 5 languages and help us communicate with their mom who  claims to speak very little English.  Most Albanians who say the speak little or bad English do pretty well, between what they know and interpretive sign we get along pretty well.  Falemnderit is the phrase of the day, thank you, very important words to learn in any language. 

A relaxing evening stroll, for the cows that is.

Day 2 Munich to Albania

We landed at about 8.00 am in Munich to a sunny gorgeous day.  I found a nice strong coffee and headed to my gate to wait to the brief hour until my flight boarded. I chatted with a delegation on a mission trip, people from all over the US, sweet folks in their twenties.  Most of them second or third generation American heading to see where their families came from.  We boarded our plane to Tirana, Albania for another short flight, about 1.5 hours.  The views from the plane were amazing, beautiful fields surrounding red roofed cites led into snow capped mountains which eventually themselves held a river between them that ran it’s course to meet the sea.   

We walked off the plane onto the tarmac and it was warm, the weather predicted the 90’s and I think it lived up to the promise. After landing I had the easiest customs experience of my life, I handed the man my passport, he looked it over, stamped it, and waived me on my way in under two minutes.  All without a single word spoken.  I gathered my bag and walked through the “nothing to declare” customs door I was on my own in the airport.  I managed to find a cab driver who interpreted the hand written translation from the internet asking to please take me to the bus to Saranda.  The bus station is in the middle of the city and once we hit proper city it was quite an exciting ride.  I forget how people drive in other countries sometimes, lanes and lights are just suggestions, everyone fitting where they can, horns may expire if not used every minute or so and coming within inches of someone else is so common you stop being startled.  He delivered me to the bus area, made sure I had the right bus and my luggage was loaded, and I was happy to have made it.  There are many buses, from small maybe 12 seaters to full tour buses, driven by, from what I gather, their owners.  The destination city is posted on the front window and I don’t think there is any type of schedule at all.  The driver didn’t speak English so when I tried to figure out what time the bus was leaving it was either 20 minutes or six hours, from what I could gather with watch pointing.  I hit the food cart across the dirt lot where all the buses gather and enjoyed a sandwich and beer for 300 Lek, about $3 US.  The men sitting in the booth all smiled and we did the language barrier polite smiles and hand shakes.  I think I had a hotdog of sorts, on a baguette, grilled, covered in some French fries and then ketchup, mayo and mustard.  It was delicious and the Beera Tiriana was cold and refreshing in the sweltering sun.  I was happy when the driver motioned to me and it was confirmed my wait was merely 20 minutes.  We hit the road, 4 of us in the bus the youngest guy, who spoke English, confirmed that I was indeed on the correct bus.  We drove through the city, stopping at corners with bus signs, opening the slider and shouting our destination, if no one moved we drove on.  This continued the entire trip, which in total ran almost 6 hours.   

 

About an hour or so in a nice older gentleman boarded who spoke decent English, contrary to his belief.  Benny wanted to practice his English so we sat together as he pointed out sights.  He made sure I saw 3 different castles nestled in the hills, pointed out the bunkers from when the communist rule told the citizens the Americans would invade, and explained about all road the construction.  A little over three hours into our journey we stopped at a spot on the mountains called Cold Water, it was amazing!  There is freezing cold spring water coming out of the mountain there and they have built spigots into rock.  We all got out, drank, washed up and headed into the little café.  Again Benny was amazing, we sat together and he insisted I try the local yoghurt and some “father of the lamb” which he said imbibed more oomph than the young lamb.  The meat was roasting whole on spits along the back wall, which was really the rock face of the mountain.  It was all delicious! We ate, talked and drank lots of cold spring water.  Soon it was time to get back on the road.  After another few hours of breathtaking scenery we turned at a sign pointing into the hills marked Saranda, at this point Benny explained we were jut a few kilometers from Greece.  After we crested the hills and headed down into a valley Benny pointed out a large natural spring in the valley called the Blue Eye due to it’s color.  He insisted that I try to come back to see it up close as it is so beautiful.  Shortly thereafter we arrived in Saranda, it is very Mediterranean with houses nestled into the hillside as it drops down narrow lanes to the water.  We all said our goodbyes, after Benny and the driver were assured that I was fine and simply waiting for my ride we smiled, shock hands and there were on their respective ways.  Since my plans from the airport to the bus and our route were unknown when I set out I waited a bit for Derek and Howard to show up.  People are amazingly friendly and helpful, no less than three people stopped and asked if I needed help and made sure I was all right and simply awaiting my people.  It was so amazing, everyone smiling, the warm evening light making everything glow, the scents of food drifting about, people getting on and off buses at the intersection that serves as the bus area.  Soon my saviors arrived and we walked a few blocks down to the waterfront for some dinner.  They just got into town a few days ago and have been hitting all their favorite spots, tonight is was a waterfront restaurant for pizza.  The waiter was excited to see them hugging everyone and welcoming us all into town.  Shortly after we sat down a local woman, Kayla, joined us as well.  From what I gathered she serves as an interpreter with the locals and helps arrange dive sites. Diving is very new to Albania as it was forbidden under communist rule, we are the only divers in town.  Technically it is still illegal but we are allowed for research and have all the appropriate government permits.  We had a nice dinner of pizza accompanied by good conversation and laughs.  I found out we get to go snorkel Blue Eye, which is exciting as I was going to try to get there somehow after the glowing recommendation that I got. After we finished the manager let us leave my bags in his office and we wandered the waterfront, having a gelato and then sitting for a cappuccino.  It is election week here in Albania and the country is gearing up for it, there are party flags and posters everywhere and many people politicking for their cause on the waterfront. Apparently there may be a change in power approaching.  Eventually we headed back to our temporary homes, luckily Alma the woman who runs the housing where the students stay was still up and happy to have me a day earlier than expected.  We stay above the family business, Mini Market Quirjako, and they live downstairs primarily but the girls, Emily and Anna-Maria, have rooms on our floor when there aren’t guests in them.After getting situated, and finally having a much needed shower, I fell asleep in what will be my bed for the next few weeks.  Nat na mer. (Good night)

 

Day 1 An adventure begins, from Bellingham, Washington to Saranda, Albania in the name of scientific SCUBA training

I recently undertook quite an adventure in my quest to receive AAUS scientific SCUBA training.  This begins that story. 

Day 1 Bellingham, WA to Charlotte, NC -To really understand how this trip started you have to rewind a bit.   I only found out about the program about a month before it started.  I had planned to attend AAUS (American Academy of Underwater Sciences) dive training through UW at Friday Harbor Labs in July but that program was sadly canceled due to low enrollment.  I inquired as to other opportunities and the program with the Albanian Marine Research Center was suggested.  I applied, was accepted, and had to get all my ducks in the row while wrapping up an incredibly busy and amazing quarter. This last week was incredibly long for me and flew by at the same time.  I had two research papers due last Friday, my finals started Tuesday, my last two research papers from my student-designed experiments were due this week, Thursday I took my last final.  Friday I dropped Eric off at the airport in Seattle then headed home to work and prepare a bit for my trip. I got a few hours of restful sleep after getting home from work at 12.30 am and trying to get some things accomplished before heading to bed, but I honestly don’t think counted for much. Saturday passed in a blur of working, running last minute errands, trying to clean my house, and last minute packing. What did I pack?  I’ll find out for sure when I unpack. Before I knew it my friend Asher was picking me up and delivering me to the airporter.  Technically my Sunday started in Seattle as my flight was at 12.20 am.  I fell asleep minutes after takeoff and hearing the flight was only 4.5 hours.  I thought I would get more sleep.  I awoke at about 8:30 am in that time zone. I left my googley eye in Charlotte, NC, no really, I lost the googley eye pin off my backpack somewhere in the city. After situating in Charlotte I headed into the city to explore a bit.   I was sad to learn there is no short-term luggage storage so I had to lug my dive bag with me making exploring a bit less exciting.  They have great public transportation, which was about the highlight.  The downtown core is small, maybe six blocks by six blocks and most of it is a financial district from what I understand.  Sunday is more important in this part of the country than at home and it was evidenced as half the restaurants were closed and there are very few shops overall.   I eventually found a nice Irish pub serving breakfast and had a proper fry up on the patio while I enjoyed my book.   After breakfast I explored some more but as I overheard a tour guide explain to his group there isn’t a lot of old history left in the city, it has all been built over.  I did eat again at a restaurant suggested by a friend, Mert’s, having a small plate of delicious sweet potato pancakes.  I cut my city visit a bit short and returned to the airport.  We eventually boarded the flight to Munich and I slept quite soundly most of the way. (I was so frazzled and oblivious I completely forgot to take any pictures. Here is one that shows what my desk may have looked like before I left.)