Sailing into paradise aboard a wooden ketch
Gleaming teak and mahogany affair ideal for exploring Greek islands and Turkish coastline
I lolled in the Aegean on an inflatable mattress, the Turkish sun caressing my tingling skin as our sailboat, the Nemesis, lapped in the water only 30 metres away. Only four more days in paradise, I thought. Will I ever be able to return to the real world?
I had come to southwest Turkey to join a one- week “blue cruise,” as these sailing voyages are known, between Marmaris and Bodrum.
Nemesis, a gleaming teak and mahogany affair owned by Dutch outfit Sailing Cruises in Comfort, ( or Scic Sailing, www.scicsailing.eu), was to be my floating home for a week.
I was initially concerned about spending seven days in such close quarters with nine complete strangers, but by breakfast the next morning my worries had dissipated like the morning mist.
Besides, what’s there to worry about when you’re on board a beautiful boat, enjoying cocktail hour with free- spirited new friends in an absinthe blue cove, the sun sparkling off the water like diamonds, your every whim pandered to by a gracious and attentive crew?
No need to worry about having to share facilities either, since each cabin has its own ensuite bathroom, though the ones aboard Nemesis could use renovating.
The Turkish gulet, a traditional wooden ketch, is the ideal way to find deep relaxation and commune with nature, while leisurely exploring the culture, food and history of the Greek islands and of Turkey’s picturesque southwest coast.
The rear deck was the hub of activity on the Nemesis, where travellers gather for cocktails and impromptu dancing, and to share a meal. Food is prepared fresh each day by dedicated chef Ramazan, who concocts a variety of mouth- watering sweet and savory Turkish delights.
There’s certainly no pressure on Scic sailings to ever disembark, but it would be a shame not to take the opportunity to explore the sights or meet the locals. During our cruise, we stopped in the boatbuilding village of Bozburun, where we bartered for spices and fruit at the weekly market, bought handmade jewelry and colourful scarves from quaint boutiques and enjoyed freshsqueezed orange juice at a seaside café. We also visited the sleepy village of Selimiye, a pretty up- and- coming family resort, and had dinner together at a popular fish restaurant in the Datça harbour.
On our penultimate day, Captain Selet in navigated the Nemesis to the harbour at Knidos, where we breakfasted on deck in the shadow of 2,500 years of Hellenistic history.
Not only tourists enter Knidos.
Stray dogs also hang out there. At the entrance to the site, under a shady tree, lay a couple of overheated canines beside a sun- wizened old woman in a head scarf selling slices of honeydew melon. Goats and goat herders wander among the beautiful ruins, too.
Raising anchor from our last cove, we made our bittersweet way to Bodrum, where we would spend our final night. The grand entrance to Bodrum’s harbour is presided over by the Castle of St. Peter, a crusader castle- cum- underwater-archeology- museum whose lushly landscaped grounds and excellent museum collection are well worth a visit.
These days it is not Bodrum’s historic sites that draw several thousand tourists and villa- owning Istanbulites to its sun- drenched shores each summer, but the bustling summer resort’s legendary nightlife, innovative restaurants and excellent shopping. Fashion chains and boutiques, “genuine fake” handbag merchants, handmade Bodrum sandalet ( sandals) stores, and shops peddling an Aladdin’s cave of quality Turkish rugs, handmade ceramics, silk- embroidered blankets, coloured glass lanterns and antique brass and copper goods will make a shopaholic’s head spin.
At breakfast on deck the next morning, we exchanged emails and phone numbers, photos and parting hugs.
Like most Scic passengers, all of us but one were repeat customers, and the knowledge that we would sail with Scic again one day would get us through the long winter months.