{"id":2324,"date":"2012-07-16T23:40:05","date_gmt":"2012-07-17T06:40:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=2324"},"modified":"2013-12-10T19:13:24","modified_gmt":"2013-12-11T02:13:24","slug":"scuba-diving-albania-sirens-bay-saranda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=2324","title":{"rendered":"SCUBA Diving Albania: Sirens Bay, Saranda"},"content":{"rendered":"

July 11, 2012*<\/strong><\/p>\n

After an hour drive, we arrived at our next dive destination – Sirens Bay.<\/p>\n

Sirens Bay, Albania<\/p>\n

It’s a shallow area that is suppose to have a cavern and an arch.<\/p>\n

We had two small tanks that were filled with air from the super compressor we brought from Tirana.<\/p>\n

We did just like we did with the last batch – breathe, taste and smell the air.<\/p>\n

I didn’t get a headache or dizzy, but the air tasted like machine oil.<\/p>\n

Idit tasted his tank.<\/p>\n

“Yeah, it does taste oily, what do you want to do?” he asked.<\/p>\n

“What was powering the compressor?” I asked.<\/p>\n

“It was an electric compressor,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Well, it tastes like shit, but it should be good.”<\/p>\n

Again, we got the usual stares of amazement on this crowded beach.<\/p>\n

Logged SCUBA Dive #415<\/p>\n

Dove with Idit<\/p>\n

Sirens Bay
\nSaranda, Albania<\/p>\n

Air Source: Mini Super Compressor Brought From Tirana
\nIn With: 2500 psi
\nOut With: 900 psi
\nMax depth: 35 feet
\nWaves: Flat
\nVisibility: Up to 40 feet
\nWater Temperature: 74 degrees
\nAir Temperature: 92 degrees
\nTotal Bottom Time: 45 minutes or so<\/p>\n

We entered the water and swam to the right, before submerging.<\/p>\n

Albanian Starfish.<\/p>\n

Albanian Starfish.<\/p>\n

Rock garden.<\/p>\n

Rock Garden.<\/p>\n

An Albanian scallop.<\/p>\n

An Albanian scallop – I think.<\/p>\n

Not sure what this is.<\/p>\n

Not sure what this is.<\/p>\n

This was a shallow dive, and I wasn’t weighted properly.<\/p>\n

Albania uses a weird system of measurement called the “Metric” system.<\/p>\n

Before our first dive, Idit asked me how much weight I needed. <\/p>\n

“Twenty-two pounds.” <\/p>\n

“I need to know in kilos,” Idit replied. <\/p>\n

I assembled my weight belt by feel – it felt like 22 pounds.<\/p>\n

So, I’m having a hard time staying down and trying to keep up with Idit.<\/p>\n

I grabbed a rock to hold for weight, and I was lucky enough to also grab onto the sea urchin that was behind it.<\/p>\n

Ouch!<\/p>\n

I signaled Idit to go up – we were only 20 feet deep.<\/p>\n

I took my glove off and Idit was nice enough to dig the spikes out of my fingers.<\/p>\n

We continued the dive.<\/p>\n

We never did find the cavern, but we did swim through the arch.<\/p>\n

My pictures of the arch didn’t really turn out – the arch was too big.<\/p>\n

We made an uneventful exit and washed the petroleum after taste from the air away…<\/p>\n

Beer and spaghetti.<\/p>\n

…with a beer and spaghetti.<\/p>\n

A complete debriefing meal for only 450 LEK ($4.50), at a nice beach side resort.<\/p>\n


\n*Due to time constraints, lack of reliable internet access outside of Tirana, power outages in Tirana and the strength of Albanian beer, posting of this article has been delayed.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

July 11, 2012* After an hour drive, we arrived at our next dive destination – Sirens Bay. It’s a shallow area that is suppose to have a cavern and an arch. We had two small tanks that were filled with air from the super compressor we brought from Tirana. We did just like we did […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,34,18,9,3,31],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2324"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2927,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324\/revisions\/2927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}