Ksamili Boat Hire
Every one is a swim straight off the boat. Most you can reach by road too, we just skip the rough tracks and the car parks and drop you into the water. The captain reads the wind and sets the day's order.
Five anchor-and-swim stops between Cape Stillo and the run north toward Saranda. Tap any one for the longer story.
Pasqyra ("the mirror") is a small pebble cove between Ksamil and Saranda, set under pale cliffs with a rocky islet just offshore. It's named for the water: a clear teal that reflects the light. By land it means a winding road and a walk down; by boat you arrive straight off the colour. On the run north it's a short stop: ten to twenty minutes to swim and snorkel before we carry on. Open to the swell, so livelier on windy days.
Pulëbardha (Albanian for "seagull") is a small pebble cove tucked between Ksamil and Saranda, backed by rocky green cliffs inside the Butrint park area. The pebbles are smooth and rounded, the water clear turquoise, and a restaurant sits built into the rock above. By land it means a steep, pot-holed gravel track and tight summer parking; by sea it's a clean anchor-and-swim stop, usually paired with Mirror Beach next door.
Shpella e Pëllumbave ("the cave of the doves") is a narrow pebble cove pinned between the rocks just north of Ksamil, right beside Mirror Beach. Overland it means a rough single-track road and a steep stair descent; by boat you arrive straight in the turquoise. The water is clear and shifts colour with the light, good for a swim and a snorkel off the rocks. A couple of rows of sun beds and a seasonal beach bar in summer; the draw is the cove, the karst rock, and the colour of the water.
Tongo is a small rocky island off the southern tip of the Albanian Ionian coast, near Cape Stillo at the entrance to the Bay of Ftelia. It's uninhabited and modest (roughly 250 by 100 metres) with the Greek sea border only some fifty metres past its far shore. The water around it is clear and full of life, which is why people come to snorkel. There's no road; you reach it by boat, anchor, and swim. In recent seasons sunbeds and a beach bar have appeared, so it's busier than it once was.
Laguna Beach sits on a sand-and-pebble spit at the mouth of the Vivari Channel, where Lake Butrint drains into the Ionian. Fresh and salt water mix here, so the swimming is calm and shallow rather than island-clear. It stays quiet even in August, with little more than a bar and a few sunbeds. The draw is the setting: the Butrint National Park gate and Ali Pasha's fortress are close, making this a swim-after-the-ruins kind of stop.
Send your date and how many of you. The captain replies with a boat and a price.