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MARMARIS-FETHİYE-MARMARİS 

Day 1: Marmaris

Day 2: Port paperwork in the morning and then sailing, arriving at Ekincik midday. After lunch you head to the reed-covered delta of Dalyan Stream, pay a visit to the ancient city of Kaunos, see tombs cut into the rocks, take a mud bath, and swim at İztuzu Beach. The night is spent at Ekincik.

Day 3: In the morning, by taking a turn at Kurdoğlu Point, you follow a route that takes in the monastery of the Cove of Cleopatra and Hamam (Bath) Cove.

Day 4: This days involves a visit to Tersane(Shipyard) Island, a stop near the Yassıca Islands for a swim, then spending the night in Göcek or Fethiye. In Fethiye you have the chance to visit the ancient city of Telmessos  where the new Fethiye is now located on and  the rock tombs up the hills.

Day 5: After a short trip in the morning you get to Ölüdeniz (Dead Sea). (Yachts are banned from entering the lagoon part of Ölüdeniz). Here you have a break for swimming and the afternoon and night is spent either on Gemile Island or Beştaş Cove.

Day 6: After a trip of three or four hours in the morning, passing through the Dişibilmez and Baba Islands, you get to one of the coves around Ekincik for the night stopover.

Day 7: After a two hours trip in the morning you arrive at İnceada-Gebekilise. After breaks in Kadırga and Kumlubük in the afternoon you arrive at Turunç for the night stay.

Day 8: Marmaris

The Port of Kuyucak: This is a beautiful cove surrounded by pine trees. It has fish farms on both sides of its entrance. The cove is divided into two parts, with one side being so marshy that it cannot be entered. There is a large hotel on the other side of the cove. One can anchor in the middle of the waterway and it is possible to find shelter in every type of weather.

The Cove of Güvercinlik and Salih Island: Güvercinlik is a large cove where the hamlet of the same name is located. The Bodrum road crosses through here. There are facilities available for accommodation, food and drink.

Salih Island opposite the cove covers a large area. Its high grounds are covered with pines and lower reaches with olive trees. On the south east part of the island the cove where there is a white house is the best for visiting boats. Although the water might have lost its former clearity due to the fish farms, it is still suitable for shelter and swimming.

You can anchor by the shore of the cove in southern inlet where there is a summerhouse complex of seven or eight villas. The ancient Karianda civilisation was founded on this island, with the people later migrating to Türkbükü-Gölköy and founding New Karianda. You can see the old houses and walls.

Those that sailed for Ekincik from Marmaris will see the Karaağaç Port on their left. The port and the island in the front are a military zone and entrance is prohibited. The Karaağaç port area is full of beautiful coves covered with liquid amber and pine trees.

The Port of Köyceğiz: It is a port that has the port of Ekincik as well within its lots of coves.On its western part, among the popular stopping or over-nighting coves there are Semizce, Kargı, and Karaçay. There are two anchoring points in the port of Ekincik. One of them is Köy Önü (in front of the village), the other is the Maden quay - My Marina Club. The quay in front of the village belongs to the village autonomy. On the quay there is a line of dolmuş (shared) boats that run to the beaches of Dalyan-İztuzu. In Ekincik there are hotels, pensions, shops, buffets, showers-toilets and telephone booths. The beach is hundreds of meters long. From the port you can get to Köyceğiz and the Muğla-Fethiye main road.

The port on the south east of the Maden (Mine) port used to serve ships carrying mined chromium and that was converted to provide services to yachts and is owned by My Marina Club. The restaurant under the trees within the facilities has a well-earned reputation for its range of fish.

Delikada: In front of the Dalyan entrance there is the Delikada opposite of the İztuzu Beach. This is the place where large cruising boats and Blue Cruising boats are mooring. With small dolmuş (shared) boats you can get to İztuzu Beach and into the Dalyan channels and from there to the ancient city of Kaunos and the mud baths.

Between İztuzu and Sarıgerme there are almost no coves you can shelter in, the only one being Aşı Cove. You can get to Aşı Cove from Dalyan or Ortaca by driving 25 kilometres. Those who come to Aşı by sea get into the cove through rocky cliffs on two hills either side of the cove’s mouth. There is a small island of dark or pointed stones in the mouth of the cove. It is available for swimming and shelter. There is a small and clean restaurant on the waterfront.

Once you have passed Karaburun, the height of the mountains fall and you get to the Dalaman Plateau. This is Dalaman Inlet. Just further up is Baba Island, the guardian of the Dalaman Inlet and right after that is Sarıgerme Beach.

Sarıgerme has become a popular tourism resort in the recent years, with its five star hotels, holiday resorts and a beach that is kilometers long. Visiting boats anchor in the rocky small cove on the north east of Baba Island. The sea is clean and shiny. A cave close to the northern end of the island crosses the island from one side to the other. On the top of the hill there is the ruin of a tower.

The flat Dalaman Plateau begins to increase in height as you get to the Kapıdağ Peninsula, reaching an altitude of 500 meters before Kurtoğlu Point. By now you are in the calm waters of the Gulf of Fethiye. The 13.5 kilometers opening between Kurtoğlu and İblis (Dökükbaşı) is the mouth of the gulf. This gulf has the most popular coves and islands for the Blue Cruise boats and yachts.

From the Gulf of Fethiye, when you get towards the Göcek Gulf, the most popular destinations are Ağa Port and Kocabük. The Ağa Port consists of one small and one large harbour. Both end in a beach area. Those who follow the path upwards from Büyük (Large) Ağa port can get to Roman and Byzantine ruins in the Köyiçi region. Another leads you up the hill to the west and to the point of the Kapıdağ Peninsula that has a lake on the peak. There are three or five houses around the lake, and a terrific view from above.

After Ağa Port you get to Kocabük, Göbün Island and then to the Gulf of Göcek. The coves and the islands in the gulf have been declared a Special Environment Protected Region since 1988.

The centre of yachting tourism is the Gulf of Göcek. The port of Göcek and the hamlet is at the end of the gulf itself. There are four different marinas serving yachts. These are the Belediye (Municipality) Marina, the Skopea Marina, Club Marina and the newest one, Port Göcek. (The contact numbers and technical specification are available in the Göcek section.)

Boats that depart from one of the Göcek marinas can stop at the cove of Eğri Çam, the Osmanağa Çeşmesi, Atbükü (Karagılık-Karanlık coves), Günlüklü Cove, Boynuzbükü and Killebükü. Boats can moor at all of them. Günlüklü Cove hosts hoards of people coming for picnics and its beach and surroundings are beautiful. In Günlüklü, for those who want to moor away from the crowds, there are also small and sheltered coves. In Killebükü, behind the beach area amongst the forest you can find the ruins of a church if you go ashore.

The Taşkaya Cove (The Cove of Bedri Rahmi) is one of the most beautiful coves of the region. There are always numbers of yacht moored there. There is a fountain with sweet water, a gravel stone beach lined with oleander, a picture of a fish by famous Turkish artist Bedri Rahmi who was one of the early sailors of the Blue Cruise and the picture of a kite made from gravel by another artist, Azra Erhat. All these features add interest to the region. To the north of the fountain there are the tombs cut into the rock and, in the flat area, there is a restaurant serving to the boats and a spring of cold spring water. The spring is surrounded with a concrete wall and has been turned into a small pool. On hot summer days the pool attracts many people. Those who follow the path leading up the hills, by walking for half an hour, can get to the small village of Kilisebelen. The view, which takes in the Dalaman Plateau, the airport, Kocagöl and Baba Island, is very beautiful. Since Taşkaya is crowded, some boats choose to moor in Aşılık Cove to the west.

There is also the port of Sıralıbük, which includes the smaller and larger coves of Hurmalı. Boats and yachts can moor there.

Sarsala Cove is one of the most popular coves in the region. The long gravel beach, with tree covered plains behind mountains makes Sarsala very attractive. In the Küçük (Small) Sarsala Cove, the most popular mooring point, there is a restaurant and a quay. (You can come to Sarsala Cove from Dalaman. For details see the Dalaman section.) There are beautiful walking routes around the cove. You can try them when it gets cooler during the day, mornings and evenings.   

On the Kapıdağ Peninsula there is a 300 meters long neck of land. On the Göcek side of it there are the Manastır-Akbük Coves. This is the region where the Kapı (Door) and the Hamam (The Bath of Cleopatra) Coves are to be found, very popular points on the Göcek tour. Both the Hamam and the Kapı Coves are like swimming pools. In Kapı Cove both the old and new restaurants have their own quays. Those who take a stroll among the olive trees come across a wall of four or five meters high. The wall, although some parts are falling down, is still fairly well preserved and was built to protect the ancient cities above Kapıdağ and runs all the way across the neck. Those who get on top and follow the route parallel to the wall can get a view of the port of Gökgemile and the open sea. Another path leads wanderers to Hamam Cove.

Boats mooring in the port of Hamam can see the ruins of a bath. These ruins are believed to be the ones Cleopatra has once bathed in so this is why this cove is also known as the Cove of Cleopatra.

The coves of Kuyucak, Kurşunlu, Yavansu and Merdivenli come in a row as you move along the coast. In Yavansu there are some village cottages and a barn. At this cove the hill of Küçük Kapıdağ rises.

In the entrance of the Kuyucak Cove there is a small island that is suitable for a few boats to stop and for swimming too.

The extraordinary mooring location for small boats is Göbün Cove. You can easily miss the entrance to this cove. You cannot see it from outside. Only after you get through the narrow neck between the cliffs of the hill dropping to the sea, the cove slowly opens up in front of you. There are many restaurants on the waterfront. The first restaurant in the region was opened by a diver called Tahir from Kayaköy. He hosted his customers very well and who came once kept coming back. After the numbers of restaurants increased in the area he has left the running of his restaurant to his nephews and returned to his hometown of Kayaköy and opened a restaurant there. You should climb up the hill behind the Dalgıç (Diver) Tahir restaurant and you should let yourself be carried by the view of the open sea and the gulfs of Fethiye and Göcek before you. Choose to have the stroll around sunset so that you both avoid the heat and also enter into a dream world by watching the sunset with its extraordinary colour. Those who take another path can get to the Roman ruins that can also be reached from Ağa Port. Other stopping points on the Gulf of Göcek tour are Domuz Adası (Pig Island), which is covered with pine and olive trees, the Cove of Uzun Ali on the north of this island and the Cove of Hacıdede Stream, which is right opposite of the small island between the Domuz and Tersane Islands. There is a shallow area of 30 to 40 metres in diameter in the middle of the cove where there are ruins from the Lycian and Roman ages. The highest of the ruins are a meter below the surface of the water. It is very pleasant to swim over the ruins, especially when wearing the goggles.

Tersane Adası (Shipyard Island) is the largest island in the Gulf of Göcek and Tersane Cove is the largest on the gulf.After the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1922 the area was mainly inhabited by Greeks. In the flat lands behind the cove are the ruins of a few houses and a church. With a walk of ten minutes you can get to another cove, Yaz (Summer) Port. Between Tersane and Göcek Islands lies the group of small and large islands of Yassıca Adalar. The olive tree covered island to the south is the largest. The narrow and long island is called Büyük Yassıca (The Big Yassıca). The area between Büyük Yassıca and Kızıl (Red) Island just further on, is the best region for mooring. The Yassıca Islands are a must stop point for swimming breaks for daily tours starting either from Göcek or Fethiye. This is why the area is so crowded during the day. However, towards sunset it gets quieter and this is the best time, especially if it is the full moon time. The largest island near Göcek is Göcek Island. It offers shelter in all weather conditions and has large coves and fig trees.

The Gulf of Fethiye

The northern shores of Fethiye usually attract picnickers coming by land. The coves of İnlice, Çığlık, Küçük Kargı, Katrancı and islands of Katrancı, Kızıl and Deliktaş follow one another in a row.

From Fethiye to Ölüdeniz

When you sail from Fethiye towards Ölüdeniz, before İblis Point you go past Samanlı, Kuleli, and Kalemya (the cove where the Hillside Holiday Village is located) and then comes Turunç Pınarı and Sömbeki Coves. The beach of Turunç Pınarı is sandy and the sea is clearly beautiful. There is a small restaurant to meet the needs of boats and picnickers alike. Sömbeki is also among the most popular destinations for the boat tours. On the way to Ölüdeniz the really beautiful coves and islands follow each other, after you pass İblis Point.

Karacaören Cove is the first of these, opposite of the Karacaören Island. The bottom of the sea is sandy and the sea crystal clear. There is also a restaurant on the cove, owned by the brother of Tahir from Kayaköy, Muzaffer. If he is in the mood and pulls out his violin you will have a wonderful time.

Both Gemiler Adası (The Island of Ships) and the cove of the same name are another of the popular mooring points for touring boats. (Detailed information on this region is in the Fethiye section.)

After you pass the popular stop-over ports of Soğuksu, Mersin and Beştaş you get to Ölüdeniz. Yachts are banned from entering Ölüdeniz lagoon itself but you can moor at the point of the cove and go by small boats to Ölüdeniz, the golden sandy beach of Kumburnu or Belceğiz. At the end of the long Belceğiz Beach the coastline curves inward, becoming Kıdrak Cove.

Among the coves after you leave Marmaris are beaches of Turunç and Kumlubük and Çiftlik Cove. There is detailed information on these coves in the Marmaris section of the book. By mooring at the side of the point between Turunç and Kumlubük you can see the ruins of Amos.

The Kadırga Cove, which is right before Kadırga Point and on which there is a white lighthouse and the house of the keeper, is another stopping place. Boats coming from Marmaris take a swimming break in here.

The Çiftlik Cove can be distinguished by the island in front of it. Çiftlik is a large cove that you can get to by land. It is almost the only cove that has a sandy beach in this region. There is a big hotel, a holiday resort and many restaurants.

At the entrance of the cove there is a private island with a mansion on it. When you make a turn from the island, there is another opening to a long and narrow cove. This is Gebekse Cove. The rocky shores are good for those interested in diving. The end of the cove is like a pool with its white sand on the bottom. Those  who go  ashore may want to see the ruins of a nearby church. The boats heading from Çiftlik to Bozburun stop at Serçe as a place for lunch or swimming. It is also suitable for mooring for the night. There is a small market and a restaurant on the shore. The path that leads through the flat terrain and then climbs up the hill leads you to the village of Fenaket. The glassware that was salvaged from the 11th century merchant ship that crashed onto the rocky coast here forms one of the most important exhibitions on display in the Bodrum Museum.

On the way to Bozukkale you get to another inlet, Korsan (Pirate) Cove, which has water as clear as that in a swimming pool.

Now you are in Bozukkale. To the left of the entrance of the 1.6 kilometer long cove, there are the long and wide walls of the ancient city of Loryma. In the cove area there are restaurants and a quay and buoys to moor. The restaurant owners get customers to the shore and their places by boat.

Another port when you travel towards Bozburun is Söğüt Port. The Saranda district of the village of Söğüt is in this cove. The fish restaurants on the waterfront are good and cheap. The distance to Söğüt is four kilometres.

You are now slowly coming to the Gulf of Sömbeki (Yeşilova). In order to be able to watch the sunset over the island of Sömbeki you should anchor in one of the coves of Kiseli Island. While you walk through the undergrowth of the island you come across lots of ruins of old houses and a church. Right opposite there is the Ada Boğazı (Strait Island). Just like the coral waters of the tropical seas, the waters here turn into turquoise from dark blue. Bozburun then opens up in front of you.It is a place where all of your needs after three or four days sailing since you left Marmaris can be met. From here on the most pleasant coves follow each other. Next is the Gulf of Hisarönü. It has coves that are at least as beautiful as those of Gökova.

Turning right to Selimiye after Bozburun, those who wish to anchor in the last coves of the Bozburun Peninsula and the Gulf of Sömbeki can make use of Mercimek, Tavşan Cove, Ayaca and Çanak Port. After that you run down to Atabol Point and enter the Gulf of Hisarönü. You can take a break in the Ağıl Cove. After that you arrive at the cove and the village of Selimiye. You can stay here for the night. (For details on Selimiye see the Marmaris section.)

Leaving Selimiye, you get to the Orhaniye Cove. Both are wide and very long. To the left of the entrance to Orhaniye there is the Martı Marina with a capacity of 175 yachts.

Orhaniye Cove is ideal to spend the night, with the sunset beginning early in the evening. Orhaniye is a region that you can spare a day to, with its Kızkumu Beach, its island that has the ruins of a castle on it, the Waterfall on the Bayır road and carpet sellers in the village of Turgut.

You can easily get to Marmaris and Datça by road from this area. There are many fish restaurants and pensions. The waterfall is in an area used for picnicking. (More detailed information available in the Marmaris section.) If you climb the hills near Orhaniye there is a beautiful panoramic view.

After this comes Hisarönü Port, in a wide and large cove. The small coves in Hisarönü along the shores of Marmaris-Datça road are good picnic areas with their thick forests and camping areas such İnbükü and Çubucak. It is always crowded on the weekends and every day in summer. Those who came here by boat usually swim a bit in the open.

We are now in Datça Peninsula. In the bosom of the Peninsula lie all the beauties  having the gulfs of Hisarönü in one hand and Gökova in the other.

Tavşan (Rabbit) Cove, where the Robinson Club Maris is based, opposite Tavşan Island, is the most beautiful port of the region, with Bencik coming right after it along the coast. Bencik is a location much loved by the Blue Cruise boats or yachts, with its small coves that make them feel very special. Even though there is a state-owned camping area on the shore, there has been no construction allowed to disturb you. Those who go as far as the port and go ashore can walk along paths that will lead them to the shores of Gökova. You should choose the cooler morning or evening hours for the stroll. Those who take the trip in the evening can catch the incomparable colours of the sunsets in Gökova.

In the entrance of the port of Bencik there is Dişlice (Teeth) Island, so named because it is covered with rocks that stick out like teeth. The daily boat tours frequently stop here. It is great to wander through the rocks shaped by the sea, playing hide and seek in the caves or diving to see underwater beauties!

Now you progress towards Datça. By now you can see the summerhouse complexes on the shores. The oldest and most beautiful summerhouse complex of the region is Aktur on Kurucabük Cove. The cove before this is Günlücek Cove. Both have beautiful beaches and forest camp areas. You can come by road and stay in these camping grounds for a holiday. It is easy to reach the Datça-Marmaris road nearby.

The ports of Çiftlik, Sarı and Karaincir are the last on the western end of the Gulf of Hisarönü. The Perili Köşk (Haunted Mansion) Cove, where the Perili Köşk Hotel is located, has a beach that is very pleasant for swimming. The restaurant of the hotel is recommended. There is also windsurfing opportunities.

Now we are in Datça. It is a beautiful town where the evenings are greeted in a bar in the port and where many Turkish people dream of settling after retirement. There are many dolmuş (shared) minibuses and buses to the town. By land you can get up to the end of the peninsula where the ancient city of Knidos is. Between Datça and Knidos there many small coves and bays. Some of them are only reachable by sea and some both from sea and land.

Right after Datça, comes Kargı Cove. Next to it is the small Armutlu Cove, which is just like a pool for those who want a swim. Then you pass İnce Point and Domuzçukuru and enter the Kızıl Inlet and Hayıt Inlet.

Now you are getting closer to Knidos. However, prior to visit the ancient city, you should have a feast of seafood and fish. For that you should enter Palamut Cove. Palamut is beautiful, with barren hills smoothly meeting the sea, very long beach, village houses surrounded with trees by the waterside, lines of small pensions and summerhouses and where fisherman boats and yachts moored at the port. You should try the fish restaurants right above the port.

You should get to Knidos before the sunset.

You anchor İç (Interior-Big) Port, get ashore, wander through very impressive ruins scattered around a wide area and then you should go up to the Temple of Aphrodite and watch the sunset over the open sea and outer port. The island you see in the distance is Simi.

For the coves of Göcek and the area between Fethiye and Ölüdeniz see the route to Marmaris-Fethiye. In that section you will find information on the stopping points on the Ölüdeniz-Kekova route.