Yachting Destinations: Turkey

Sail yachts at ancient city harbor Knidos...

I have come across following attractive sail boats at Knidos. I presume the smaller one at the front is a Wally, but I could not figure out what is the impressive larger one. Does anybody have an idea?

Antago at Kaunos Dalyan/Turkey

I have spotted this Antago at the anchorage of Kaunos, Dalyan Turkey. I suppose she is 33 meter. Is Antago still producing boats, or have they gone out of business?

Yachts in Mykonos

Some yachts anchored at Mykonos Island.

Gocek is like a pond in autumn

When autumn comes to Gocek, most of the crowd goes away. In fact, this is the best time of the season, with water temperatures in the range of 23-24 degrees Celsius and very calm days; you feel just like you are on a lake.

Nilo

Kas/Turkey, Lykian coast

We had a beautiful evening at Kas this summer. I even had the chance to swim alongside a turtle. There was a magnificent sun set. The small town has some tombs from Lykians, which dates before Christ and some old houses with very nice beugainvillea flowers.

Kekova, the sunken city

Kekova is the next stop after Kas on the Lykian coast. The city is next to the birth place (Demre) of Saint Nicolas; the character who turned into Santa Claus.

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=38

There are ruins of a sunken city in the water and several old buildings and tombs dating before Christ. There must have been very strong earthquakes in the area to change the total landscape. The area was inhabited by the Lykians and after spreading of Christianity and acceptance of Christianity by the Eastern Roman Empire, the major culture of the Empire resting on Greek Orthodox Church influenced all cultures in the area and alongside Lykians, others lost their identities melting in the Byzantium pot, until the area is conquered by the Turks. Then quite a large number of these people converted into Islam and started accepting themselves as Turks. During a recent excavation in one of the mountainous ancient sites in the area, Belgian and German archeologists came across some tombs with corpses inside them. They wanted to have a DNA test to compare with the workers at the site, who were inhabitants of the nearby village. The site was dating back to 500 B.C. and 24 of the workers were found to be direct descendents of the buried. This was not welcome by the workers, who claimed that they were very good Moslems and Turks and could not be related to the Byzantium people.

http://www.lycianturkey.com/who_were_the_lycians.htm

Kekova sunset

It has a mystical flavor.

Dear Carl,

Thanks for the compliments, be my guest whenever you decide to visit this side of the world.

Nilo

Dear Coenharbor and Yacht Carousel,

Thanks and naturally the invitation goes for you as well.

Nilo

hisaronu bay to gocek

This weekend I cruised from Hisaronu Bay, next to Simi Island to Gocek. Another beautiful location for cruising with several small inlets and safe anchorages. It was a very nice day, so I had the chance to take some good pictures. The first set of pictures are from Marti Marina, which is located in Orhaniye. There were a number of Dutch build or designed yachts. You will see the Moonen yacht Maarten, as well as 2 Stentors. I talked to one of the owners, who was very happy with the performance and space availibility of his boat.

Nilo

The surprise of the day

Then I came across the surprise of the day. The famous Dutch designer, who has designed Stentors as well, was there with his famous boat Mare-N. In my full size picture you can see him sitting on the aft deck together with his wife. Any guesses who he is?

On the way to Selimiye, which is a small village on one of the bays inside Hisaronu Bay, the sun and the clouds with the nice background setting was something to record and share. The island at the far end of the picture is the Greek island Simi. Simi is only few miles off the Turkish coast. It is one of my favorite Greek Islands. Greek and Turkish swimmers are swimming across in a friendly competition every year. Simi is one of the 12 islands in Dodecanese group of Islands, which joined mainland Greece lately, only after the 2nd World War. The Island was dominated by Ottomans (Turks), but majority of the population was Greek. During the 1st World War Italians have occupied the Islands and they have kept them under Italian rule until the end of 2nd War. Italian influence is still felt in some of the islands. Especially the Italian navy base Leros has some interesting buildings from Mussolini period.

Nilo

Orahniye to Selimiye at Hisaronu Bay

The way to Selimiye from Orhaniye has nice scenery with pine covered hills, extending all the way to the water front.

Nilo

Selimiye Bay and village

Selimiye is a typical village on the water front. Lately some touristic activity is taking place and some nice restaurants have started serving, especially convinient for boats, as they all have jetties. If you happen to go there don't miss Sardunya Restaurant. The owners Muhammed Bey and his wife Leyla Hanim will let you taste some of the best food in the area.

In this bay we berthed stern to and after dropping the anchor around 25 meters, tied the boat to a rock ashore.

Nilo

back to Gocek, my homeport

After Selimiye I cruised back to Gocek, the jewel of Turkish coast. There were a number of yachts in the bays. One of them was Heesen Seven Sins in Hamam Bay. My next stop was The Club Marina, a naturally protected marina. The dark blue hulled boat is a Turkish build trawler yacht by Troy Marine. In the next pictures there are private berths, which are occupied with several Turkish and Italian build boats.

Nilo

Gocek Bay and marinas

Some more yachts on the private berths; one of them is a Ferretti Custom line 94, the other one is a Ferretti 88 and a Rizzardi 80. In the next picture, the boat with the green hull is the Hakvoort build Yosma and next to her is a Benetti. The sailing boat is a Turkish wooden Gulet. Then the big boat is the Bennetti Darnice III. Next to Darnice III, again a Turkish build boat Cigdem is berthed. In the last two pictures, build by Turkish yard RMK and designed by Dick Boon of Vripack; Caressa K, which is a nominee for Superyacht Awards is taking place.

Nilo