Why Not Turkey? It's Delightful!
The ancient land by a turquoise sea offers a perfect getaway for the bareboat charterer with an appetite for bigger adventures.
We left the protected waters of Skopea Limani one day about midmorning, though given the meltemi’s fairly reliable gathering of strength as the hours progress, a smarter move would’ve been to weigh anchor at dawn. After an adventurous slog 30 miles northwest, we spent a couple of days anchored at Ecinçik Limani, off My Marina, a full-service resort and five-star restaurant.
That gave us time to leave Therapy for the day and hire a tour boat helmed by Sezgin Kaplan, whom we nicknamed Captain No Problem for his easy, accommodating way. He took us up the Köycegiz River inland several miles to visit the ruins of the sixth-century city of Caunos and the nearby modern village of Dalyan. We also took dips into nearby mud baths and sulfur springs, an outing we found to be oversold, considering the hordes of folks who were bussed in from nearby resorts to the Disney-like site.
Pat Manion
Once we’d felt the minerals had done miracles for our skin, and we’d sampled the bar drinks at the My Marina restaurant a couple of times, we were ready the next morning to point the bows southwest for the 30-mile run—accompanied by the appearance of dolphins at lunchtime—to Fethiye, before dawdling again among the unforgettable anchorages of Skopea Limani.
All the while, “Lady” was fielding feedback from CW’s online community—this was my first interactive bareboat charter. Armed with a laptop and an iPhone, I posted pictures and comments several times a day to the CW Facebook page while en route, giving our location and describing our surroundings.
Windtraveler was envious: “Oh!! We would *love* to cruise in Turkey!!”
Lois Joy Hofmann: “The city of Caunos was great, even though it rained when we trudged through, back in 2007 during our circumnavigation on Pacific Bliss.”
And Bob Sandberg offered up this perspective: “Found Yacht Classic marina to be very fair and reasonably priced. They had great facilities (showers, wonderful pool) and extremely helpful and pleasant staff. Would give Yacht Classic two thumbs up.” Point taken. Lady stands duly informed.
