While the muezzin calls for morning prayers from the mosque's minaret, visible from afar, we start our tour of the bay of Göcek and can't help but be amazed. Fifteen years ago, when I was here for the first time, Göcek consisted of a dozen houses with a greengrocer's shop where you could also buy fenders and outboard motor oil. There were always free and unoccupied spaces at the municipal jetty, and the only restaurant called "Göcek Restaurant" was located in the extension of the jetty, which was already exceptionally good back then.
What has become of the idyll? In the small bay of Göcek, which measures just under two kilometres in diameter, there are now six marinas, one of which is only for mega yachts. And at the end of September, all the harbours are full to bursting, with hundreds of yachts anchored in the bay. The town now stretches around the entire bay with a kilometre-long promenade lined with countless restaurants and bars.
We are lucky to get a free spot on the municipal jetty - each equipped with moorings, electricity and water - because it is lunchtime and some boats have just left the harbour.
The community of Göcek has literally exploded in just a few years. It lives from and for the yachties. While live music is played in the pubs on the front row, the supermarkets, souvenir shops and yacht chandlers dominate the main street behind. Amongst the many tourists, you can see young Turkish women in skin-tight jeans, belly tops and piercings on show, who ask me if I would like to take their photo. In my home town of Lübeck, the young Turkish women wear headscarves and avoid male gaze.
The Gulf of Fethiye, and especially the municipality of Göcek, is today one of the major centres of nautical tourism on the Turkish Riviera. It is one of the most scenic regions in the south of Turkey. The Gulf around Göcek has a very well-developed nautical infrastructure. Just a few miles away there are many sheltered bays in a mountainous but very green landscape.
We decide to circumnavigate the Gulf of Fethiye once in a clockwise direction during a charter week. In terms of size, it is roughly comparable to the Greifswald Bodden and offers more than enough destinations for an eventful charter week. It is a cruise with short distances, which has many advantages: We always stay in a sheltered area. Only extreme winds or swell from the south could disrupt the planning, but in such a case you can hide wonderfully between the islands and peninsulas in the south-west of the area.
Our first destination is Fethiye, the only large town on the Gulf. We point the bow of our cat towards the south-east; it is no more than twelve miles from Göcek. A mountain massif rises up on our port side, its snow-covered peaks over 2000 metres high. We leave several small islands to starboard. The wind is blowing at 4 Beaufort from the north-west and is somewhat reminiscent of the Greek Meltemi. A gentle swell rolls into the Gulf of Fethiye from the south. Wonderful conditions for our cat, which runs as if on rails. And plenty of sunshine, even though, as mentioned at the beginning, it is already the end of September.
Fethiye, which today has 70,000 inhabitants, was the famous Lycian harbour town of Telmessos in the 5th century BC. In Byzantine times, the town was called Anastasiopolis, and was later given the Greek name Makri. Many of the buildings in the old town centre date back to the ancient settlement. It was not until 1924 that the town became part of Turkish territory under the Treaty of Lausanne. All Greeks living there were resettled to Ostattika. The town was renamed Fethiye in honour of the first Turkish military pilot Fethi.
There are three marinas, of which Ece Marina is the largest and most comfortable. On the recommendation of our charter company, we literally leave the Ece Marina to the left and moor to the west of it at the jetty of the "Yacht Classic Hotel". We head for the head of the T-jetty, but the harbour master waves us towards the hotel terrace, i.e. to the beginning of the jetty. Clearly, it's shallow there and he wants to keep the outer, deep berths ready for sailing yachts.
That's no problem with our cat, we only have a draught of one metre. But neither we nor the harbour master have thought about the tangle of lines that often lies on the shallow bottom towards the shore. Just as we are about to park up, there is a jolt twice in succession - and we are stationary. Both propellers are jammed. It's early afternoon and the wind, which is now blowing from the side, is picking up and driving our bow towards the quay wall.
The harbour master is immediately on hand with a dinghy, picks up our main anchor and moves it and the chain about thirty metres to windward. Now we are safely parked - just not on the jetty. The harbour master slips into a diving waistcoat and shoulders a compressed air cylinder. In twenty minutes he has cut both propellers free and we finally reach our berth.
The old town of Fethiye is about a ten-minute walk away. If you want to buy something typically Turkish - from hookahs to carpets - this is the place to be. However, most European tourists are to be found on Tuesdays at the large bazaar in front of the stadium. Here, locals and visitors mingle in a gigantic landscape of improvised shops under tarpaulins. The selection of food, clothing, shoes and bags is sensational. Many of the traders speak German.
"You want to buy original Levi's jeans?" A moustachioed Turk takes his tape measure from my neck and measures my waist and trouser length without being asked. "One piece of jeans 20 euros, two pieces 35, three pieces only 40 euros. All top quality!" He puts a pair of jeans in my hand. - "Original Levi's?" I ask. "Original Turkish," he replies and closes one eye.
You should plan at least two to three hours for the bazaar on Tuesday. Although the traders are keen to do business, they are always friendly and not as annoying as in the tourist centres. After the hustle and bustle, you can enjoy a delicious and inexpensive meal in a number of cookshops on the edge of the bazaar. It is only a few minutes from the bazaar to the fish market. There you can choose your fresh catch and then have it prepared in one of the restaurants grouped around the fish market. It doesn't get any fresher than this!
We leave Fethiye astern and head west. The scenic anchor bays with their bush pubs lie in the south-west of the gulf. It is about twelve miles to get there. We steer through the natural channel between the islands of Domuz and Tersane and then turn into the deep bay to the north of Tersane.
A friendly young woman in a T-shirt and pluder trousers assigns us a berth. Unlike the other yachts, our cat doesn't need to use the mooring line, but is allowed to go alongside behind the jetty. The young Turkish woman speaks English, takes the lines, ties them up professionally and raises the fenders.
Evergreen carob trees, picturesque pomegranates, olives and palm trees grow in the natural harbour of Tersane, which is protected all around. The entire bay is lined with ruins from Lycian and early Christian times. A herd of sheep tramples over the ancient floor mosaics and the once Christian basilica serves as a goat pen.
The dozen or so inhabitants of the Tersane settlement practise traditional agriculture. You can buy flatbread, honey, cheese, olive oil and vegetables from them. When the sun sinks behind the hills of Tersane, a pleasantly cool shadow falls over the bay. It smells of fire and freshly baked flatbread.
The young Turkish woman, who we now know is called Yesim, goes from boat to boat and takes orders.
As the evening progresses, the small restaurant fills up. We enjoy the view of the jetty and the stone evidence of more than two thousand years of settlement. Yesim serves grilled swordfish with grilled vegetables from the island. We pay 235 new Turkish lira (around 100 euros) for three people including drinks - certainly not as cheap as it was a few years ago, but perfectly acceptable.
We head for the southernmost part of the west coast of the Gulf of Fethiye. The waters have the difficult-to-pronounce Turkish name "Kuyrucak" or "Kursunlu Koyu", which is why the German crews simply call it "Bauernbucht". This most remote region of the Gulf is also the most beautiful. The water is crystal clear, there are bays without end and the fragrant pine forests reach right down to the water's edge.
This is the epicentre of the so-called bush pubs.
This is an improvised open-air restaurant with a jetty, usually even with mooring lines. Cooking is done on an open fire in a hole in the ground, the dishwasher is the sea. And the bakery consists of an improvised stone oven with a wood fire underneath. Nevertheless, delicious dishes can be conjured up in the few remaining bush pubs under the most primitive conditions.
Usually, a "licence" with lots of stamps hangs from the tree of a bush pub, stating that the owner is allowed to run a pub here in the wilderness without electricity or water. But obviously such a piece of paper seems to be of little value if you don't have "good friends" in the local administration, especially with the police and the military. So it is nothing unusual when a bush pub that has been established in a bay for years and is frequented by many regulars suddenly disappears. The displaced owner is guaranteed to find a new bay where he digs a cave for cooking.
I'm looking for a bush pub I know in Manastir Koyu, also known as "Wall Bay". An early Christian chapel is half submerged in the sea there. Next to it, the friendly Turk Recep Duman ran a primitive but good pub with his wife, son and two daughters. I head for the beautiful bay. The ruins, half submerged in the water, are still there, but the wooden jetties for the yachts have been torn down and the former fireplace is unused.
We navigate towards Bauernbucht again, perhaps to find another bush pub. After rounding a rocky cape, the view opens up into a small sub-bay called Canli Koyu in the north-west of Bauernbucht. At the very apex, I recognise an old blue and white fishing boat with the sign "Amigo". As I steer somewhat uncertainly towards the jetty, a man is already waving vigorously at me. It's Recep Duman, who recognises me immediately after many years.
He was expelled from the Monastir Koyu and now lives and works here with his family. He has built tables and benches under the shade of pine trees. His wife prepares delicious meals over a fire in a hole in the ground, while his two daughters on board his boat chop vegetables for the evening and prepare appetisers and desserts. Meanwhile, the son is out on the dinghy, selling home-baked flatbread to the crews anchored nearby.
Recep has piled up a small stone pier on the originally wild shore. There are a dozen mooring lines in the water. As the water depths are different at each berth, each mooring yacht is instructed individually and has to moor with the bow or stern, depending on the draught. In the course of the afternoon, eleven crews moor up and all 40 seats in the improvised restaurant and on the deck of the cutter are taken. There is a choice of a mixed meat or fish platter. This is accompanied by grilled vegetables, potatoes, rice and yoghurt with fruit for dessert. It's unbelievable how the family conjures up a delicious menu with several courses for forty people under such primitive conditions!
On the west coast of the gulf, one bay after another follows in the direction of Göcek. Each one is so beautiful that you want to stay longer. But as we all know, a charter week is always too short. The closer we get to Göcek, the more yachts anchor in the bays. And where there used to be bush pubs to be discovered, today there are respectable restaurants with proper jetties.
We spend our penultimate evening in the bay of Sarsala with the restaurant of the same name. By nightfall at the latest, all 25 mooring places are occupied. The restaurant stretches along the shaded shore. Above it is a modern kitchen and proper sanitary facilities. While the crews are still cooling off in the clear waters of the bay, a lamb is being grilled on a spit over an open fire next to the jetty. Sarsala is a very nice place and definitely recommended.
On the way back towards Göcek, which has been reduced to just a few miles, we make a stop in Tomb Bay and moor at the "Nomad" restaurant. A stream flows into the bay, making it very green and fertile. The imposing tombs of the Lycians, who settled here in pre-Christian times, can still be seen carved into the rock faces.
The "Nomad" restaurant has showers, toilets, Wi-Fi and water from the spring. If you want to get back into shape before your flight home, you can also have your hair done and a massage here. We order gözleme, a thin, (usually savoury) flatbread with Turkish honey (super sweet delicacy, not exactly suitable for losing weight) and enjoy the beauty and tranquillity of the place. There are still several bays we would like to visit, but there is not enough time. We have experienced a small but exceptionally beautiful area and are impressed by the serenity and friendliness of its inhabitants.
Shortly after sunset, we steer our catamaran back to Göcek, where the lively promenade is lit up as bright as day and where the muezzin is already calling for night prayers from the minaret of the mosque.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE DISTRICT
Journey The nearest airport to the Göcek charter base is Dalaman Airport. There are direct flights to Dalaman from all major German airports. If you book early on the internet, you can get tickets from €300. The journey from Dalaman to the charter base takes just under half an hour. The transfer can be organised by the charter company.
Cruise tipsYou should definitely visit the town of Fethiye in the south-east of the gulf of the same name. There are three marinas as well as the very beautiful jetty we visited in front of the "Yacht Classic" hotel. The old centre of Fethiye with its beautiful shopping mile is well worth a visit. The bazaar, which is located just outside towards the stadium, takes place every Tuesday and is one of the largest and most famous in Turkey.
The most scenic part of the gulf is the west coast with its many small bays. Those interested in history will find numerous ruins of Lycian and pre-Christian settlements in this region, for example in the bays of Tersane, Manastir Koyu and Bedri Rahmi.
In the very south of this protected area, there are still some of the original bush pubs around the so-called "Bauernbucht". We experienced a very warm atmosphere in the "Amigo" in Canli Koyu (located in the north-west of Bauernbucht) and were served very good food.
Cruise literature
- Horn/Hoop: "Turkish Coast, Eastern Greek Islands": Edition Maritim, €49.90, ISBN 978-3-89225-292-4; www.delius-klasing.de
- Radspieler: "Turkish Coast: From the Bosporus to Cyprus" (see illustration on the right): Delius Klasing Verlag, €29.90, ISBN 978-3-7688-0572-8; www.delius-klasing.de
- "Bay Express Turkish Coast": This magazine-like travel guide describes all the interesting destinations for boaters, such as restaurants with moorings. The beautifully illustrated booklet was sold locally in 2012 for 20 TL or €10 in marinas and in many restaurants with yacht moorings. Texts are also available in German. Orders at a price of €16.90 are possible via: www.sailvation.com The Bay Express is also available as an iPad app: www.bayexpress.info
Charter information Moorings is recognised as the largest international yacht charter company with over 40 years of experience in the market. The company has fleets of sailing yachts in almost all well-known charter destinations worldwide. For some years now, the motor yacht charter segment has been increasingly expanded. The 393 PC, 372 PC and 474 PC motor catamarans developed by Robertson & Caine especially for Moorings are used for this purpose.
The motor cats are currently available at the following charter bases: British Virgin Islands, Baja California in Mexico, Thailand, Bahamas, Seychelles and Tonga. The new charter bases in the Mediterranean are located in Corfu (Greece), Göcek (Turkey) and Agana (Croatia). From 2013, charter yachts will be offered in the USA at the following bases: Anacortes (Northwest), Miami and Annapolis. Info: Moorings, Mariner Travel GmbH, Theodor-Heuss-Str. 53-63, Entrance B, 61118 Bad Vilbel, Tel. 06101-55 791 530, or at www.moorings.de
Engine cat 474 PC The Moorings 474 PC chartered by us has four double cabins, each with its own bathroom (WC/shower) and a very spacious saloon with a well-equipped galley. The ship was visually and technically in top condition when it was taken over. It is chartered out in the Mediterranean on a weekly basis (Sat.-Sat.). Depending on the season, the yacht costs from € 1015 per day.
The charter price includes bed linen, towels, dinghy with outboard motor, snorkelling equipment and Moorings' 4-hour guarantee. The yacht is handed over with a full tank of diesel and must be returned with a full tank. There is also deposit insurance (46 euros per day, which reduces the excess to 2400 euros) or alternatively a deposit (5000 euros). A skipper costs 158 euros per day.
Technical data: Length: 14.42 m, width: 7.57 m, draught: 0.95 m, engine: 2 x 112 kW (150 hp) Cummins diesel (1200 l), water: 1200 l, cruising speed: 9.6 kn (2000 rpm), maximum speed: 12 kn (2400 rpm).
Cruising stages
