Gulet charters from Bodrum
Most crewed weeks from Bodrum are spent in the Gulf of Gökova, one of the largest gulfs on the Turkish coast, which opens to the east of the town. In Turkish a week like this is a mavi yolculuk, a blue voyage or blue cruise, and the first ones went into this gulf in the mid-1940s. Writers and artists sailed with Cevat Şakir Kabaağaçlı, who had been exiled to Bodrum in 1925 and wrote as the Fisherman of Halicarnassus.
Mornings are usually calm for swimming, and nights are mostly spent at anchor or on a restaurant's mooring. Much of the inner gulf is a protected area where loggerhead turtles live, and its south shore has narrow inlets and, on Sedir Island, the ruins of an ancient city. Other weeks head south instead, across open water to Knidos and the Datça peninsula, then on into the Hisarönü Gulf.
The two sample weeks below differ mainly in how long the boat spends under way. The Gökova week stays inside one gulf with short hops between bays, which suits young families and anyone who would rather not spend long under way. The Knidos week opens with an open-water crossing and ends with two longer days, for a group happy to spend more of the week on the move.
The boats we list from Bodrum
We list 25 boats from Bodrum, the smallest for up to 8 guests and the largest for 22.
Vamos 1
28m · 12 guests · gulet
€9,800–€17,500 / week
Ros Mare
27m · 8 guests · gulet
€11,200–€21,000 / week
Gozdem The One
26m · 8 guests · gulet
€16,800–€24,500 / week
Queen of Sea
29m · 10 guests · gulet
From €17,500 /week
Bedia Sultan
35m · 10 guests · gulet
From €18,750 /week
Luja
28m · 8 guests · gulet
From €19,250 /week
Lucky You
37m · 12 guests · gulet
From €21,000 /week
Blue Heaven
30m · 11 guests · gulet
From €24,500 /week
Queen of Datça
36m · 10 guests · gulet
From €27,500 /week
Esma Sultan
40m · 14 guests · gulet
From €28,000 /week
Babylon
41m · 10 guests · gulet
From €28,000 /week
Lycian Queen
37m · 18 guests · gulet
From €30,000 /week
Le Pietre
39m · 8 guests · gulet
€35,000–€59,500 / week
Hic Salta
42m · 10 guests · gulet
€42,000–€50,000 / week
Double Eagle
39.6m · 12 guests · gulet
€42,000–€52,500 / week
Caustic
40m · 12 guests · gulet
€49,000–€63,000 / week
Kaptain Kadir
37m · 12 guests · gulet
€50,000–€60,000 / week
Sealen B
34.2m · 8 guests · sailing yacht
€50,000 / week
King Of The Sea
47m · 22 guests · motor-sailer
€70,000–€94,500 / week
Daima
42.5m · 10 guests · gulet
€78,000–€88,000 / week
Atlantika
40m · 10 guests · motor-sailer
€85,000–€110,000 / week
Ocean Pure 2
41m · 11 guests · sailing yacht
€89,000–€97,000 / week
Rox Star
39.9m · 10 guests · sailing yacht
€90,000–€110,000 / week
All About U II
49.9m · 12 guests · motor-sailer
€150,000–€220,000 / week
Kokomo
58.4m · 10 guests · sailing yacht
€240,000–€260,000 / week
Gökova or Knidos: two sample weeks
Both weeks are examples, with distances measured from Bodrum town. A boat based at Yalıkavak or Turgutreis starts further round the peninsula, which adds miles to the first and last days. The captain may change the order to suit the wind.
A week round the Gulf of Gökova
The Gökova week runs east from Bodrum along the north shore, stopping to swim at Orak Island before the first night at Çökertme. The restaurants there lay mooring buoys, and guests usually have dinner ashore that night. Next day the boat crosses to the south shore and Yedi Adalar, the Seven Islands, a scatter of islets with coves behind them. From there it works east by way of Löngöz, a narrow inlet, to English Harbour, an arm of the larger Değirmen Bükü, and on to Sedir Island. Once the day boats from Akyaka and Çamlı have left in the early evening, boats may anchor off for the night and go ashore to the ruins in the morning. Akbük, back on the north shore, comes next, then a last night in a bay nearer home and a swim stop on the final day. Most days the boat is under way for an hour or two, and the week comes to roughly 85 to 95 nautical miles, with no day much over 20.
Sedir Island
Sedir holds the ruins of ancient Kedreai: a theatre that seated 2,500, the agora, a sanctuary of Apollo, a basilica from the fifth or sixth century and lengths of the city walls. Legend has it that the beach's sand came from Egypt, a gift from Mark Antony to Cleopatra, and the island is often called Cleopatra Island.
South to Knidos and the Hisarönü Gulf
The Knidos week starts with about 21 nautical miles of open water to the western end of the Datça peninsula. Knidos had two harbours, made by filling in the strait to an offshore island, and the southern one is where boats anchor, below terraces of temples, theatres and streets laid out on a grid. In antiquity the city was known for Praxiteles' statue of Aphrodite. The harbour keeps out the swell but not a northerly, so the night there depends on the forecast. The route then runs east along the south coast, past Palamutbükü and Datça, and into the Hisarönü Gulf. At Bencik the inlet runs so far into the peninsula that only a narrow strip of land is left. Herodotus tells how the Knidians began digging a channel near here, hoping to make their land an island as the Persian army advanced, and stopped when the oracle at Delphi told them to. At Orhaniye a spit called Kızkumu, "the girl's sand", runs out from the shore under shallow water, and you can wade along it into the bay. After Selimiye, a village on a sheltered bay, the boat works back west. The week comes to roughly 125 to 140 nautical miles, with two days of 30 or a little more on the return, about four hours each at a gulet's usual pace, depending on the boat and the wind.
Before you sail
When to go
June and September have warm water and quieter bays than July and August, the hottest and busiest months. Across the gulf the mornings are usually calm and the wind builds in the afternoon; at Akyaka, at its head, the breeze blows most summer days from about midday until six. July and August bring the strongest afternoon winds.
Sea temperature
Long-run Aegean averages from the Turkish State Meteorological Service put the sea at about 19°C in May, 22°C in June, 24 to 25°C in July and August, 23°C in September and 21°C in October.
Getting there
Milas-Bodrum airport is about 37 km from Bodrum town, 35 to 45 minutes by road. Where you board depends on the boat, and we confirm it when you book; a marina further round the peninsula takes longer to reach.