Anchorages between Malta and Turkey

SV Maltese Falcon

By Mario & Lillian Borg

A lot has already been written about Greece and Turkey, this is a great cruising area with many open-air museums around each corner waiting to be explored, it is a fantastic area with many coves and anchorages to choose from most of which are spectacular. We are only writing about our own experience. Our main objective was not too frequent marinas or harbours but at the same time visit as many places of interests as possible given we only had a 90-day visa in Greece, instead, we prefer to anchor out in the breeze, away from mosquitoes, noise and rats. We found many good anchorages especially going through Greece.

Our main ground tackle consists of a 66 lb Spade anchor set on a bowsprit, with 220 ft of 3/8” HT galvanized chain marked at 1st 6ft (means anchor up just below the surface ready to be cleaned) and every 50 ft and the last 10ft indicating the last part. Therefore we have limited to depths of no more than 44ft with a scope of 5:1 or 31 ft with a scope of 7:1 for storm conditions. All this is controlled with a 1500 watt vertical windlass that includes a capstan and gipsy.  We have anchored with a 3:1 scope with no problems as long as we know what the weather is like and how good the holding is or if it’s for a short time.

We planned our destination according to the weather forecast we gathered and made sure we would have a safe anchorage for the length of time we planned to spend on the hook in a particular spot.

We left Malta early May 2011 after waiting for a decent 3-day window to carry as towards mainland Greece a distance of about 350nm. In this first part we cover about the places that we stopped at after leaving Malta up to Piraeus on Mainland Greece; in the 2nd part we will cover from the island of Aegina in the Gulf of Saronica through the Cyclades and the 3rd part will cover from the Cyclades to and including Turkey.

PART 1: MALTA TO MAINLAND GREECE

Katakolo, Peloponnesus: 

37° 39.1967’ N x 021° 19.657’ E

Our first landfall was Katakolo in the Adriatic Sea. This is a cruise ship terminal as it is very close to Olympia, one of the most important ancient archaeological sites in all of Greece. We anchored in 10 ft of water over sand and weed just north of the harbour entrance, very good holding.

Checking into Greece is a two-step job: first you go to immigration where you are issued a cruising log, good for 6 months at a cost of €30.00 (passport was looked at but not stamped as we came from another EU country); then you take all the paperwork downstairs to the harbour police and if you are in the marina/ harbour you pay, if at anchor there is no charge.

We checked out the harbour and there were only 4 other boats stern-to with their anchors down, as there are no laid moorings. Word of caution, while we were happily anchored we had some easterly come in, the crews on the boats that were stern-to in the harbour could not get off or on to the boat as the swell was making its way into the marina.

The boatyard seems to be functional but we never saw anyone working there and the marina office was always closed in the few days we went by. The town has a small supermarket, many tourist shops, and restaurants on the waterfront. You can visit Olympia by bus or a short trip on a train that only costs €5.00 per person (this is a “must see” site). To get a Greek SIM card for your phone or modem you will have to go to the next town of Pyrgos, there you will find more shopping and supplies of any kind you need.

Lagana Bay, Zakynthos: 

37°41.2781 N x 37°41.2781 N

Lagana Bay is a big bay located on the south of the island of Zankynthos (Zante). Most of the bay is a restricted area as it is a loggerhead turtle breeding ground and one can only anchor at the SW corner near a small fishing harbour. There is nothing ashore except a few villas, but the bay is spectacular and the holding very good in 18 ft over sand. While at anchor we had sustained winds of 20kts and gusts of 30kts. On the way into the bay, we encountered two mating turtles; you cannot miss these turtles as they are huge.

Kilini, Peloponnesus: 

37°56.0973 N x 021°09.3440 E

We anchored in 12 ft over sand just SE of the harbour. This is a small harbour where you can tie up your boat on the inside of the outer quay. Ferries go in and out and we did not go ashore here as this was an overnight stop. It does have good protection from the Meltemi but is open to the NE.

Navpaktos, Mainland Greece: 

38°23.4892 N x 021°49.7728 E

We motored in very light airs the 45 nm distance to Navpaktos and anchored just south of the harbour entrance in 30 ft over sand. The harbour can only handle about 8 boats stern or bows-to, we did not notice laid lines here so you will have to use your anchor. Navpaktos is a Medieval harbour built around the 11th century; it is well preserved and is surrounded by cafes and restaurants. The climb up the hill to the old town is an easy walk and the view of the Gulf of Patras and Gulf of Korinthos from the top is incredible. The town itself is a good place to provision; supermarkets are close by on the main road. We did not intend to stay here as long as the anchorage is only protected from the north, so any westerly’s will roll in this far. We left the next day to our next spot.

Trizonion Island in the Gulf of Korinthos: 

38°22.0085 N x 022°04.5184 E

We anchored in 23 ft over tall weeds and mud, the holding is good once you penetrate the weeds. This island offered the best possible anchorage so far. It is protected from all directions and you can leave the boat here over the winter at the marina. It is a 10 min ride by boat taxi to the mainland. On the island, there is limited provisioning, a few restaurants which mostly are closed during the winter months.  It is a very relaxing place to spend a few days and work on some chores on the boat. There are some short walks around the island.

Galadixi, Mainland Greece: 

38°22.9943 N x 022°23.4906 E

We anchored in the North Bay in 10 ft over sand and rubble. The holding is good, protection from all directions although you may get a chop from a strong northeasterly. The town is pretty with narrow streets and a few restaurants on the waterfront, bakeries and a few supermarkets. There is a bus to Itea and from Itea, you can take another bus to Ancient Delphi, this is not to be missed. If you go to Delphi make sure that you get back to Itea before the 21:00 hrs bus leaves for Galaxidi, as there are no buses between 13:00 hrs and 21:00 hrs. The better option would be to go and anchor someplace close to Itea or go to the Itea harbour where you can tie up alongside at certain times of the year. Itea is a big city with all the services although lacking boat chandleries.

Antikiron, Mainland Greece: 

38°22.5044 N x 022°37.7342 E

Anchor close to the town wall in about 35 ft over sand, holding is very good. It does look like you are too close to the fishing boats tied to the wall, but it is fine, we spent 3 nights here with no problem. Very good protection from all directions. You can also tie up stern or bows-to the harbour wall which is actually a break-water, but there are no laid lines. Good provisioning in town, many restaurants on the waterfront.  There is a military base across the bay; it is a restricted area so keep well away.

Alkionides, Mainland Greece: 

38°07.0498 N x 022°59.2545 E

We anchored in the sand and clear water, well protected from the Bora Bora or the Meltemi, but open to the west. The scenery here is spectacular but ashore we were disappointed as there really isn’t anything to see, just a lot of summer houses for the Greeks. No provisioning, but there is a well-equipped hardware store.

Gemerno, Mainland Greece: 

38°09.2713 N x 023°13.2962 E

We anchored in 15ft over sand with very good holding open only from the west. This is another spectacular anchorage with potentially three areas for anchoring: NE – area near small boat harbour; middle of the bay in front of the restaurants; and SE corner. They are all very nice anchorages with excellent holding. We were the only boat at anchor in the 3rd week of May, but the restaurants were open and we also visited the Medieval fortress which you can see from the anchorage (entrance is free). There is a small chapel within the castle. In town, there is some provisioning and a small hardware store plus a nice bakery. This place is worth a stop.

Loutraki, Mainland Greece: 

37°58.4534 N x 022°57.9876 E

We stopped here to be close to the Korinthos Canal entrance which we went through the next day. Anchored in 42ft over unknown bottom but the anchor grabbed on the first try, there was no noise from the chain dragging on the bottom as we swung back and forth, so I assume it is mud or sand, no weeds showed up on the anchor when we left. It has good protection from mostly all directions except west. This is a Greek tourist town, the Greeks from Athens drive here to their summer or weekend houses. It looked very busy from the boat as we did not go ashore.

Korinthos Canal: West entrance: 

37°57.1929 N x 022°57.4907 E

I am only writing about the Korinthos Canal as an update.  Call the Korinthos Canal Authority on VHF 11 before leaving your anchorage and they will advise you what to do – just follow their instructions and be patient. If you happen to be behind a large ship hang back a little – about 150ft – so you do not feel the prop wash, it is very narrow in some parts but nothing to be nervous about. Once you reach the east entrance tie up to the dock on the south side and go ashore to pay the canal fees. We paid €142.00 for our boat. While there you can top up your fuel, the gentleman in the office will call for you. Or if you have your own phone you can call Kapsalakis cell # +6944 3933 01, office # 2741 0240 24. We paid €1.48/Liter in 2011.

Kanakia, Salamis Island: 

37°54.2568 N x 023°24.2458 E

We anchored in 20 ft over sand and weed, holding is good but open from the NW to the SW. There are a couple of restaurants ashore and some summer houses. This is a very quiet and nice place with a nice little beach.

Piraeus (Athens), Mainland Greece: 

37°55.9416 N x 37°55.9416 N

This is the only place we decided to go into a marina so we stayed for a couple of days at Zea Marina, for a very reasonable cost of €38.00/day during the last week of May. This is a very convenient place for re-provisioning, purchasing boat parts and of course to visit Athens. To go to Athens you take a 20 min walk over the hill to the main commercial harbour area. From there you take the subway or metro to the centre of Athens. You can easily spend a day or two in Athens especially if you like walking. For us, it was our first time and a great experience. There are other anchorage options to the northeast of the entrance into Zea Marina.

PART 2 GREECE: SARONIC GULF AND THE CYCLADES

Into the Aegean Sea

After spending 2 wonderful days in Athens, we headed out and south towards Aegina Island. Now that we had entered the Aegean Sea we had to keep a good eye on the weather forecasts. Since it was still late May the dreaded Meltemi had not started to blow and as a matter of fact, we hardly did any sailing up to this point. So we decided to head south a little to visit Aegina and Poros, then head up NE to Sounio on the mainland and after that, it would be a nice track SE towards Turkey. Even if the Meltemi appeared they would be on our stern quarter, and we would be able to sail with just the genoa.

Up to this point, we had found very good free WiFi with open access while at anchor, or we would go to a bar and download any weather to our iPod Touch which gave us a few days of weather forecasts with Windfinder and WindGuru. Both worked very well and are very reliable, but keep in mind that the weather in the Med is very difficult to forecast so keep checking and updating the weather as often as possible. While in the Gulf of Saronika the winds were from the NE but very light, so we only managed to motor-sail from Piraeus to Aegina to Poros and back to Sounio. This did change later on during our legs through the Cyclades where we had some heavy Meltemi blowing mostly while at anchor.

Aegina: Gulf of Saronika: 

37°44.5386 N x 023°25.7315 E

We anchored in 9ft over sand and weed patches south of the marina and main harbour. We had a short dinghy ride to the east corner of the marina where you can tie your dinghy next to the small fishing boats. The anchorage is protected from the Meltemi and we had no problems while there for a few days. There is a bus into town (almost), walk towards the NW till you get to the ferry dock entrance, the bus stop is at the SE corner. From here you can visit the very nice temple of Afea and the amazing church Agios Nektarios. The marina can handle about 100 boats; this is a good marina to leave the boat for a trip back home and even for the winter months. Most of the islands in the Aegean have a daily or weekly ferry service to Piraeus. The town has a lot to offer with many waterfront restaurants, hardware stores, one chandlery, groceries, fish market and even a well-stocked supermarket found by turning right from the marina and turn left on the first street, keep walking another 500 m and you will find it on your right.

Poros, Gulf of Saronika: 

37°30.0727 N x  023°26.6337 E

We anchored closer to the mainland Peloponnesus at Galates only 300m from the dingy dock. It is well sheltered from all points. The town has very good provisioning, including a very nice fish market, a small supermarket, and chandleries that can have almost anything brought in the next day usually from Athens. The Chora (old town) located above the harbour is very impressive and very nice walking through it. You can also go stern or bows-to the town dock. The cost for our boat would have been €9.00 not including water and electricity, there are no laid lines so you would have to use your anchor.

Souinio, Mainland Greece: 

37°39.2221 N x 024°01.3573 E

We anchored in 30ft over sand and weed patches in the shadow of the Temple of Poseidon. We only planned to stay here one night so we did not go ashore, but the view of the temple all lit up at night is something to remember. The holding is very good and protected from the Meltemi, but I think it would be very gusty as the guests find their way around the cape into the bay.

Voukarios, Kea Island:

37°40.0663 N x 024°19.5380 E

Anchored in 30 ft over mud and weed. This is a better anchorage than around at Korissia where the ferry comes in. We tried to get a bus to take us to the Chora, but they were not running until mid-June. It is a nice little town with lots of restaurants and some provisioning, bakeries but no chandleries. The anchorage is well protected from the Meltemi.

Koundouros Bay, Kea Island: 

37°34.7394 N x 024°16.7108 E

Be careful anchoring here as there are rocky areas so look for a sandy patch to drop your anchor in. Once in, it is a lovely anchorage with a couple of restaurants ashore and some nice houses and windmills. Clearwater but only protection from the Meltemi is from the NE.

Kalona Bay, Kynthos Island: 

37°24.8775 N x 024°22.5556 E

This is a very nice bay with clear blue water, sand and some weeds patches. We anchored in 23 ft. If the wind pipes up from the west you can go around the peninsula and anchor at the eastern side of the isthmus. You can drag the dinghy up on the beach on both sides of the isthmus and walk up to the small church on the peninsula. There is also a very nice walk through the valley to the NE of the isthmus, well worth it.

Lvadi Bay, Serifos Island: 

37°08.5823 N x 024°30.9088 E

We anchored just north of the harbour in 30 ft over mud and weed, the holding is very good, and protection from 360 deg. There is a bus that takes you to the chord on top of the hill, very nice with the usual narrow streets and old windmills being turned into modern dwellings. There is a great view looking over the bay from near the last church on the very top. You can walk back through marked pathways all the way down to the bay, it is a very nice relaxing walk.

Ramirez, Sifnos Island:

36°59.4708 N x 024°40.4461 E

We anchored in 15 ft over sand, the holding is very good with protection from the Meltemi. We took a couple of buses from here to Kastro which is the chora of Sifnos. It is very nice where they are still using donkeys to transport goods within the very narrow streets of the chora. When we checked out the anchorage in Kastro we found it to be very small, maybe one boat and the rest is wide open. Aswell was also finding its way into the small one boat anchorage. Therefore do not attempt to go to Kastro to anchor as the bus ride is cheap and very convenient.

Faros, Sifnos Island: 

36°56.2833 N x 024°44.8099 E

We anchored close to Nisis Krisoppigi, you cannot miss it as there is a church on the top of the small island. We dropped our anchor in 20 ft over sand, holding is very good but we had a bit of a swell. You can also go up the narrow bay, but you will have to go stern-to shore as this is very narrow. Another option is the small bay to the NE of our anchorage, might be better protection from the swell. We only stayed here one night so we did not explore ashore.

Ioannis Cove, Paros Island: 

37°08.7409 N x 025°13.6809 E

We anchored in 15 ft in clear water over a sandy bottom, excellent anchorage with all-around protection might get a chop wind turns from the south (which is extremely rare during the summer).

When the winds went light we anchored near the harbour of Naousa on the south of the big bay at 37°07.4879 N x 025°14.0896 E in 15 ft over sand and some small rocks. This is a very convenient spot to leave your boat and take a ferry to Santorini and visit the Paroikia. We took a one day trip to Santorini that included a guide and coach, it was worth the money we paid which was €55.00/person. The town of Naousa is worth seeing especially at night.

Naxos, Naxos Island: 

37°06.5394 N x 025°22.3279 E

Anchor in 10 to 15 ft over and close to the beach, if you anchor further out the ferries leave a massive wash and it will get uncomfortable. This is an ideal anchorage and very well protected. The town offers plenty of provisioning and you can get boat parts shipped in overnight through any of the small chandleries in town. There is also a good fish market at the waterfront as you walk along towards the east. There is a bus service to the small villages inland, check with the tourist office for the best places to visit and bus schedules, the tourist office is just in front of the ferry dock. You will need an anchor for the dingy to keep it away from the rough concrete wall, just past the beach to the right.

Ormos, Mykonos Island: 

37°25.2166 N x 025°19.3628 E

The weather was calm so we decided to head here from Naxos. We anchored over sand and weed in front of the beach. This is a tourist town with the usual array of restaurants and bars; we walked the 2 miles to the centre of Mykonos, a very busy place with tourists bumping into each other, but it was worth going to. It was by far the dirtiest place we had been to so far.

Elia Beach, Mykonos: 

37°25.1348 N x 025°22.9317 E

We anchored in 20ft over sand in clear water, this is just a big bay with several beaches all around. Good shelter from the Meltemi but nothing ashore except for a very expensive bar/restaurant.

Kalafatis, Mykonos: 

37°26.4434 N x 025°25.4239 E

This is one of the nicest beaches on the island with very good protection from west to NE. We anchored in 20 ft over sand and clear water. There are a couple of hotels ashore, so some noise from the ski boats during the day but very quiet at night.

Fournoi Island: 

37°34.0710 N x 026°28.5611 E

We passed close to the Island of Ikaria but could not find a suitable anchorage so we kept on going and anchored here in Fournoi. The anchorage is very deep and small, so finding a suitable place here was touch and go but we managed to drop the anchor in about 45 ft over sand and weed. Holding is very good; another option is to go alongside the wall in the middle of the bay or stern-to the wall on the north side of the bay. On the second day we picked up the one mooring that actually belongs to a local person that owns a large boat, but he was away and we were told by the locals that we could use it. So we did and boy was I glad as when the Meltemi came here, the guests were worrisome and the boat horsed around out of control. It is not a very good place to be during the Meltemi. But other than those few hours we had a great time here walking to the main harbour and town for coffee at one of the local cafés up the road from the main harbour.

Pythagorean, Samos Island: 

37°41.3255 N x 026°56.7514 E

We anchored in the middle of the bay in 15 ft over sand with very good holding. Some gusts during a spell of Meltemi but not too crazy. This is a very nice anchorage with excellent holding and close to the main harbour of Pythagorean. There is a bus to the capital Samos and also you can stop and provision from the Lidl store close to Samos.

PART 3: GREECE & THE DODECANESE AND ONTO TURKEY

From here south are the Dodecanese Islands.

East Bay, Agathonisi Island: 

37°27.4247 N x 026°59.0980 E

We anchored in 25ft of water, over sand with very good holding. This is a very nice anchorage with herds of goats on the hills and along the shore. The water is crystal clear and the holding is excellent. This is the west side of East Bay as there is another bay within to the NE.

Marathon Island: 

37°22.0256 N x 026°43.5615 E

We picked up one of several moorings here, but be careful as some of them are too close to each other. After snorkelling over the moorings I found some to be very small – hence the reason some of them are so close together because they move during strong winds with boats moored to them. This is a very pleasant area with a few more anchorages around several islands. Ashore you will find a restaurant and a church on top of the hill with great views.

Leaving  Marathon we headed east towards the island of Patmos with its many safe anchorages. The weather was with us, but we had to motor sail as the winds were very light from the northeast at 8 to 10 knots.

Grikos, Patmos Island: 

37°18.1312 N  x  026°33.7215 E

On the way here we explored the anchorages near Kampos and the Skala, but we found that the new harbour in Skala has occupied the Anchorage area and we didn’t see any boats at anchor there. The Kampos anchorage is good, but all there is there are resort hotels so we carried on south along the coast to Grikos Bay. We anchored and held on the second try as the bottom is very weedy. Once through the weeds, the anchor dug in for good. This also is a holiday spot with mainly Italian tourists. Some provisions are available, but you will have to pay a premium because of the location. We took a bus from the street behind the beach to the Chora of Patmos to visit the Monastery of St. John the Theologian, very much worth a visit.

Ormos Lipso, Lipso Island: 

37°17.9080 N x 026°45.5223 E

We anchored in 27 ft over sand, east of the little church on the hill and in front of the beach. The holding is very good with protection from the Meltemi and no swell during a “boisterous” night at anchor. There are some provisions in the little town and also a few restaurants but not much else. There is a very nice walk up the hill to the east and then back down again by just going around to the south and then west.

Pantella Bay, Leros Island:

37°08.9780 N x 026°51.8058 E

This is a very nice anchorage if you manage to find a good spot. We spent 5 days here as it is just a lovely setting with the Medieval fortress and the windmills on top of the hill to the SE of the anchorage. We anchored in 20 ft over sand, with very good protection from the Meltemi. If you do not find a spot where there is a lot more room down the coast about ¼ nm. There are also very good anchorages in the main harbour of Lakki which is on the west coast. We went there by bus and saw several boats at anchor close to the marina. From Pantelli beach in Pantella bay you can walk up the hill to Agia Marina where you will find provisions including hardware stores, bakeries and a fish market on the waterfront.

Emporio Bay, Kalymnos Island: 

37°02.6956 N x 026°55.7010 E

This is a well-protected bay with spectacular surroundings. We picked up a free mooring for the night close to one of the beach restaurants. There is not much else ashore here, but it could be a good place to spend some quiet time.

Kamari, Kos Island: 

36°44.4512 N x 026°58.3890 E

We anchored in 15ft over white sand with very clean water. This is a huge bay but is well protected from the dreaded Meltemi. There is another anchorage close to the small island of Agia Nikolaos at 36°44.9797 N x 026°59.0827 E in about 12ft over sand. From our anchorage, we rented a car for €30/day (but not 24 hrs). In other words, you pick up the car in the morning and drop it off at 20:00 hrs. It is a good deal because you can do the whole island and stop at the Lidl supermarket that is right on the highway on the way back.

Panormitis, Symi Island: 

36°33.0058 N x 027°50.7321 E

This is a fantastic anchorage as long as you don’t anchor at the mouth of the bay where you will get hit with a swell from the west (as by this time in this area the Meltemi will be coming more from the west). This is a very nice anchorage with the imposing Monastery of Michael the Arc Angle to the east of the bay.

You can take a bus from here to the main town of Symi to do your checkout from Greece. You will need to go first to the port police located on the south side of the town, then walk or take a taxi around to the opposite side of town to clear out with immigration.

From here we sailed south and around to the northeast of the island and anchored at Pedi Bay: 36°36.8351 N x 027°51.3597 E in 20 ft over a mixture of sand and weeds. Our anchor held us there through a couple of bouts of Meltemi, but we did notice that a few boats had trouble with dragging. The best spot is as indicated above. You can also tie up for free against the south of the jetty. If you tie up at the north of the jetty you may have to move as occasionally the ships tie to that spot for unloading of supplies and water. You can take a bus to the town of Symi for €1.00 (runs every hour at the ½ hour, and back from town on the hour).

TURKEY

Bozburun, Turkey: 36°41.3510 N x 028°02.4103 E

Here we anchored in 40ft over sand, but you can’t see the bottom, very good protection from all sides.  You can tie your dinghy either at the NW corner or the NE corner of the marina (we preferred the NE corner as it had wood lining the rough concrete). There are quite a few other anchorages around this massive enclosure as it looks more like a lake than the Aegean Sea.  In town, you will find good provisioning, bakeries, pharmacies and many restaurants serving the charter and gullet clients. There is a bus service to Marmaris at 10 TL per person one way. If you are into carpets you will find the best and nicest pieces at The Magic Carpet Gallery and ask for Sonny, he speaks excellent English.

To check in you will have to go to the port police who you will find at the office which is in line with the east jetty. He will get you an agent (compulsory ) and the agent will get everything for you while you wait in their office. The Cruising log cost was €60:00 and the visa costs depend on the passport you own, plus €35.00 for the agent.

There are very nice walks around to the SE.

Datca, Turkey: 36°43.2103 N x 027°41.3388 E

Anchored in 20ft over sand and weeds, south of the harbour the holding is not very good so dive over and make sure your anchor is set. We stayed here for four days and had no problems, except when the wind went too light and the chain would get caught on the tall weeds bringing boats very close together. There is also a good anchorage north of the harbour. Data is a big town with a lot of provisioning options. Don’t miss taking a short bus ride to Old Datca, worth the trip. We wanted to go to Knodos, but we heard that the anchorage is too small so we opted for a bus from Datca, which is actually a very nice drive through some spectacular scenery.

Bodrum, Turkey: 37°01.8713 N x 027°26.1168 E

We anchored in 20ft over black sand but clear water east of the castle, the holding is good but I advise that you dive and check your anchor isn’t caught on some of the debris scattered all over the bottom.

We found this anchorage to be very noisy during the night as the hills surrounding the bay create very good acoustics that amplifies all the music generated shoreside. The town is very nice but busy with tourists. Provisioning is plenty, but do not expect to find many boat supplies in town. The best place for boat supplies is Icmeler, a short bus ride towards the south-east. Anything you need can be found in Icmeler.

Palma but Bay, Turkey: 36°40.1873 N x 027°30.3850 E

We anchored in 15ft over sand, with excellent holding. This is a very large bay, not much ashore except a few restaurants. The swell comes in a little bit so keep an eye on the weather if you intend to linger here.

Kuraca, Turkey: 36°45.2354 N x 027°53.7396 E

Anchored in 37ft over sand and weed, the holding is very good and this is a very well protected anchorage from the Meltemi. It is a very nice quiet place to hang around. There is a resort ashore behind the palm trees and nothing else.

Orhaniye: 36°45.2930 N x 028°07.7314 E

Anchored close to 33ft over mud, the holding is excellent and you have the protection of 360 degrees. There are a few restaurants ashore, plus a small market called Mama Market which has WiFi and where you can sit down on the patio just to relax. The town of Orhaniye is more like a farming community than a town as it is spread over a valley with a few houses and no businesses or provisioning at all, but it is a nice 7km walk around. The hills are covered with pine trees so it makes for very nice scenery while having your morning coffee.

Dirsek, Turkey: 36°41.1736 N x 027°59.0268 E

We anchored in 25ft over sand, there is a sandbank that many boats anchor on, it is almost at the entrance and you cannot miss it with good sunlight. The water is clear and the surrounding unspoiled. Well worth a visit here.

From Dirsek we explored Sogut at approx: 36°39.5351 N x 028°04.8770 E, but found that a marina has taken over the only area that one could just anchor without going stern to. So then we returned to Bozburun for a few days there.

Ciftlik, Turkey: 36°42.9243 N x 028°14.4352 E

This is a very pretty anchorage with some restaurants ashore, but during strong Meltemi, it can get rolly. We anchored in 21ft over sand and clear water, in front of the Mehmet’ Place restaurant.

Fethiye, Turkey: 36°37.8920 N x 029°06.6854 E

We anchored close to Ece Marina in front of Classic Yacht Hotel/marina in 43ft of water over mud. This is an excellent anchorage to leave the boat and go inland for a few days. You can also anchor across the bay, but then you have a longer dinghy ride. It is not a clean harbour and I wouldn’t swim in it. Most services are available including topping up your diesel at Ece Marina. The town is very lovely and the Rock tombs are impressive. There is an amazing open market every Friday. You can walk to the market and the rock tombs from the anchorage.

Turunc, Turkey: 36°46.5181 N x 028°14.9775 E

We picked up one of several mooring available for free here. This is a tourist beach with a few hotels and many tour boats coming and going. One night we had swells coming in from the NE but there was no wind and the boat was hitting the mooring which made sleeping impossible as we tried to tame the mooring buoy.

From Turunc we headed the short distance over for our winter spot at Marmaris Yacht Marina. This is an excellent marina with all services available. There is a large boating community organizing tours, walks, billiard, bowling, yoga, etc… Regularly scheduled bus services run every 30 minutes right in front of the main gate and take you to the city of Marmaris 10 km away… Bar, restaurant, pool. One can also eat at the fabulous and very clean workers canteen for 7 TL which includes dessert. There is also a very nice library with wifi or direct connection internet. Wifi is available throughout the marina complex.

There are a lot more anchorages in this area, but it’s impossible to mention all of them. We enjoyed every anchorage we visited and would have loved to anchor in all the places available. Maybe next year we will do that.

Mario Borg

SY Maltese Falcon