The twelve anchorages we return to in the Gulf of Fethiye

Forty anchorages fit inside the Gulf of Fethiye, and a week can visit perhaps a dozen. These are the twelve our captains choose most, in the order a charter from Göcek usually meets them.

1. Yassıca Islands

Twenty minutes from the marina: a cluster of low islets with a sandbar between them and water shallow enough to stand in. The first-day swim, and a favourite with children.

2. Tersane Island

The walls of a Byzantine shipyard run into the water, and a family on the island sells goat's-milk yoghurt and honey to passing yachts. Sheltered from every direction.

3. Bedri Rahmi Bay (Taşyaka)

Named for the painter who left a fish on the rock here in 1974. Lycian tombs in the cliff behind, and a pontoon restaurant for the night.

4. Tomb Bay

Next door, with rock tombs cut into the hillside and a path up to them before breakfast.

5. Sarsala

A long sandy inlet with a beach at the head and room for a dozen yachts. The best lunch stop in the gulf on a day with any breeze.

6. Boynuzbükü

Deep, narrow and quiet: pine to the waterline, a stream at the head, no restaurant. For a night without lights.

7. Göbün

A horseshoe bay with a single farm restaurant and a jetty. Crews like it for the mooring; guests like it for the lamb.

8. Kille Bükü

Small and overlooked, with clear water over a sand bottom. Often empty even in August.

9. Hamam Bay (Cleopatra's Bath)

The ruins of a Roman bath lie half submerged along the shore; swim across the walls. Busy at midday, calm by evening.

10. Kapı Creek

A narrow inlet at the gulf's western tip with the most famous pontoon restaurant on the coast. Book the last night here and eat on the water.

11. Domuz Island

Privately owned and off-limits ashore, which keeps its anchorage quiet. The final swim before Göcek.

12. Gemiler Island

Just outside the gulf, opposite Ölüdeniz: Byzantine churches on the hill, a processional way under the water and the best sunset within reach of Fethiye. The gateway to the Lycian coast beyond.

How to use the list

No two of these bays are more than ninety minutes apart, so a day can hold a swim stop and a night stop with a long lunch between. The best months are May, June and September, though the gulf is the one place we recommend without hesitation in August. Motor sailors suit it best; the ones based here are in the fleet.