{"id":2346,"date":"2012-07-17T01:54:16","date_gmt":"2012-07-17T08:54:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=2346"},"modified":"2013-12-10T19:13:00","modified_gmt":"2013-12-11T02:13:00","slug":"scuba-diving-albania-monastery-beach-reef-saranda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/?p=2346","title":{"rendered":"SCUBA Diving Albania: Monastery Beach Reef, Saranda"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

I think we were both really F’ing tired by this time.<\/p>\n

Idit is twenty years younger than I, but since I am super-macho, he didn’t worry about me.<\/p>\n

We got down to our last two tanks of air, which meant taking a whole day off to refill our tanks at the camp site where the small “super compressor” was located.<\/p>\n

We figured, six tanks at an hour and a half each, would be a nine to ten hour task; and they were doomed to be short fills.<\/p>\n

But, Albania is a small country.<\/p>\n

It seems like everybody knows everybody.<\/p>\n

Idit again pulled off the impossible!<\/p>\n

He located a compressor that is owned by a fisherman, next to a restaurant in Saranda.<\/p>\n

He offered to fill four of our tanks for free – at least, I believe it was free; Idit may have slipped him a few LEK for his troubles.<\/p>\n

This is another site that the Polish guys would dive from their boat:<\/p>\n

Monastery Beach Reef, Saranda<\/p>\n

We had a swim ahead for us.<\/p>\n

Entry was no problem; we surface swam to the left, until we saw something interesting to dive on.<\/p>\n

We descended.<\/p>\n

Logged SCUBA Dive #416<\/p>\n

Dove with Idit<\/p>\n

Monestary Beach Reef
\nSaranda, Albania<\/p>\n

Air Source: Private compressor in Vlor\u00eb
\nIn With: 2900 psi
\nOut With: 300 psi
\nMax depth: 70 feet
\nWaves: Flat
\nVisibility: Up to 50 feet
\nWater Temperature: 74 degrees
\nAir Temperature: 98 degrees
\nTotal Bottom Time: 40 minutes or so<\/p>\n

The water felt so refreshing after touring Butrint in almost 100 degree weather.<\/p>\n

We got to 70 feet really quickly.<\/p>\n

Idit warned me of a fishing net – we swam over it.<\/p>\n

It was very transparent, I probably would have ran right into it, if it wasn’t for Idit.<\/p>\n

Monastery Beach Reef<\/p>\n

The reef was unlike any I had seen before – it was covered in some sort of cotton like growth.<\/p>\n

Monastery Beach Reef<\/p>\n

Monastery Beach Reef<\/p>\n

Monastery Beach Reef<\/p>\n

We turned around at a half tank and navigated to a perfect exit.<\/p>\n

We were both extremely tired.<\/p>\n

We dropped off four tanks at the fisherman’s compressor.<\/p>\n

“Can I take a picture of the compressor?” I asked.<\/p>\n

“No,” Idit said.<\/p>\n

He continued, “A compressor is a very expensive item here; the first thing that will be asked is ‘Why?'”<\/p>\n

Idit dropped me off at my Hotel room, where I walked across the street to use my emergency Albanian to buy beer – not sure if I spelled everything correctly, but this is how the conversation went…<\/p>\n

“A flisni Anglisht?” I asked the store owner.<\/p>\n

“Jo,” He said.<\/p>\n

“A keni birre?”<\/p>\n

“Po.”<\/p>\n

He took me to the beer.<\/p>\n

He started to ramble off a conversation in Albanian.<\/p>\n

“Mi falni, nuk kuptoj Shqip,” I said.<\/p>\n

“Ju Pollack?”<\/p>\n

“Jo, une jam Amerikan.”<\/p>\n

“Ah, Amerikan!” he said, and gave me the thumbs up.<\/p>\n

I bought four big Tirana beers for 400 LEK ($4.00) and went back to update my blog, only to find that the internet access was shut off after 10:30 PM.<\/p>\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* I think we were both really F’ing tired by this time. Idit is twenty years younger than I, but since I am super-macho, he didn’t worry about me. We got down to our last two tanks of air, which meant taking a whole day off to refill our tanks at the camp […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,34,9,3,31],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346"}],"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=2346"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2926,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2346\/revisions\/2926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/psychosolodiver.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}