The gulet you're sleeping aboard tonight is likely part of a lineage. Bodrum's first gulet was born in 1958 as a fishing boat; the master who built it trained apprentices who trained apprentices of their own. The craft still passes from hand to hand, in the same coves.
Read MoreUnder the water, in a place few people look closely, a green meadow stretches out — in some spots, it has for thousands of years. Local fishermen call it erişte, noodle-grass. Science calls it Posidonia oceanica. And in precisely the waters where Oxygen drops anchor, this meadow now sits among the most pressured stretches in the Mediterranean.
Read MoreEven while the sea still looks flat, a storm has usually been saying something for hours already. For a captain who knows how to read the sky, the water and the birds, even silence is a warning.
Read MoreSomewhere mid-passage, a guest goes quiet. First they stop joining the jokes, then their colour fades, then they want to go below. That's exactly the moment an experienced captain, without asking anything, calls them back up on deck. "Don't stay down there," they say. "Come up, look at the horizon." It's a line most sailors have repeated many times over and almost never written down.
Read MoreNo one called them. The boat picks up speed, a wave forms at the bow, and suddenly they're there; riding it just ahead of the hull, sliding along. They stay a while, then leave the way they came. The most loved moment at sea is usually the one you can't order up.
Read MoreAt the far tip of Datça, on the headland where the Aegean parts from the Mediterranean, a light repeats the same phrase every night: I am here, the way is clear. The story of the Deveboynu lighthouse begins with a father-and-son watch — and reaches, improbably, all the way to the word "lighthouse" itself.
Read MoreChartering a gulet is nothing like booking a hotel room. Boat, crew, route, and menu merge into a single experience — and the quality of that experience is usually decided by the questions you ask before you book. The fifteen questions below are a checklist to minimise surprises and align expectation with reality.
Read MoreYou remember the perfect charter day: the clear cove, breakfast served right on time, the lounger pulled into the shade, the anchor dropped at exactly the right moment in the late afternoon. What you don't remember is how any of it happened — because a good crew makes the experience visible, not themselves. Behind a blue cruise are a few people who rise before everyone and turn in last.
Read MoreA peaceful night begins with a well-set anchor. A practical guide to bottom, wind, scope, and a little patience.
Read MoreBy the mid-2010s, the gulet had begun retreating to the back pages of tour operator catalogues. Catamarans were winning on speed, comfort and price. Modern motor yachts offered interior standards no gulet deck could match. Operators cut prices, the fleet aged, demand thinned. A familiar story: a classic form beginning to outlive its function. Then, between 2023 and 2024, something shifted — and it came from an unexpected direction.
Read MoreThe "book at any cost" rush of 2021-2023 is behind us. The 2026 season is opening with a more planned, more deliberate guest profile — and that is, in fact, good news for both operators and guests.
Read MoreTen years ago, catamarans were a rare option in Turkish charter fleets — most guests still preferred gulets or classic motoryachts. Today the picture has changed: for family groups and large groups of friends in particular, the catamaran is increasingly becoming the "first choice." Builders have responded quickly to this demand, with new models, new interior layouts, and new hull designs appearing every season. But within this category, there is a debate of its own.
Read More2026 inspections have intensified. With the right preparation, your guest won't even notice.
Read MoreExports up 103.8%, second in the world in production. So why is the charter market share still just 6%?
Read More926 anchors and 906 buoys across 17 bays. The Fethiye-Göcek conservation network is redefining anchoring habits.
Read MoreAs of the 2026 season, anchoring rules for protected coves have been tightened.
Read MoreSTCW certification requirements have been updated. What's changing for Turkish seafarers wishing to work in international waters.
Read MoreA new schedule on the Bodrum–Rhodes route for the 2026 season. The transit document process is being streamlined.
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