A very busy week last week. When there are friends galore visiting Fethiye and the logistics of meeting up / deciding what to do are getting a bit difficult, there’s only one thing to do and that’s arrange a boat trip.
We wrote about the Göcek market boat trip a while back but the boat trip we did on Tuesday had to be a private one.
The first reason was that there were 12 of us, making a private trip more affordable and the second reason was that there are a couple of kids in the party who’ve never been on a boat before.
The last thing their parents wanted was two potentially unhappy, bored, seasick kids on a boat full of other people.
We’d like to be able to say that the photo above is of the boat we went out on…but it isn’t.
Turkish harbours are lined with traditional gulets like these two and it’s good to bob along the Mediterranean alongside them; even if we are the poor relatives.
So, the father of the two kids also decided that as there were 12 of us and he wasn’t sure if the children would be happy on a boat, it would be a good idea to try to ask one of the owners of the medium-sized 12 Island boats if we could hire one of those for the day.
We figured there might be half a chance because we wanted to go out on a Tuesday (Fethiye market day) and the boats are quiet on Tuesdays.
Lo and behold, one of the boat owners agreed to let us hire his boat and said that rather than doing the 12-island boat trip (like his boat normally does) he would do the bays of Fethiye instead.
So, on Tuesday morning, off we sailed. 12 of us rattling around on a big boat, 12 sunbeds all laid out for us upstairs on the top deck and loads of room for the kids to run around.
We’ve lost count of the number of private boat trips we’ve done around the Fethiye bays but the beauty of this trip was that because the boat was more powerful, they took us to one of the furthest bays.
None of us had ever been there before, we were the only boat there and the water was fantastically turquoise and clean.
We were all agreed that this was a special place so we stayed there most of the day, swimming, diving, jumping (well, I climbed down the steps), eating.
That’s the other great thing about a private boat trip; we got to choose if we wanted to stay somewhere or move on to a new bay.
We did move to two different bays after the first one, just so we got to have a bit of a sail but nothing will beat the first bay for any of us.
Blissful relaxation in a place of outstanding beauty – oh, and we were also captivated by an eagle soaring in the thermals above us.
We all tried to get photos and you’d think that between 12 of us, one would manage a decent shot…yeah, well, that’s us lot.
Not one decent photo!
Whilst it’s great to have twelve people together, pleasing everyone on any activity is not, in reality, easy. There’s always someone who’d much rather be doing something else.
BUT, thanks to the beauty of the Fethiye bays and the people who looked after us all day, we all had an amazing time – including the kids!
A happy memory…
Victoria Burakauskas
Thursday 17th of March 2016
hi! i am going to turkey in a week or so. March 24 we will fly into istanbul, stay there for a while, then go to Fethiye for a couple days. because it is late march, i know there will probably not be too many tourists. but luckily i checked the weather and it will be warm enough to go to the beach! what i was wondering, is while we are there (march 28,29), will we be able to go on any kind of boat tour? i would love to see fethiye and some other locations from a different perspective, and see the water for a couple hours or so! Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated :)
Turkey's For Life
Friday 18th of March 2016
Hi Victoria. It's usually mid April before any of the boat trips start to leave the harbour; especially for the bigger boats. Not sure how many people you are but you might be able to hire one of the smaller boats to take you out on a private trip for a few hours. Not sure how much they'd charge you as it would depend how long you want to be out for and if you want food, etc. All of the smaller private boats tat do private boat trips are lined up along Fethiye harbour and much of the time, there is someone around who you could ask. :) Hope that's of some help.
Emily
Thursday 9th of April 2015
I am enjoying reading the information on your blog about the boat trips. We are going to Turkey for the first time in June 2015. When I saw advertisements about the Gulet cruises, I was enchanted, but as I read more about them, I wondered if the downsides might outweigh the positives. So, I was debating if we should instead go on day cruises like what you are describing here. Have you been on any of the 3 day trips to Olympos?
Turkey's For Life
Thursday 9th of April 2015
Hi Emily, thanks a lot for your comment and we're sure you're gonna love your first visit to Turkey. We've never been on one of the Olympos cruises unfortunately. We're not sure what age groups you are or how many people are in your group but a lot of the trips from Fethiye attract the backpacker crowd so have a fun element to them, as well as the chilling-out side of things. You could always do a day trip to see how it goes and then try to book the 3-day gület trip if you enjoy it. Lots of the gülets tend to get booked up last minute rather than a long way in advance because backpackers don't tend to know where they'll be too far in advance. :)
Turkey's For Life
Saturday 2nd of July 2011
@ Natalie: We've not been on a boat trip yet, this year. All that will change tomorrow though!Let us know when you're in Gocek and we'll see what we can arrange.
@ Tony S: Yes, bliss! :) There's something very nice about drinking an icy cold Efes while bobbing along on the Mediterranean.
TonyS
Saturday 2nd of July 2011
Bliss, Julia. And does grilled chicken, salad and a cold Efes ever taste better?
Natalie
Saturday 2nd of July 2011
I have not been on a boat trip for ages. Your post reminded me of how good they were. BTW - In Gocek next week with some friends. My itchy feet can not stay still any longer. Will look you up if possible.