1980 While on the north eastern side of the Greek Island of Corfu we noticed that there was a land mass on the other side of the straight. A quick look at the map told us it was Communist Albania. There was only one thing two California Surfer guys with a couple of shots of Ouzo in them could do
Invade
The straight is about 2 miles wide. We were excellent ocean swimmers so off we went. An hour later we stormed the beach at Albania. Whooped it up for a minute or two then got our butts back into the water.
We were about a half mile offshore when the Albanian Patrol Boat rounded the point to the north of us. We quickly switched to a very low profile side stroke to stay inconspicuous as possible. They passed between us and the Albanian shore then rounded the next point and were out of sight. We picked up our swim pace to get us past mid channel after that.
We had a good laugh once we walked up onto the Greek Beach. it was fun two hour swim. As I remember we got pretty hammered partying at a club celebrating that night. Hate to think what would have happened if the Patrol Boat had spotted us