BlackwaterLad
Well-Known Member
Along with my wife and 16yr old son I have just spent a week on a flotilla out of Fethiye, Turkey and would like to share our thoughts with the forum.
Our previous Med. Sailing experience was a week out of Skiathos, Greece so many of our comments are comparisons to that trip. Overall, we enjoyed both but there are differences that changed the nature of the holiday quite dramatically.
The Lycian coast is a harsh, rugged place. The quaint fishing villages that we knew from Greece do not seem to exist in this part of the world. Instead, there are isolated restaurants (often no road access) built in inlets and coves which were uninhabited before the days of desalination and diesel generators. Most nights were spent moored to rickety pontoons owned by such restaurants. The water is clean enough to swim from the boat but there is no community to explore and no choice where you eat unless you cook your own.
Our experience of food prices (based on typical veggie starter then kebab and chips type main courses) was that Fethiye was cheap even in nice places at around £10. Prices at overnight stops where around £15 but there is no mooring charge. Beer and wine are more expensive than the UK. Even though these place are little more than shacks on the sea shore we found they all took Visa.
Gocek and Fethiye are both nearby if your provisions run out or you need a night out clubbing but we managed without. We bought nothing other than bread, water and ice cream from the places we visited. On the subject of water I was amazed at how much we needed. Having decided that we would not drink the water from the boats tank we subsequently estimate that we bought a total of 60 litres (not including dinners). That is over 3 litres/person/day.
The very good bits
•Yildiz sailing.
Yildiz manage a fleet of privately owned boats which they maintain to a very high standard. Our 2008 Jeanneau 32i was pretty much immaculate. During the process of picking up and dropping of our boat we met about 4 of their staff all of whom were courteous and helpful.
•The Yacht Boutique Hotel - Fethiye
A nice hotel with a rooftop restaurant that overlooks the marina. They put an extra bed in a room for us, B&B for 3 people was 99 Euro.
•The lead crew.
It’s always tricky for the lead crew to be supportive enough without being too “in yer face” but the Welsh/Belgian couple employed by Yildiz got it right. Navigation briefings particularly, were excellent. A 6pm arrival time is later than most lead crews impose so plenty of sailing each day!
•The wind
Perhaps we just got lucky but it arrived on cue from the South West at 11am each day.
•Dalaman airport
Seems to have flights to/from everywhere all day every day. We flew Easyjet from Stansted.
The not so good bit
•My Marina – Ekincik
Where to start?
Well, it’s not a marina, just pontoons. We were lucky with the weather but in a blow you’d probably get better shelter at anchor on the other side of the bay.
The toilets and showers are closed between 9pm and 9am then again between 12pm and 3pm. When they are open they are guarded by a cleaner who expects a tip.
The showers are cold water only and there are just 4 for each gender in a “marina” that accommodate about 50 boats
The restaurant is the most expensive we found anywhere £30 for starter then kebab and chips – no written menu so you don’t know the prices until the bill arrives!
Mosquitoes. The only place we were plagued by them, it caught us by surprise. My son stopped counting his bites when he got to 50. There were probably as many again on his back!
For all of this we were charged £10 per night. Not bad by UK standards but I was left knowing that I had been ripped off.
We had a good week and would not hesitate to go back. It was different to Greece but most of the surprises were good ones.
Our previous Med. Sailing experience was a week out of Skiathos, Greece so many of our comments are comparisons to that trip. Overall, we enjoyed both but there are differences that changed the nature of the holiday quite dramatically.
The Lycian coast is a harsh, rugged place. The quaint fishing villages that we knew from Greece do not seem to exist in this part of the world. Instead, there are isolated restaurants (often no road access) built in inlets and coves which were uninhabited before the days of desalination and diesel generators. Most nights were spent moored to rickety pontoons owned by such restaurants. The water is clean enough to swim from the boat but there is no community to explore and no choice where you eat unless you cook your own.
Our experience of food prices (based on typical veggie starter then kebab and chips type main courses) was that Fethiye was cheap even in nice places at around £10. Prices at overnight stops where around £15 but there is no mooring charge. Beer and wine are more expensive than the UK. Even though these place are little more than shacks on the sea shore we found they all took Visa.
Gocek and Fethiye are both nearby if your provisions run out or you need a night out clubbing but we managed without. We bought nothing other than bread, water and ice cream from the places we visited. On the subject of water I was amazed at how much we needed. Having decided that we would not drink the water from the boats tank we subsequently estimate that we bought a total of 60 litres (not including dinners). That is over 3 litres/person/day.
The very good bits
•Yildiz sailing.
Yildiz manage a fleet of privately owned boats which they maintain to a very high standard. Our 2008 Jeanneau 32i was pretty much immaculate. During the process of picking up and dropping of our boat we met about 4 of their staff all of whom were courteous and helpful.
•The Yacht Boutique Hotel - Fethiye
A nice hotel with a rooftop restaurant that overlooks the marina. They put an extra bed in a room for us, B&B for 3 people was 99 Euro.
•The lead crew.
It’s always tricky for the lead crew to be supportive enough without being too “in yer face” but the Welsh/Belgian couple employed by Yildiz got it right. Navigation briefings particularly, were excellent. A 6pm arrival time is later than most lead crews impose so plenty of sailing each day!
•The wind
Perhaps we just got lucky but it arrived on cue from the South West at 11am each day.
•Dalaman airport
Seems to have flights to/from everywhere all day every day. We flew Easyjet from Stansted.
The not so good bit
•My Marina – Ekincik
Where to start?
Well, it’s not a marina, just pontoons. We were lucky with the weather but in a blow you’d probably get better shelter at anchor on the other side of the bay.
The toilets and showers are closed between 9pm and 9am then again between 12pm and 3pm. When they are open they are guarded by a cleaner who expects a tip.
The showers are cold water only and there are just 4 for each gender in a “marina” that accommodate about 50 boats
The restaurant is the most expensive we found anywhere £30 for starter then kebab and chips – no written menu so you don’t know the prices until the bill arrives!
Mosquitoes. The only place we were plagued by them, it caught us by surprise. My son stopped counting his bites when he got to 50. There were probably as many again on his back!
For all of this we were charged £10 per night. Not bad by UK standards but I was left knowing that I had been ripped off.
We had a good week and would not hesitate to go back. It was different to Greece but most of the surprises were good ones.
