Ksamil and Sarandë
It went into water you could see straight through
Ksamil and the islands off it, Pema e Thatë, Plazhi i Pasqyrave, Plazhi i Manastirit, Plazhi Mango, the Sarandë waterfront and the shore of Lake Butrint.
The tourism agency calls the water at Ksamil crystal clear, and that tends to make a first message better than the person writing it expects. If the bottom was visible where you stood, you probably know whether it was sand or rock underneath. Say that before anything else.
Ring Seekers is a lost ring and jewellery recovery service that connects people who lost a ring, wedding band, watch or phone at Ksamil and Sarandë with a metal detectorist who can search there.
Tell us what happened and where. We find a detectorist who can reach the coast, brief them with your map and photos, and tell you honestly if the odds are poor.
Ksamil sits inside the municipality of Sarandë, and the shore between them carries names of its own. Plazhi Mango, Plazhi i Manastirit and Plazhi i Pasqyrave are separate pieces of ground out along it, and Pema e Thatë is a separate beach again inside Ksamil. So the beach name is worth more here than the town name.
Settle the beach before you settle anything else
The useful first line is the stretch of shore you were standing on when you noticed, not the town printed on the booking. If they are different names, nothing at all turns on it, so give the shore and leave the paperwork out of it.
After that, say whether it went onto ground or into water, and how deep you had gone if it was water. If you cannot put an hour on the day, your own photographs usually can, because the time sits in the file next to the picture.
Named ground at Sarandë, at Ksamil and along the shore between
- Sarandë town and its seafront promenade
- The quiet beaches along that promenade
- Cafés and tables on the Sarandë waterfront
- The port of Sarandë
- Plazhi Mango, at Çukë
- Plazhi i Manastirit
- Plazhi i Pasqyrave, also called Mirror Beach
- The karst rock at Plazhi i Pasqyrave
- The road between Sarandë and Ksamil
- Ksamil village
- Plazhi i Ksamilit
- The Ksamil islands, off the village
- The small white sand beaches on those islands
- Plazhi Pema e Thatë, at Ksamil
- The wooded shore of Lake Butrint
- The Vivari channel, from the lake out to the sea
Where these names sit and what stands on them
Every description below comes from the national tourism agency.
The Sarandë waterfront
The agency describes the town promenade as running along the Ionian shore, with views of the sea, quiet beaches and an easy atmosphere for a walk, a coffee or dinner by the water, and it places the town facing the island of Corfu. The port lies along the same front. An evening here can cover walkway, sand and tables without anybody counting them as separate places.
The port of Sarandë
The agency places the port on the same front as the town promenade, and the town itself faces the island of Corfu across the water. The walkway, the tables by the water and the port all run into one another along that shore, so a loss down this end can sit on paving, beside the water or at a table. Say which of those you were on, and what you could see from where you stood.
Plazhi Mango and Plazhi i Manastirit
Both sit on the coast between Sarandë and Ksamil, Mango in the area of Çukë and Manastir along from it. The agency says Plazhi i Manastirit lies below the hill of the same name, where the monastery of Shën Gjergji stands. That gives the beach a landmark you can point at from the water as easily as from the road.
Plazhi i Pasqyrave, also called Mirror Beach
The agency writes that the water here is clear and blue, and that on calm days it reflects the sun like a natural mirror, which is where the name came from. The beach combines white sand, karst rock and still water. If you were on the sand, say so, and if you were on or beside the rock, say that instead, because they are not searched the same way.
Ksamil beach and the islands off it
The agency places Plazhi i Ksamilit near the town of Sarandë and describes clear water with small islands nearby that can be visited by boat. Its page on the islands calls them small, set in crystal water, with little white sand beaches of their own, and says the trip out is made in a small boat or a canoe. A loss on the village beach and a loss out on an island are separate jobs.
Pema e Thatë
The agency describes a natural spot near Ksamil and explains the name plainly. A dry tree once stood in the water near the shore and the beach was called after it, although the tree has not survived. The landmark the name promises is therefore not there to point at, so something built or parked will place you better.
Lake Butrint and the Vivari channel
The tourism agency describes Lake Butrint as ringed by wooded shores, mountains and brackish marshes, and joined to the Corfu strait by the Vivari channel, which carries the lake water out into the Ionian. A wooded bank, a marsh edge and the channel are separate pieces of ground, so say which one you were on and what you could see across the water.
The things people hold back on
Ask whoever else was there
Other people in the party often hold the piece you are missing. The bar you stopped at, the order the afternoon went in, the last moment somebody remembers seeing it on your hand. Gather those and send them in one go.
A loss on dry ground counts as well
People write in about the sea and hold back about a courtyard, a gravel verge or the grass behind a beach bar, as though only water were worth reporting. Say where it happened whatever was underneath, and you will be told what can be done with it.
Late is not too late to write
An old loss is still worth describing, and writing long after the event counts against nothing. People get in touch about something that went a season or more ago, once they have stopped expecting it to turn up on its own.
If you have already flown home
Being out of the country stops none of this. Say where you are now, and if something does come up out of the ground, working out how it reaches you is our problem and not yours.
What the ground here is made of
Differences along this coast that change how a search gets put together.
White sand and karst rock on the same beach
Plazhi i Pasqyrave is described as white sand together with karst rock and still water. The Ksamil islands carry small white sand beaches of their own. Which of those you were standing on shapes everything that follows.
Calm water, and a bottom you can see
The agency writes that on calm days the water at Plazhi i Pasqyrave reflects the sun like a natural mirror, and it calls the water at Ksamil crystal clear. Conditions like that often let people describe the exact patch they stood over.
Named beaches that belong to neither centre
Plazhi Mango, Plazhi i Manastirit and Plazhi i Pasqyrave all lie on the coast between Sarandë and Ksamil rather than in either centre, while Pema e Thatë is a beach of its own inside Ksamil. Somebody who writes only Sarandë, or only Ksamil, could mean any of them, which is why the beach name gets asked for.
Questions about Ksamil and Sarandë
An earring went while we were snorkelling off Ksamil.
Begin with the spot you went in from, because a swim moves about and that does not. The tourism agency describes clear water at Ksamil with small islands nearby, and says the crossing out to them is made in a small boat or a canoe. If it went while you were already on your way out there, that is a long shot, and you would hear that from us first.
We were told Mirror Beach and the sign said Plazhi i Pasqyrave.
Same beach, and the tourism agency uses both names for it. It describes white sand together with karst rock and calm water there, so the thing to add is which of those your things were on. The edge where they meet is different again.
A wedding band is somewhere along the Sarandë waterfront.
The agency describes the town promenade as running along the Ionian shore, with quiet beaches along it and tables by the water. So the question is whether the evening was spent on the walkway, at one of those tables, or down on the sand below, and roughly how far along the front you had got.
Somebody said Manastir and we do not know where that is.
Plazhi i Manastirit lies below the hill of the same name, where the monastery of Shën Gjergji stands, on the coast between Sarandë and Ksamil. Plazhi Mango is along the same run of shore, at Çukë. If you stopped off somewhere while driving between the towns, one of those is where to start.
We were down by the port in Sarandë and a chain is gone.
The port sits on the same front as the town promenade, so say first whether you were on the walkway, at one of the tables by the water, or down at the port itself. If the chain could have gone while a jumper or a bag strap came over your head, that is worth adding, and so is roughly what time it was.
A phone went into the water at Pema e Thatë.
A phone is worth reporting the same as a ring is. The beach takes its name from a dry tree that once stood in the water near the shore, and the agency says that tree is no longer there. Give the building, the steps or the parked car you were next to instead.
We booked Sarandë but the loss happened at Ksamil.
Nothing hangs on which name is on the booking. Ksamil sits inside the municipality of Sarandë and this page covers both. The question that does get asked is which piece of shore, or which street, the afternoon actually belonged to.
Is a watch or an Oura ring worth reporting, or only a ring?
Anything you have lost is worth describing. Watches, Oura rings, bracelets, earrings, chains, phones and keys all come up, and what we need is the same in every case: where you were, what you were doing, and what the item looks like. Send a photograph of it if you have one.
Ksamil and Sarandë
Start with the name of the beach
WhatsApp is where this runs, and a first message can be short.
A beach or a stretch of promenade, a word on whether it was sand, rock or water, and a description of the item. That much is already a workable first message, and the reply comes back from whoever picks it up.