Islands of Gocek Bay

Today we spent our time exploring the beautiful islands and coves of Gocek Bay.  We found a wonderful anchorage next to a beach and all jumped in the water to enjoy our last day on the Med.  Eventually one of the large day boats came by and anchored near us.  These large day boats have between 50-100 people on board and they visit 12 islands during their tour.  They can be quite noisy and it reminded us how lucky we were to have spent a week on our private gulet in peaceful bays away from the main tourist areas.  We decided to make the best of the day boat’s appearance so we stormed the day boat like pirates and snuck on the triple decker boat to use their waterslide and to jump from the very top deck to the welcoming sea below.  It was great fun for the kids and Jordan Robertson (age 9) bravely joined the older kids in launching himself off the 25 foot drop without any hesitation.  Good fun was had by all!  We then snuck away from the big boat and went to one of our favorite anchorages off the port of Gocek where we enjoyed our last swim and tea time on the boat.  

Then we headed into port and explored the charming village of Gocek which is a quaint town with only one main street filled with lots of artist boutiques and cafes.  The town is very laid back and has a great vibe to it.  Perry took some of the men to his favorite barbershop for one last shave and Jale took the women to some of her favorite boutiques for shopping.  We met back on the gulet for cocktail hour and then sat down to a magnficent farewell dinner that the chef had prepared for us.  

The crew had carved a gorgeous centerpiece for the table with great imagination having carved watermelon and other fruits to resemble flowers...just spectacular.  Our chef, Ekrem, went all out this final meal and prepared almost 15 different dishes.  We gave him and the crew a rousing round of applause at the end of the meal and then retired to our cabins for the last night on the gulet.  It has been an amazing and rewarding week with a fantastic captain and crew and we were all very grateful for the stellar service they provided to us.  

Tomorrow we fly to Cappadocia in the heartland of Turkey where the landscape will be the polar opposite of the Med!  It will be sad to leave the boat but exciting to see traditional Turkish culture and a fantastic landscape of slot canyons, red cliffs, and panoramic vistas...