Sailing off the Turkish coast

By James Stone

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With a week to spare before I started my new life in the Scilly Isles, I thought I would take the opportunity to explore some more beautiful islands, those off the coast of sunny Turkey rather than Cornwall.

On arrival at Marmaris, on the western seaboard of Turkey, I was pleased to see that our motorised yacht, which would be my home along with 14 companions and crew over the next week, was stunning, spacious and fitted with all the mod cons. It did have sails but I think they were more ornamental than anything and I was never asked to climb the rigging.

We each had a shared small cabin, complete with portholes, toilet and shower, or so I thought. Being the only single male traveller on board, it was decided that I should be given the luxury of my own cabin. In truth, I think the only single female traveller, an attractive middle aged lady called Amanda, put her foot down when it was revealed to her that she might have to bunk in with me. Anyway, we were all happy as we set off from Marmaris for our week-long cruise along the Turkish coast, through a number of Greek islands and up to Bodrum, before returning.

Our nights were spent eating, drinking and attempting not to be sick in our cabins while our yacht made its way, under the superb guidance of Metin and his crew, to our next port of call in the morning.

Most mornings we breakfasted and spent an hour lounging out on the deck on the "relax mats", as the crew called them, that had been provided for us, while our boat came in to port. From here we would usually have five or six hours free time in which to explore the town we found ourselves, or head to the nearest beach for some more relaxing.

From Marmaris we sailed west and out to sea until we reached the small Greek island of Nisiros by morning. It was absolutely beautiful but the town in which we disembarked seemed devoid of much to interest the visitor besides its beauty and wandering around being looked at by the locals. It struck me that perhaps not many tourist boats dock here as we were looked at with amazement by many and with great interest by the local children. Amanda and I headed off to the nearby picturesque little beach, where she told of her displeasure at the lack of good looking, eligible men on the cruise.

Kos was our next port of call the following day. Tourists are not such a rarity here and I was greatly disappointed by what I found and hankered after the quiet life of Nisiros.

From here it was on to Bodrum, where we given a full 12 hours to look around. The city was teeming with beach loving tourists but there was also some culture to enjoy thanks to the 15th century Castle of St Peter, which was extremely hot work.

On our way back, not far from Marmaris, we stopped at the little town of Serce, which was a lovely place with plenty of restaurants in which to treat our crew to a meal and many drinks. Captain Metin steered us in to Marmaris somewhat erratically in the morning.

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