A beautiful bay to ourselves, but not for long!

For the last two weeks we have been cruising the protected waters around the town of Gocek. The area has many small bays surrounded by spectacular mountain ranges and is dotted with interesting ancient ruins and historical sites. It reminds us of the Pittwater and Hawkesbury river area in NSW.

It is no surprise that this area is one of the most popular boating destinations on the Turkish coast. We spent a few days moored in the little town of Gocek before venturing out to explore the many nearby bays. Water depth in the anchorages is often over 20 metres only a couple of boat lengths off the shore, so anchoring conventionally is difficult unless you have a very long chain. The alternative in the Med is to drop your anchor about 4-5 boatlengths off the shore then back in and tie off to something secure onshore.

The Fethiye and Gocek area is full of charter boats and with so many anchorages close to each other, it's not unusual to get over 50 yachts crowding into a small bay late in the day to spend the night there and dine at a taverna. We have been entertained by the often inexperienced (but it seems, very confident!) crews on the charter yachts getting themselves into trouble in the close quarters. One charter Catamaran coming in to tie up to a floating pontoon was going way too fast and managed to straddle the end of the pontoon with a hull either side - lots of shouting, splintering wood and people diving off the pontoon to escape.

We would always aim to anchor clear of other yachts and with enough light to dive and check that the anchor is hooked in. Many of the charter yachts had a different philosophy and would arrive late in the day, sometimes after sunset and invariably drop their anchor close to other yachts (ours). It seemed to happen to us every night and more than once I had to row over and politely discuss the situation. Surprisingly, despite their obvious lack of anchoring skills, they would often stand their ground, sometimes resulting in us reluctantly having to re-anchor to avoid a collision during the night as the wind would typically do a 180.

We were not used to the aggression displayed by the crews of some boats. It seems the crowded waterways and competition for a mooring brings out the worst in some people. After a couple of weeks in the area it was time to move on.