1 - Introduction

Merhaba / Hello,
Here I shall write about our cruises along the Turkish coast aboard our motor yacht. I hope you will enjoy it.

We are a happy, vibrant family of four and we are all sea lovers. We have been cruising for the last two years on board our Azimut brand motoryacht that we enjoy a lot. We had some fantastic time aboard her thanks to the combination of the beautiful Turkish coast, our lovely yacht and our very pleasent and professional crew. Before our motoryacht, we had two different sailboats since 1999 that we loved and still miss. Most of all, I miss nighttime sailing, listening to the sound of the waves as the boat sails through the sea in the dark and especially the 04:00 watch which lets me watch the sunrise all along.

We like our motor yacht for its usual features, these being speed and comfort. We switched when my wife was pregnant and had extensive cruising during the first year of our daughter and in the second year when my wife got pregnant again and so on as our family kept getting bigger.

So this travelogue will be about cruising, Turkish coast and lifestyle, sail and motor boats but also on kids on water. Most photographs in the blog will appear in smaller sizes than the original just like the one below. Just click on them to view the full-sized photograph.

A Scene from Southern Turkey

This is my first attempt to publish something on the net. I know nothing better so will use the blog format. I can not say I am happy with the forced chronological listing so I will change the dates such that you should first see the first posting. The contents of the blog will roughly be from north to south. But I will also add many extras such as foreign and non-geographical cruising issues.
Note : Why publish a blog ? We love traveling, I love photography and currently have over tens of thousands of RAW format (very high quality) digital photographs on the Turkish coast. Most of them are family photos that I prefer to keep private yet there is still a lot to publish. I hope you will enjoy my photographs and text about the Turkish coast. If you have any questions or complaints please ask. If you like what you see, please suggest it to your friends.

2 - Our Cruising Grounds and General Information

We regularly cruise between Istanbul and Kekova (see Google Earth image) and also around some Greek Islands. This map shows only the general layout and not the details. For example, we have been to over 40 anchoring spots in Gökova Bay.

Google Earth Map Showing Our Cruises Along Turkey & Greek Islands

Southern Turkey (Aegean and Mediterranean) is better than northern Aegean because of its longer summers and warmer water temperatures. Also you can find plenty of tiny bays, inlets in the south whereas in the north there are much fewer ones.

We like to cruise away from the crowds. July and August is too hot anywhere south of Bodrum. We enjoy Çeşme during these months, go to Bademli or make short visits to Greek islands. In September it is nice to be in Bodrum. Further south, best season is late September, early October. Then enjoy all the way until Fethiye or even drop by Kaş / Kalkan.

About the Marine Infrastructure :
Turkey has many marinas all over the western coast and most of them are in perfect condition and the service level is much higher than in other countries. Boats under 35 meters should have no problems and bigger ones, especially 50m+ giants would of course use an agency. The only marina problems may be somehow calcified water or insufficient amperage if your boat has considerable consumption.

The bureaucracy is easygoing yet it is better to enter and exit Turkey with the help of an agency. Turkish charts are reliable and easily obtainable. As a pilot book, the best reference on this subject is Sadun Boro's "Vira Demir" which is only in Turkish. English readers will probably go for Rod Heikell's work.

Some links about Turkey :

Turkey's Offıcial Tourism Portal (also in English, German and French)
http://www.goturkey.com/

Ministry of Tourism's Portal (also in English, German, French, Russian, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese)
http://www.kultur.gov.tr/EN/ana-sayfa/2-0/20110708.html

Turkish Meteorological Office Daily Marine Forecast Report
http://www.dmi.gov.tr/en-US/marine-daily-report.aspx 

3 - Istanbul

It is the magical city that can offer a spell of charm or maybe scare you with dark magic. Unlike many culturally homogenous countries, Turkey is a heterogenous one and Istanbul is particularly so. There are all kinds of people and cultures here so it is strictly an art to live within a constantly changing culture. Just going from one place to another exposes you to so many different peoples living in harmony and they often kive in quite a rush as the city thus people are so dynamic. Here you can find almost all urban colors (wonderful and not-so-wonderful) the jewel of Istanbul called Bosphorus and an inner sea harboring several marinas.

Bosphorus Bridge

Four marinas are located within Istanbul. These are Fenerbahce, Ataköy, Pendik and a new marina to the 10nm west of Ataköy marina. There is also Yalova marina somehow nearby Istanbul. I like neither of them since they lack the beauty of southern marinas and suffer from pollution. If you intend to keep your boat here then...good luck for you will have a very difficult time finding a berth in these marinas, especially in Fenerbahçe and Ataköy marinas which are crowded and expensive.

Istanbul Waterways & Prince Islands

We wished to keep our boat in Ataköy marina and cruise along the southern coast in summer but The Sea of Marmara, The Bosphorus and the Prince Islands gave us no big pleasure. The marine resources in and around Istanbul are polluted so swimming is not recommended even though our municipality somehow declares our waters clean enough to swim. Do not trust them and do not swim in Istanbul ! There are few anchoring opportunities around the Prince Islands and Bosphorus is crowded 24x7. Lovely settings for an occasional cruise, a definite must, but did not satisfy our needs for periodic or extended cruising.

That is why we kept our boat in Istanbul only for several months and then started on our first cruise :-)

4 - Istanbul in Detail

Istanbul offers a lot for a yachtsmen but as I explained above it makes more sense to go south which is simply magnificant. Pollution of the sea and air is the primary issue in the Turkish unofficial capital. Then there are the huge numbers of ships, commercial and tourist passanger ferries, boats. Istanbul seaways, particularly the Bosphorus is crowded all year around.

I do not recommend bringing and keeping your boat in Istanbul for long periods. I would certainly recommend a visit to Istanbul and see the specific page here but better leave your yacht south and come by plane and stay in a hotel. Istanbul marinas are not desirable for afloat stays and marina facilities are not very good because people stay at their homes and not on their boats. If you wish living afloat, try southern Turkey, not Istanbul.

Having said that, for short term discoveries, I would strongly recommend you discover all Istanbul waterways by boat. Other than your boat, you can rent small motorboat (ranging from cheap and fun amateur fishing boats to expensive motor yachts) or simply take the official ferries. There is even a special ferry that travels along the Bosphorus.

Entrance to Bosphorus

You will see the historical Haydarpaşa train station on the Anatolian side and Sarayburnu area with Topkapı Palace on the European. Haydarpaşa Station is one of the major symbols of Istanbul for it was the arrival point for Anatolian immigrants. (On the European side there was Sirkeci Train Station where millions of Eastern European Turks returned to Turkey during the final era of the Ottoman Empire.)

Haydarpaşa Train Station

Hayparpaşa from the sea

Then there is the Maiden's Tower. This lovely historical structure is one of the symbols of Istanbul. There are many different legends regarding its history. One thing is certain. It has a breathtaking beauty and you should see and preferably visit it. Maiden's Tower was used for many different purposes including tax collection center, defense station, quarantine hospital and now a restaurant. Below is the link to the official web site.

http://www.kizkulesi.com.tr/en/Default2.asp

Maiden's Tower

Make sure to leave this small island to your starboard while cruising towards the Black Sea. It is not safe to cruise between the island and the Asian side of Bosphorus.

Haydarpaşa and Kız Kulesi are beautiful but the real jewels are on the European side. Topkapı Palace and Golden Horn offer unexplainable beauties if you arrive by boat. Why ? Well, it is hard to describe the unexplainable but I will just say it has one hundred times the magic you might come across in a Middle Eastern's colorful, exotic yet mystique culture. You can buy luxury goods, you can have big and gorgeous buildings made, you can have nice trees grown or planted and but you can not recreate history. And Sarayburnu, Topkapı was the nerve center of the Ottoman Empire who ruled over a 6,000,000+ km2 (EU is 4.3m km2) territory spanning several continents.

My favorite cruising point is being around the Golden Horn. It is like facing a beautiful dream in reality, the setting sun awashing all the details of life with its soft, ambient light, which upon touching the surface of the sea, producing millions of tiny sparks making the sea glow in beauty. On one side you cruise next to history as if in an open water museum. On the other you are next to Istanbul ferries and fisherman breathing not only sea air but also the dynamism of Istanbul.

Once again I have the transcendental feeling as immemorial history, beautiful nature and the dynamic yet mystique spirit of Istanbul are all lived together. The best way to describe Istanbul, but especially the Golden Horn area is that a time traveler left his time-gate open and the beauties of a distant era is flooding in and mixing with nowadays ! It simply feels transcendental.

Here are some photographs from Golden Horn Area. They certainly do not reflect what I described above. Those photos I will try to capture !

Towards Galata Bridge

Mosque at Eminönü

Same Mosque Viewed from Galata Bridge

Bosphorus

My recommendation is that you sail until the Black Sea following the Asian side and then return back through the European coast. Weekends will be very crowded but summer weekends offer lots of fireworks so make sure to enjoy cruising under them ! Bosphorus has significant ship traffic so you must avoid them. Steer clear of the shipping lane ! There is also very heavy passanger (commercial and tourists) traffic outside the shipping lane and those ferries do not care much about the rules of the road. So you will navigate against strong currents, heavy traffic, macho local skippers and large ships going no less than 15 knots.

 

Arnavutköy under Fog

Ortaköy

Bosphorus at Night Time

Along the Bosphorus are the many expensive houses called “Yalı”, several high and many low-end night clubs plus thousands of amateur fisherman which produce a constant danger to vessels and their passangers that navigate closer than 50 meters to the shore.

Prince Islands

There is not so much to see about these islands though a visit is recommended. In the past they were truly exclusive for the non-Muslim Turkish community enjoyed living on these islands and have brought with them a good qualty of life, particularly on Büyükada, the largest of Prince Islands. Nowadays they are gone, so as the quality. The islands are still somewhat nice and deserve a visit, especially by bicycles but avoid them on summer weekends. Commercial ferry is the best option but you can go on a day cruise with your yacht. There is only one reliable anchoring area and it is usually overcrowded so I would not take my boat there.

Here are some photos from a winter visit to the Prince Islands by Bosphorus Ferry...

Bosphorus Ferries at Kabataş

 

Sunrise Over Haydarpaşa

Kınalıada in Winter

Büyükada - Ferries are very, very nostalgic. A must for poets !

5 - Marmara Adası

Istanbul to Kekova (approx 575 nm)

6 August 2009, 08:00. We said our goodbyes to Ataköy Marina and left for Bozcaada which is 162 nm (nautical mile, 1 nm is 1852 metres) away. On our way we wish to explore several islands within the Sea of Marmara and maybe we shall even stay there depending on the weather and sea state. This is our first long trip aboard a (primarily) power driven privately owned watercraft.

Bye Bye Ataköy Marina (I doubt I will ever miss you)

On board, we have our 8 month old baby, my wife, me and our captain, deckhand and babysitter. We are new to our boat this is our first long cruise with our staff. We were a bit anxious but very excited ! How can one forget the wonderful feeling of leaving one place to discover some new territory ? But here we are, departing for Southern Turkey !

Our first destination was Bozcaada, 162 nm away from Istanbul and we expected to complete the trip around 8 hours. Cruising above 20 knots (nautical miles per hour) is almost like a time-warp to us since sailboats are much slower, 7 knots is nice, 8 is fast and 9 is wow speed !

Two hours into our trip we had reached the Marmara group of Islands. There were no rough seas or strong winds to slow us down. The islands looked nice so we decided to motor around them and see if we could find a nice anchoring spot. If we didn't, then we would keep going to Bozcaada.

But we were lucky and not only had some nice sightseeing but also found a good anchoring area with a nice view. The islands are mostly empty, there is little population and a few houses scattered around. They are also unsheltered and thus open to wind yet, this makes several areas perfect for sailing as seen in the below photograph.

Sailboat around Marmara Islands

Once we anchored then I attempted to swim. Indeed I asked our skipper to drop me somewhere far by our tender so I could swim long distance. I did swim for 45 minutes but it was a mistake I would not repeat again as the sea had a slightly metallic taste, a strange color and some particles floating on the surface. My advice is do not attempt to swim anywhere at the Sea of Marmara.

We were next to a small village and our skipper went to visit a friend of his. On his return, we were told that the village had no facilities at all so we did not go ashore.

The next day we saw rain clouds approaching us from the east. We were heading west and hoped to avoid them. We decided to go faster around 30 knots and started heading for Çanakkale Boğazı, aka Dardanelles. It was quite a race, as we could feel the strong wind coming before the rain and as the weather got darker we sped towards the Çanakkale Strait.

One thing I remember from the strait was, for the first time in my life, I was overtaking ships ! With a sailboat this is out of question but with a motorboat we can overtake slow moving ships easily. I was excited and even though it was daytime with good visibility, I turned the radar on, kept a very attentive lookout including the aft for fast moving ships (that can silently but suddenly overtake you if on a sailboat), calculated the currents and overtook some ships. Other than the ships, the bad weather was beyond us too. Clear and sunny skies welcomed us when we arrived at the Northern Aegean sea ! Ahh, finally I would be able to swim (in comfort) !

6 - Bozcaada

Bozcaada is famous for its wind, cold seas, barren landscape and wineries. The town center is pretty cute and most people experience a love-or-hate affair with this lonely island. As we approached the island, we navigated towards a beach on the southern part. Yet swimming and enjoying a beach would not be possible ! There was a quite strong wind around 25 knots and neither my wife nor our infant baby would enjoy swimming in cold waters with the strong wind sweeping sand all over the beach. So we headed towards the harbour.

We spent two nights on this island. First was nice and the second was not. First was Friday and second, Saturday. My guess is that on the weekend different kind of people come to the island, these are less seasoned and less refined. All over the world we have these 'new tourists'. They are not travelers, adventurers, voyagers or venturers but only people visiting new places solely because they have the means to do so. They radiate a negativity as their response to a beautiful object/social scene is not to embrace it but a passive rejection or a rude reflection, maybe in an attempt to maintain the balances in their less developed inner worlds. They also live by popular values designed to either oversatiate through visual imagery or to inflate egos by materialistic measures, all an attempt to induce the individual to spend money 'to be someone/something'. I am not a sociologist so it is beyond me to establish urbanification theories. I just do not enjoy people who lack grace. Also I am upset that money is becoming the standart upon which self-worth is measured.

Anyway, to summarize Bozcaada we saw people with beautiful smiles on one night and the opposite on the other. If you intend to visit do so not on Saturdays. And a warning about the restaurants. There are two types here following two different philosophies. The first group are next or close to the shore and will see you as a one-time-only customer and thus they will overcharge. You will get so-so food and service but will pay a lot. The second group is the long-term thinking owners who wish to offer you a pleasent experience at a reasonable price so that you will visit again. The second group has established a business association that I can not recall the name.

During our time in Bozcaada we had non-stop 25 knots wind. This made us lose our desire to go to a beach and we were just spending time around. Next morning we left this island and headed straight south, 180 degrees towards Babakale. If you ever have the chance I would strongly recommend you to drive south from Çanakkale to İzmir to Bodrum. The scenery is wonderful plus there are lots of ancient cities including Ephesus and the Trojan horse. All along the Çanakkale shore there is thermal water. Sometimes it just floats away next to the road. People are very helpful too. Once I stopped at a cafe and asked for hot water for my thermos and when I wanted to pay for it the owner was offended. They see others as guests. 

Here are some photographs :

Bozcaada Harbour

Some cool guy who lives here, afloat with his (lucky) dog.

Just a cute detail.

Nice to walk among the narrow streets

We left Bozcaada the next morning and as we cruised down south towards the Babakale headland at 15 knots, we enjoyed some nice scenery then turned east/northeast and headed towards Assos. This lovely town looked quite attractive from the sea and we wished to stay. But it has a very small harbor where we could not fit in so we anchored 1 nm east of Assos and I immediately jumped into the water from the flybridge level before the engines were shut down. The feeling was so nice and I can still recall that moment. Deep blue water...not warm, not cold, gives such a fresh feeling that I felt as if I had four lungs but never used two of them until that moment.

It was fantastic ! We wished to meet some friends staying at Assos but they had partied until the morning and were still sleeping at 14:00 ! After some swimming we felt it would be better for us to go to Ayvalık and meet our friends some other time.

7 - Ayvalık

It was quite windy (and Ayvalık is infamous for its wind) so we chose not to anchor in one of the bays to spend the night, to swim and to enjoy nature but had to continued to the marina. The harbor entrance is really tricky and for your first visit it is guaranteed to give you goose bumps as you need to cross a very narrow channel to reach the inner bay.

The city is cute but not beautiful. But it was gorgeous before as I saw so many run down historical buildings. It is also hard not to notice the large number of very attractive young girls living here ! This has to be because when the Ottoman Empire collapsed many Eastern European Turks from Yugoslavia, Serbia, Greece etc. migrated to Anatolia and settled on the Çanakkale-İzmir shoreline. For those, who don't know, İzmir is famous for its attractive girls !

Ayvalık Marina is run by Setur Marinas, a subsidiary of Koç Group who also ownes RMK Marine, the best known superyacht and war ship producer in Turkey. As RMK makes Turks feel proud for its achievements (right now they are building four 80 meter coast guard ships as well as multiple super yachts) Setur has nationally known low service standards ! The company even merited itself for working with the fewest number of employees ! In the past their Istanbul (Fenerbahçe) Marina was well-known for not answering telephone calls and sometimes they failed to meet incoming yachts ! Nowadays they are not so bad but Koç Group did not get rich by spending money and then waiting to collect their investment back. They get the strategic places, then offer minimum service with expensive prices until they make money. In their Ayvalık marina we had problem with our AC because the amperage was not sufficiant even when we requested extra power (over 16 amperes).

It was very windy. We did not feel comfortable to eat outside but inside was really hot ! We were in discomfort and our baby did not sleep nice so we wanted to leave the next morning but were experiencing quite strong winds. Normally this should not bother us as we are not a small boat and have the power and seawortiness to cruise under most conditions but primarily because of our baby and also because we disliked the very narrow chanel we decided to spend one more night. I am glad we did because I took the opportunity to walk in Ayvalık and discovered the old buildings.

The main street is not special, lots of recently made ugly buildings. But when I  took the small side streets parallel to the sea, I really enjoyed what I saw.

View from the Marina

An Old House

Few Historical Buildings Are Left

The next morning we decided to leave the marina no matter what ! And funny it is, the wind stopped after we left Ayvalık harbor. It appears the local geography was intensifying the wind !

Once we left Ayvalık we were still longing for the summer to 'start.' Other than a short stop at Assos we were in need of swimming. We had been on the sea for almost five days but we could not swim.

8 - Bademli

So we left Ayvalık and traveled towards Bademli, a lovely and tiny village which has its own little cruising area in between the shore and two islands parallel to the shore. I had been to Bademli on a business trip several years ago (and was intrigued) but had never been there by boat.

Information on Bademli

The moment we anchored 100 meters south of Oliviera Hotel and I threw myself into the turquise colored sea, I knew that our summer had officially started ! We spent two or three nights here and it was wonderful in every sense. This is undiscovered cruising grounds away from tourism crowds. The village is totally local, authentic, free from commercial mentality. There are only one or two tiny grocery stores, a basic restaurant, a barber shop and a kahve, a cheap tea house named “coffee”, where village man chat with each other, play cards, watch tv or just sit idle while drinking tea all day long. Small though it may be, this village had some surprises for us. While eating pide, at the restaurant we witnessed all men at the kahve stand up and start belly dancing ! Almost 25 men, most of them over forty, felt too upbeat and decided to dance ! This is one charming tradition of this village, local men sometimes belly dance on impulse ! There are other charms too, like the pink, large tomatoes we bought from a village lady selling them in front of her house.

If you wish to go to Bademli village fromyour boat you have two options. Oliviera hotel on Kalem Adası has a shuttle service that can drop you at the pier ashore and then you need a taxi to take you to Bademli village which is 10 mins by car. The other option is more adventurous. You can go by tender as close as you can towards the Bademli village and then walk 15-20 minutes first along the shore and then in between almond and olive orchards. See the attached Google Earth plan. There is a small headland separating the northern anchoring area from the shallow bay. Make sure not to cross into the shallow area by boat. The bay looks huge and you might feel adventurous but don't ! Even by tender you will need to be very careful and you will come across sunken walls, fish nets and sand banks. Make sure to explore this area daytime before making a night time attempt. Tie your tender to the small wooden pier used by fisherman. Then within a five minute walk you will come across a nice restaurant next to the sea. This place is recommended but make sure to choose your food after seeing them and avoid non-local frozen food such as shrimps. The view is very nice, especially when there is moonlight. Life is different along the Aegean and Mediterranean coast. One is always in touch with nature so a lunch or dinner next to the beautiful nature will leave you not only full in the stomach but also spiritually satisfied due to the nature element. So at a restaurant like this it does not matter if you have a jolly conversation with friends, or silently share the beauty of moonlight with your companion or just enjoy being alone with nature.

Bademli is 10-15 minutes walk from this restaurant and after wandering around the small village you can purchase Koruk Şerbeti, a locally produced grape drink.

Bademli is a true gem. It is unspoilt, beautiful yet at the same time raw. People are very friendly and helpful. When we visited the last time, in 2010, a wedding dress maker was taking catalog photos among the village streets.

Some beautiful, old and uninhabited buildings here have Greek letters on them. Their occupants were subjected to Mübadele, a forced migration that took place in 1920's between Turkey and Greece. These people who were forcily migrated because of their religion and most of them had a very hard time abroad as they were considered outsiders. Essentially, Turkish Orthodox Christians were sent to Greece and Greek Muslims to Turkey and other than being a minority in religion they were citizens of their own country and in many cases did not even know the language of their new countries. I wish in the future religion will remain a private aspect of social identity.

I have described the village above but the shores and beaches need some explanation. There are two islands off Bademli. First one is Kalem Adası and second is Garip Ada (ada means island). There is very nice water all around the islands but between the islands, no the north, there are shallow banks. These you can walk through if you have your swimsuit on. There is also thermal waters in this area. When you step ashore the Garip adası (to the northeast of the island) beach you can easily smell the sulphur in the water. The bad smell should not put you off, this stuff heals ! Our baby had allergy problems and rashes on her skin and when we put her here she immediately liked the water and the sand.
It is so lovely on Garip Ada that be prepared to spend many hours here. Also there are small beaches on the western coast of Kalem adası, you can either walk from Oliviera hotel or go by tender. Enjoy this lovely setting, grab a beer, lie down on the sand and let hours slip by !

Garip Ada Shore (thermal spring flowing into the sea)

 

View from Garip Ada towards Kalem Adası and the mainland

 The mainland does not possess charming beaches yet it is charming. The scenery is very beautiful, the water is great, you can safely anchor between Kalem adası and the mainland. The sea bottom is thick seaweed and is holding pretty well. Sea temperature is so-so, I say so because Turkish people can not tolerate less then 25 degrees celsius. Here you can find 23-25 degrees in summer. It is quite warm when compared to 18 degree Bozcaada !

If you will not stay afloat then it is Oliviera Hotel...which is nice if you don't expect luxury. The food is acceptable but as I said elsewhere, do not eat frozen food. Running a hotel on an island is much harder and given the shorter season of Bademli area then things get even more difficult.

Oliviera Hotel from the Sea

There is a historical thermal bath, an enclosed structure on the mainland shore, 250-300 meters to the south of Kalem adası. This was probably a Roman bath and is directly built upon the thermal spring. It really smells here and I could not get into this water even though I know it is clean. Also go there when it is not crowded.

This whole area is under threat of overconstruction. A businessman bought Garip adası for USD 25-30 mio and now claiming to "discover" it and he says with his several thousand room hotel project, he will sell it to Arabs for USD 500 mio. It is more likely a money laundering operation but I fear they can make irrevocable damage to the whole area.

---Bademli, the whole area, needs to be a marine conservation area.---

9 - Çeşme

Çeşme is the best place to be in Turkey during July and August as southern Turkey gets too hot. Some can tolerate or even enjoy the scolding mixture of heat and humidity in Antalya and Göcek but not me ! Seawater temperature over 27 degrees is too much for me, I would rather enjoy a sauna session in winter then in summer !

I love Bodrum all year around except July and August. It is too hot and crowded ! So Çeşme is the place to be and given the new Çeşme marina opened at the town center with chic shops and restaurants, there is always an element of excitement. Bademli to Çeşme is 50 nm but you need to cross the Çandarlı bay where you can experience heavy seas. During our passage we had strong winds and 1.5-2 meter waves but our boat took no effort in piercing the waves with her twin powerful engines. In around 2 hours we were in Çeşme vicinity so we slowed down and started to enjoy the scenery. Çeşme is a bit barren but you can see some nice rock formations and the uninhabited Karaburun area has its own wild attraction. And I have many wonderful teenage memories here so any visit is worthwhile !

We spent one or two nights in Çeşme at Altınyunus marina and then took a flight to Istanbul. Our skipper transferred the boat to Bodrum and some days later we resumed our voyage from Bodrum towards south.

Çeşme had only one marina in the past and that was Setur Altınyunus. Now there are three !

Altınyunus Marina was a hot, hot place to be in the past. It is inside the Altınyunus Hotel. Now the very nicely located hotel lost its glamour and I am assuming that the Yaşar family whose owns this hotel as well as other corporations intends to sell or lease it to an international chain. If Çeşme had slightly longer seasons this hotel could be turned into a top notch international resort. Maybe it will...

The second marina was originally the harbor at central Çeşme. It then was turned into a municipality marina and then the ownership went to IC Holding whom in return rented it to Camper & Nicholsons. I though C&N were dead meat and the whole thing would crumble but they surprised me a lot. They made the marina so nice that in the evenings thousands of visitors of all income groups enjoy this great facility. I would like to thank C&N for seriously raising an already high level of marina design in Turkey !

Yes, there are many very very nice marinas in Turkey. I dislike Ataköy for my own reasons but it is a proper marina. Fenerbahçe has lots of restaurants etc. Bodrum marinas...they rock. Didim marina, the facilities are gorgeous.

To compare Turkish marinas with others would be silly. I spent some time in San Remo Marina and would consider a slight prison sentence than to keep my boat there again ! Mykonos Island in Greece has a "marina." I say so in italics because they use the word "marina" to describe it. France has nice looking marinas but the level of service in Turkey is far superior. Indeed this service factor makes Turkey unique.

You can have anything anytime in Turkey. Two weeks ago I was driving home from work and was on the (bluetooth) telephone all the way. My wife told me she had called me to ask to buy some fish. I said "why worry, let's just order fish from the restaurant." There is a basic restaurant nearby. The owners are fisherman by profession and to grow their business opened up several fish restaurants. We called them and ordered cooked sea bass with calamari. My wife then being pregnant, also asked for a specific type of cake. Chocolate cake with cacao type of filling, also with peanuts. She wanted this one, not anything else. So we called the pastry shop and they said they have it. Voila ! I went outside to play with the dog and within 30 minutes we received perfectly cooked fish & calamari. These guys cook so fresh and well that it does not make to cook fish at home. Just after that, we got the chocolate cake. My wife is happy, I am happy and our dog is happy !

If you think this is exceptional, you are making a mistake. We have a colic newborn at home as well as an attention seeking toddler who likes to wake up in the middle of the night and cry just for attention. Our babysitter looking after the girl was exhausted. So I called on Sunday to the boat to our deckhand.

He is a good cook who had some restaurant experience. When I asked him to come and help us in Istanbul for some time, his answer was "yes, of course, immediately." He got onto the bus, traveled during the night to Istanbul and in the morning arrived home. He even had his cook uniform and this night we ate very nice food :-)

Turkey is a very, very dynamic country. That is why our economy is doing so well. The real figures are better then the published ones since we have a big shadow economy. It is not unrealistic for Turkey go grow around 10% annually.

Okay, enough with praising Turkish practicality (but I will do more later) and back to Çeşme marinas.

The third marina is at Alaçatı, famous for its windsurfing. The town center is worth a visit for it's story is not unlike a teenage film plot where a tiny teen with an acne filled face turns into a hot guy and makes  girls run after him ! In the past Alaçatı was strictly a nobody ! We only went there to look for a repairman to fix things such as water pumps at summer houses. But there were some stone houses used by the Turkish Orthodox inhabitants before müdadele. They were cute houses so one day people come up with the idea of changing the theme of the town. And they did. Nowadays Alaçatı is filled with all kinds of people and the town has a very nice energy.

(Cesme photos coming on August)

10 - Bodrum, The King of the Turkish Coastal Towns !

Yes, Bodrum is undoubtedly the king no matter you love or hate it. Personally I disliked Bodrum for many years because I knew little except central Bodrum. Once my friends who live full/part time there showed me around, things changed. Now Bodrum is among my favorite places and we keep our boat there all year around.

View of Bodrum

 Consider Bodrum like the USA, there are so many different things for all kinds of people. It all depends on who you are and what your tastes and expectations are. Bodrum area means Bodrum the town plus nearby towns so do not get confused when I say “I love Bodrum area, but not Bodrum.” Beginning with Bodrum, the central town there are others such as Torba, Göltürkbükü (which was Gölköy and Türkbükü), Gündoğan, Yalıkavak, Gümüşlük, Turgutreis, Ortakent, Yahşi, Aktur, Bitez, Gümbet, Yalıçiftlik and Mazı. These towns offer all kinds of excitement. Many tourists visit Halikarnas, a popular but TLC needing disco in central Bodrum which also offers lots of loud music, cheap alcohol and plenty of crowds. There are other clubs such as Hadigari and Yettigari, all time fully crowded Cuba on the main street and a “Barlar Sokağı” a street of bars which offers all kinds of musical tastes, though do not expect anything upscale.

View from The Marmara Hotel

The nice view above is from the second luxury boutique hotel in Bodrum. They have wonderful views, very nice rooms, bar, an upscale restaurant yet no beach. Definitely recommended for a stay or a dinner or just for drinks.

Bardakçı Bay

Windmills above Bodrum

Gümbet is famous for its young English patrons having low cost fun. Bitez is mostly residential but has a nice beach with restaurants and so on. Turgutreis offers low cost accommodation. Göltürkbükü, especially Türkbükü is 'the place' for Turkish socialites. Go there to see and to be seen, I am not following the latest advancements in waterproof make-up and jewellery businesses but if they are available you shall see these products in use in Göltürkbükü.

Yalıçiftlik is the only unspoilt area of Bodrum with only local villagers and holiday resorts such as Club Med and Hapimag. The jewel in Yalıçiftlik is Kempinski and deserves a stay though be very careful when dealing with them. They have a room service that told us “We do not have the wine you requested, can we send you something similar” and then send a much more expensive (7 times more) wine.

View from Kempinski Hotel

Kempinski is unattractive from the sea

There are also small towns such as Torba which has a tiny harbor. The below restaurant is a favorite, local people such as fisherman use it. We literally sit one meter away from the sea and eat basic but very nice food.

A local delight, in Torba

The long and curvy road departing from Torba junction near Bodrum to Yalıçiftlik goes a long way and is a delight to discover. You will stop by many small villages, welcome spring in February with yellow daisies, milk a cow if you wish and enjoy the sea in Kisebükü. Further ahead, you may go all towards Mazı, a lonely tiny village close to the sea. Nice for a day visit by car or by boat. Mazı shore will be wavy so getting off and on to the tender will not be easy or dry !

Approach to Yalıkavak

Yalıkavak has some luxury housing, a cute town center and a marina. Be warned that outside the port you may encounter big waves.

11- The Area Around Bodrum

Bodrum area is beautiful. In the past most of Bodrum was covered with tangerine trees but now these are turned into buildings. Still some life has survived outside, only because of some very strict land conservation requirements.

All these photographs are from Yalıçiftlik region. There are other nice areas in Bodrum too but they are getting lost quite rapidly.

Locals say that Virgin Mary spent a night right here, at this ruined structure below as she was escaping from persecution towards Ephesus.

As a belief, many people bend under this arch to make a wish. I have no idea if such a claim is true and if this structure could be 2000 years old. I just know it is nice to make a wish occasionally ! 

This is from Kisebükü, the northern part of Gökova to the east of Bodrum. The photo below was taken at Cennet Koyu, Paradise Bay to the north of Bodrum.

12 - A Failed Attempt Towards Gökova

We departed from Yalıkavak Marina on 30.08.2009 Sunday morning and decided to buy fuel from the Greek island of Kos as it is cheaper there. But it was not our lucky day. Just after leaving the marina my wife broke a huge piece of mirror. Within minutes afterwards we lost our GPS signal ! We always use pilot books and charts to study our route before leaving port, we also keep a paper chart next to the helm and keep a mental picture of where we are. Yet an integrated gps and chartplotter (which places our position on an electronic chart) unit is important because when we go medium or long distance cruising we often cruise at fast speeds within the 25-30 knot range.

When sailing one has to know where he is. So we have further devices to help us navigate. These are a seperate hand held gps where we can plot our position on the chart, our radar which can be used to some degree to help us navigate and our depth sounder which is often quite helpful. Then there is the manual navigation methods of course. Noone on our boat knows celestial navigation and even if we did, I would not use it during daytime coastal cruises.

Personally I dislike overrelience on electronics as this breeds a kind of skippers who watch the chartplotter screen all the time. Without gps many people can not navigate but there is also the fact that charts are not to be relied upon blindly as they are subject to errors. Local knowledge based on daily experiences is sometimes more important than printed charts, especially around the shores and in small bays. Here is one photograph I took on our previous sailboat. It appears we should be aground whereas we are not and this is just a chartplotter (digital map's) mistake.

We are not happy without gps but keep going towards Kos. Just as we are to enter the harbour our skipper tells me something is strange with our throttle controls. A rope might be stuck to our propeller. The boat was ready entering the harbour and we were at idle speed so I could not notice this. Immediately we reversed engines and kept a safe distance from the shore, turned the engines off and then our skipper and the deckhand jumped into the water. They did not have good news, the rope is made from a quite strong synthetic material, is thick and can not be easily cut or removed from the propellers. It took some effort to dive down underneath the hull and reach the propelers. We are within one minute distance to Kos harbor but other than the difficulty of finding an emergency diver at short notice abroad on a Sunday morning, we are most likely to be charged much more than in Turkey. So we decided to get back to Bodrum Marina which is located at the Bodrum center and is very close to Kos. We can not use one propeller so we turn the starboard engine off and with the remaining one it took around one hour to go to Bodrum.

We then called Bodrum marina by VHF to explain our situation and ask for a berth for one night but got no help. The marina officer said the marina was fully booked and we could not stay. She was probably checking her reservations sheet which said there were no free spots. This time I made a telephone call to the marina front office. The manager was not there but upon me asking for their help, the front office manager told me that we could berth alongside the fuel pontoon for several hours.

Just after we approched the fuel dock our diver also arrived. He was a cool and friendly fellow working with the archeological dive team run by a friends's brother. This is what I love about Turkey. Things are fast and practical. People are helpful and focus on getting the job done. Life goes on 24x7 and the system is designed to work so almost anything can be done anytime, anywhere.

We sent the diver underneath our hull and I headed to the marina office. Bodrum marina is “the marina” in Turkey. It is so popular that finding a place is impossible. Personally I like it less because cental Bodrum is quite noisy and the Bodrum harbor which also houses the marina as well as many other commercial yachts and gulets is quite polluted. My visit to the marina office resulted us getting a berth for one night because I had been their client for many years and still know the managers. I got back to the boat and the diver was still busy removing the rope. It took him 45 minutes to complete his job. What a rope this was ! My friend was also with us so we all enjoyed a beer afterwards.

13 - With Gökova the Wonderful Blue Voyage Begins !

Next morning we left for Gökova. Gökova is one of the best well-known cruising grounds. Turks love sailing here, every summer making the Blue Voyage and enjoying the sea, landscape and the Aegean food, especially Rakı and mezes with fish. It is the time people are bathed in sunshine and seawater during the day and enjoy long dinners filled with laughter in the evening.

For Turkish sailors, the name Gökova immediately recalls one name, the legendary Turkish sailor Sadun Boro. He was the first Turkish circumnavigating yachtsmen and as much as his sailing prowess he is being loved and respected for his warm, wise character and efforts on environmental preservation. He has written the best pilot book on the Turkish coasts “Vira Demir” and upon my best knowledge it is only available in Turkish.

Boro traveled around the world and then moved his home/boat to Gökova. He says Okluk Bay is the most beautiful place in the world he came across and some friends of him crafted a beautiful mermaid sculpture and put it into the sea. Kısmet, Boro's 32 feet sailboat is now donated to Rahmi Koç Museum in Istanbul because Boro decided at the age of 85 he was too old for a monohull (a boat having one hull as opposed to catamarans and trimarans having two or three hulls) so switched to a catamaran !

This legendary sailor lists approximately 44 anchoring areas in Gökova. We visited over 40 of these over years. Below you will see Okluk Bay where Sadun Boro kept Kısmet for many years.

His reason was, after sailing around the world he decided that this spot was the best place in the world for reasons of geography, climate, culture and so on. As I mention elsewhere, southern Turkey enjoys a wonderful climate and one can still experience four seasons, though it almost never snows in Gökova.
Excellent shelter is easily available in numerous anchorages such as in Bencik or Büyük Çatı, pictured below.

Cruising is easy, anchorages, some of them providing food and water are plenty and there are no uncharted dangers. All you need is a positive attitude, a few good books to read and a good bottle of rakı or wine :-)