Blue Cruise

The mavi yolculuk began as a phrase from the writer Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı, the Fisherman of Halicarnassus, who sailed this coast with friends in the 1940s, and it has become an industry: wooden gulets, built at Bodrum and Bozburun, carrying eight to sixteen passengers on itineraries of four days to a week between the bays of the Gökova gulf, the Fethiye archipelago and the Lycian coast toward Kekova. The rhythm is fixed - motor a couple of hours, anchor in a cove, swim, eat, move on, sleep on deck under mosquito nets or in a cabin - with stops at ruins and villages the road does not reach. Cabin charters mix strangers; whole-boat charters suit groups. The differences between operators are large: engine noise, food quality, how much actual sailing happens (often little - most gulets motor), and whether the boat anchors in crowded bays or quiet ones. Read recent reviews rather than brochures.

What you actually see

• The wooden gulets - the broad two-masted boats of this coast.
• The anchorages - coves reachable only from the water.
• The swim stops - the day's rhythm between bays.
• The coastal ruins - Lycian and Carian sites along the route.

When to go

May to June and September to October for calm seas and space in the bays. July and August are hot, crowded and priced at their highest.

Honest expectations

Most gulets motor rather than sail, despite the masts. Cabins are small and hot; many people sleep on deck. Standards vary enormously between operators - check recent independent reviews. Drinks aboard are charged and marked up.

Nearby

Fethiye, Göcek and Marmaris are the main departure ports; Kekova and Olympos are on the eastern routes.