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Gulf of Gokova, Türkiye

Busy day today. First we motored across the Gulf to Ören Marina to do our fortnightly black waste pump out. Great set up there with clear access, fenders all along the dock and the attendant ready to throw us a line to get us secured quickly and without drama. We were in and out within 20 minutes.

Next stop Ören Town Beach. We dropped the anchor in exactly the same spot as the other day, deployed 70 meters of chain then went ashore for an early lunch and a food shop. We returned to the same cafe we went to last week and the waitress was clearly delighted that we’d come back and was very keen to practice her English. We had gozleme, a Turkish pancake, filled with aubergine, onions, peppers and tomatoes – it was delicious!

Fresh food resupplied thanks to the abundance of close by supermarkets and green grocer’s, we pulled the anchor up and motored for a couple of hours further into the Gulf to Akbük Koyu. This is the furthest we will go into the Gulf of Gokova before making our way back out in a few days. 

Akbük Koyu was absolutely beautiful and it was hard to leave. The big mountains and pine forests provided a stunning backdrop to the impossibly blue water and turtles swam teasingly close to the boat seeming to keep an eye on us and giving us an occasional wave of their flippers. 

Despite being a holiday spot for the Turks there was no upscale development, instead there were campsites and a few small rustic cabins. The beach bar played chill music throughout the afternoon and despite an evening display of neon lights that made us think we could be in Vegas it was quiet and closed early. 

We swam, noodled, paddle boarded and relaxed. It was wonderful. 

As the sun went down on our second night and we enjoyed a G&T on the foredeck, the winds picked up and we saw 30knt gusts on our instruments.  Several boats around us started dragging and had to reset their anchors in the dark and with strong winds – not ideal. Even a Turkish gulet dragged and had to reset 3 times – you don’t see that very often!  

We were confident our anchor would hold. Our concern was one particular boat close to us moving erratically and trying to reset multiple times, each time getting more frantic with the couple yelling at each other, engines revving and the windlass groaning. 

It was 11:30 pm by the time they settled and we felt we could rest easy. Typically the wind began to ease and the next day we woke to flat calm.