No trip to Turkey is complete without a day - hell - a week on a boat with nothing to do but eat, drink, read, swim, snorkel and monitor the sunburn factor. The classic Blue Voyage lasts a couple of days; it actually takes at least three days to decompress and forget you're doing pretty much nothing. But time-pressed travelers can get the flavor of the experience in hourly, full-day, overnight and half-weekly boat trips.
he traditional Blue Voyage takes off in the waters between Marmaris and Fethiye, while the waters west of Marmaris, towards Hisarün¸ and Datça, as well as in the Gükova Bay north of the Datça Peninsula are favorite playgrounds for the private yacht set.Ý Traveling by yacht is invariably the more comfortable way to go, but alas, accessible to only those with the means to charter the whole boat (with or without captain and crew). For good solid advise and bookings for full yacht charters, contact Club Voyages at pat@clubvoyages.net; in the US: Tel. 888/842-2122.
The more traditional, but dubiously arranged gulet cruise makes use of the Turkish broad beamed wooden boats of 3 to 8 double cabins. These can also be chartered whole – this way you're more likely to land a boat and crew worthy of the experience – but most of us stragglers will be diving headfirst into a cabin charter aboard a boat of complete strangers and captained by bored seamen on their umpteenth tourist Mediterranean drive-by. I'd recommend that the bravest veteran traveler head directly to the docks and inspect a variety of boats before committing his $500-$800, but for the incurable planner, the following agents can ease the process:
Credo Tours, Istanbul. (Tel. 90 212/254-8175, fax 90 212/237-9670, www.Credotours.com, E-mail: credo@credotours.com);
Gino Group, Marmaris. (Tel. 90 252/412-0676, fax 90 252/412-2066, E-mail: ginoy@superonline.com;
Yesil Marmaris. (Tel. 252/412-6486; www.yesilmarmaris.com)
Aegean Yachting, Bodrum (Tel. 90 252/316-1517; fax 90 252/316-5749)
Blue Voyages Tours & Travel, San Francisco (Tel. 800/818-8753, 414/392-0146, www.bluevoyage.com, E-mail: tours@bluevoyage.com)
Contact Turkey, Tepe Mh. 35. Sk. 21/2 , 48700, Marmaris (tel. 90.252.4136313; http://www.contactturkey.com)
|
