6-day Sailing Itinerary from Fethiye
There’s nothing quite like sailing in Turkey, and Fethiye is an ideal jumping off point to find the secluded bays (each often complete with their own cute restaurant and jetty), idyllic sights, ancient history, glorious nature, and, of course fantastic Turkish food, drink and hospitality.
You could easily have a superb week on a yacht sailing in just the Gocek Bay area, but this is a sailing holiday, so we’ve included highlights from the wider area so that you can get some nautical miles in. Our six-day itinerary clocks in at 103 nM, which still means a leisurely pace of life and sailing (an average of 4-5 hours of purposeful sailing a day, leaving plenty of time to explore your start, end or mid-points in some depth).
It’s only a six-day itinerary because you won’t normally take charge of the boat until late on Saturday afternoon, and you’ll have to return the boat to the marina by 6pm on your final Friday evening (before staying overnight and disembarking in the morning) – which means 6 days of sailing.
Day 1. Fethiye to Cold Water Bay – 15 nM
Good morning, Captain! Are you ready for an adventure? Assemble the crew, get some provisions on board, and then let’s get this good ship a-sailing! Today is perfect for getting yourself back into the groove: we’ll be sailing in almost every possible direction as we loop around the headland to the south of Fethiye. Training is also a good excuse for ‘Man overboard’ drills, so tell get your second in command to wear his trunks!
Nose out, and we’re heading west, south, east, then north to Cold Water Bay. Ideally, it’s worth going slightly further round the coast to the beaches of Oludeniz, where there’s the stunning Blue Lagoon – a wonder of modern nature, and my words won’t really do it justice – google it or search it on Instagram and you will get the idea.
Cold Water Bay is so called because there’s (cold) freshwater springs which also feed into the sea here – the water is colder here, but not so cold to put you off diving in. If you’re after a bit of an explore, you can hike to the abandoned ghost town of Kayakoy on the hillside above: the Greeks that used to live here were forced out by a Greek-Turkish people-exchange in 1923, but Turkish people refused to move into the town because of fears that it was haunted by the ghosts of Greek soldiers. The bay also featured as a filming location for Russell Crowe’s 2014 film ‘The Water Diviner’.
Day 2. Cold Water Bay to Tersane Adasi – 15 nM
After the delights of Cold Water Bay, we’re heading north to Gocek Bay, likely tacking into and then running with the prevailing winds as you head into the bay. The whole bay area looks like an oasis of peace, calm and tranquillity now, but it was once a giant naval base for the Ottoman empire!
The name of the biggest island, Tersane Adasi, where we are spending the night, literally means ‘Dockyard’ in Turkish, and this is where they used to build their ships. There’s not much evidence of this on the ground, but you should spot all sorts of things if you don a snorkel and flippers.
Going further back in time, the Ancient Greeks called the island ‘Telandros’ and it is believed to be the resting place for the mythical Glaucus, who fought in the Battle of Troy. The island is now uninhabited, but there’s a restaurant for sailors, and you’ll spot more abandoned Greek houses, a couple of churches, some old orchards, and a decent number of wild goats.
Day 3. Tersane Adasi to Ekincik – 28 nM
Today is the longest leg of our journey, but at 28 nautical miles, it hopefully shouldn’t feel like too much of a slog. We’re leaving Gocek bay, but will return here later in the week. It would be tempting to stay here and relax, but then you literally wouldn’t get any sailing done!
Once out of the bay area, head north to Ekincik, tacking up the prevailing wind. Ekincik in itself is a nice enough place to stay, with the lush surroundings of pine trees ascending up mountainous slopes, but we’re mainly here to give you time to get yourself set up for tomorrow – there’s a number of local sites which are worth taking a half-day boat tour to go and visit, which you can arrange in Ekincik.
There’s the (highly recommended) ancient town of Kaunos to explore, ancient Lycian tombs to wonder at, plus the thermal mud baths of Dalyan (which are reputed to take a decade off the age you look), and, for nature lovers, there’s Turtle island (Iztuzu beach) which is the nesting ground for 600 sea turtles during the breeding season. The only way you can see them is on an organised tour, as boats are not allowed to sail up to Dalyan, but it is possible to see all three in a morning or afternoon.
Day 4. Ekincik to Asi Koyu – 11 nM
We’ve scheduled in a short leg today to reward the crew for their efforts yesterday, and to give you time to explore the local area this morning, if that’s what you chose to do. It’s just a short, lazy hop back down the coast (and going back past Iztuzu beach) to Asi Koyu.
It’s possible to make most of the distance in a single tack if you wanted to give most of the crew the afternoon off to sunbathe, sit and read, generally relax or play. Once you’ve pointed the Helm in the right direction, then perhaps you might even fancy a brief sit down yourself, Captain, and get someone to fetch you some snacks?
Asi Koyu is another beautiful remote bay – this one is regarded as one of the best-kept secrets in the Med, as it’s so difficult for land-lubbers to get here, being so well off the beaten track. There’s a beach bar and it’s a romantic place to spend the night. Enjoy the company of the people you are with. This is the life!
Day 5. Asi Koyu to Gobun (Kapi Creek) – 21 nM
From one beautiful bay to another – we’re bearing south to the Gocek bay area where we’ll head to the wonderful Gobun (which is better known as Kapi Creek Bay). There’s a restaurant jetty in this idyllic location with space for 30 or so boats to stay the night.
If you’re feeling energetic on arrival, then you can hike up the nearby hillside – it takes about an hour to reach the summit, but the views out over the water are spectacular – but if not, then you can stroll around the local olive groves, take a dip, or just rest up and wait for the sunset to arrive.
The restaurant here, overlooking the water and the boats, is wonderful and makes for a brilliant evening setting (and probably a good time to grab a team photo). Now is also a good time to sample the local Turkish wine (Turkey invented wine, don’t you know? They’ve been making wine here for over 6,000 years!) and to swap stories of your sailing adventures with the other sailors at the bar.
Day 6. Gobun (Kapi Creek) to Fethiye – 13 nM
It’s disappointing, but somehow, today is it the last day already. But don’t think too much about going back to your other life, because you’re still on holiday and we’ve got another day of wonderful sailing to do - today is all about following your whims: we don’t have too much ground to cover, so feel free to explore the Gocek bay area and find amazing places to swim, have lunch, or even places to stop next year. There’s so many cute looking bays and restaurants that it’s difficult to choose.
Once you’ve had your fill of Turquoise blue waters, pristine islands, etc… then you can reach back across the bay to Fethiye. Don’t forget to refuel as you re-enter the marina, and then park the boat up pretty much where you found her. You can stay on-board for another night, but then you’ll need to check-out early tomorrow morning.
If you haven’t yet toured Fethiye then it is worth a wander around, It’s a bit of a tourist town in its own right – the main sights being the 2,400 year old Amintas rock tombs above town or ancient Roman sarcophagi dotted around the town. There;s a good range of places to eat and drink though.
Hopefully the crew have all gotten on nicely for the week, you’ve had an exceptional week of sailing and fun, and you’ve really enjoyed your Turkish adventure! There’s a fair chance that you’ve already decided that you’re coming back to Turkey so come back to PlainSailing.com once you have agreed dates (same time next year?), or to explore where else we can find you a charter boat. Have a safe trip home!
