Perla Del Mar

Our 16th-ish (lost count - too many raki) gulet in our beloved Turkey. Will I ever tire of gulets? I don't think so. Accomodation basic, but has everything you need. Food fabulous, none of your tourist junk, its proper Turkish food. Swimming off the boat, no nasty sand. I love it. 

Tonight I am here sitting on deck, the boat is very gently swaying, someone on another gulet is playing a flute beautifully but quietly, there is a faint whiff of delicious food cooking on a bbq (yes, they bbq on a wooden gulet...... over the side). The mountains have turned pink in the sunset, soon the crickets will stop chirping and, maybe, the owls will start hooting. Its still warm but with a soothing gentle breeze to stir the rigging and the red flag of Turkey proud at the stern.

Our company on the gulet are Peter and Anne, Glen and Tina, Ron, Alice and Jimmy and his wife whos name I cannot pronounce or spell. Jimmy and wife are Turkish and speak little English but are good sports and we get byto with sign language. Soon we are all chatting away, sharing jokes, and enjoying the experience of a gulet holiday. Peter and Anne have done at least 30 gulets (they too have lost count). The Turkish couple are regulars too. It would seem that you either get hooked and return time and time again or do it once never to return. 

Alice is amazing. Swims like a fish. We soon become friends. Born in blighty she has travelled widely and is currently living in Cape Town. She is funny, clever and a real free spirit. Very modest, she is a musician, artist and BMX champion (though she failed to tell us about BMX, I found that out on Wikipedia! Alice, what else are you hiding?). I feel we will meet again. 

So, where did we go, what did we do? We pottered about along the coast exploring little bays from Marmaris to Gocek. We moored up for one night in Fethiye, which was nice. Fethiye has grown into a very busy port, the marina is vast. The town is bustling with shops, bars and restaurants. But my favourite part of a gulet holiday is mooring up in a bay, swimming off the boat, relaxing on deck with a book and eating lovely healthy Turkish food. The one thing I have craved on this adventure is vegetables! Now is my chance to indulge. The food that is produced out of the tiny galley is incredible. There are ten passengers and four crew, and the food just keeps coming. Apart from vegetables and salad we have seabass, chicken and homemade koftas fresh off the bbq. Breakfast is delicious bread, three types of cheeses (feta, and two types of hard cheese), soft spreadable cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, olives, a sausage that we all call spam, eggs, jam, honey, nutella and all the tea, coffee and orange juice you could want. Meals are served on one big table which makes it a very sociable affair as dishes are passed around. Its my favourite style of dining at home too.

So what did we see? Turtles, flying fish, little fish, big fish, sea urchins on the rocks below the boat. Small fishing boats, small yachts, huge yachts, cruisers and mega cruisers. There is some serious money floating around. We have fun identifying the ensigns flying off the sterns. All nationalities.

The Turkish people: generous, funny, kind. Nothing is too much trouble. We have always been welcomed with a smile. I think we will be here for a while.

Gutted! As we are disembarking the captain (Omar) says we could have stayed on for another five days to get to Marmaris. Trouble is I have already booked and paid for our onward accomodation. It would have been a working passage too. Ggggrrr! I wouldnt have minded stripping beds and cleaning bathrooms for five more days on a gulet.

Hey ho, Gocek beckons. Its a short stroll up the jetty our next accomodation. No dramas.

Ocean Victory

Ocean Victory is a Finantieri super yacht designed by Espen Oeino and Albert Pinto. At 140 metres long she is number ten in the top ten largest yachts in the world. She has seven decks, six pools, a helicopter hanger, an underwater observation room, a beach club, and a fourteen foor tender in a floodable garage. There are 2,000 square metres of teak decking. There are 13 cabins (maximum 26 guests) and a crew of fifty. She is owned by Russian billionaire Victor Rashnikov (MMK steel).

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