I crossed the Adriatic sea between Saranda, Albania to Corfu, Greece in a sleek futuristic looking hydrofoil ferry in only 20 minutes. I wandered the old city for a while, amazed at the incredible number of trinket shops, the most I have seen in any one place, found some oppressed bandwidth in dire need of liberation, and then called my hostel with Skype for my free pickup.
The Sunrock hostel is 30 minutes away on the west coast, perched above one of the nicest, fine sand beaches on the island. The hostel is run by a family that has an organic farm and serves great organic dinners and breakfasts as part of the 18 euro a night. They were out of dorm space so I got a free upgrade to a private sea view room with bath. Very nice. The first thing I did after dumping my bags was go the half kilometer down the beach to the cliff diving spot. It was only about 20 feet (6m), not too high but still high enough to be fun. The water is so clear that it doesn’t look deep enough even though it is about 25 feet deep. Later, I bought a mask and snorkel from the hostel (a mere 5 euro) and explored the submerged rocks and marveled at the colorful and not too shy fish. 
The next day, I rented a scooter for 17 euro/day and explored the island. I have missed riding on my scooter so tooling around Corfu in perfect sunny temperatures was a delight. I found many more lovely beaches, drove through shady and serenely quiet olive groves, ate a cheap and tasty gyro at a local’s dive, and removed some skin from my arm. It was great cruising the island except for that last part. On one of the steep switchbacks returning from a secluded beach, some idiot young guys in a black car came flying around a corner as I was slowly making my way up. I was already on the far outside and still had to swerve more to the edge. Luckily, I wasn’t going very fast at all (and they did not hit me) but I had to lay down the scooter. The bruise on my arm is worse than the lost skin. It was a brief blip and didn’t ruin my day. I just thought, oh well, $&#@ happens, an kept going. When I returned the scooter there was no way for them to know that I laid it down because it was already so thrashed (whew!).
The island is known for being a party island is overrun by hedonistic and often drunk 20-somethings that have left their inhibitions at home. I loved the water and the natural beauty, but I was eager to leave after a couple days.
