Marmaris – Pup Hotel anchorage

We were very excited when we left Ekinçik Limani on 10 October because there was, unusually, a good wind forecast for the morning. We had about a 15 mile passage to get to the entrance to the Marmaris bay where we turned back on ourselves inside the bay to get to our destination. It was fabulous sailing; warm with about 15kts of wind just off the beam. BV zipped along and we enjoyed overtaking several yachts also making the same passage towards Marmaris.

The coastline was interesting too. Rugged in places and green with vegetation but with some deep caverns in the cliffs which were popular haunts for the tripper boats.

Entrance to Marmaris Bay

As we approached the relatively narrow entrance to Marmaris Bay we were surrounded by hills on 3 sides and totally sheltered from the prevaling wind so we had to motor in through the entrance.

But once inside we were able to sail again, although not very fast. It wasn’t a problem however, as there was a lot to see. Marmaris is a popular package tour location and so the bay was busy with tripper boats and waterskiers from the hotels. It’s also a huge yachting base with 2 large marinas so there were boats everywhere; even the odd superyacht or two.

As we worked our way east we got our first proper look at the marina where BV will be based for the winter. It can look after 600 yachts afloat and a further 1000 yachts ashore so it’s a big set-up.

Pup Hotel anchorage

However, we still had one last night that we could properly enjoy before we started the business of getting BV ready for the winter, so our destination was the Pup Hotel anchorage, which is in the bay right next to the marina entrance. We dropped our anchor there and relaxed watching the comings and goings of the yachting fraternity. It was very pleasant with the only disruption being the dramatic lightning of a large thunderstorm. Rain! Now that’s not something we’ve seen properly for several months! Tomorrow we’ll move into the marina and start a busy period arranging for some work to be done on BV and making preparations for winter.

Marmaris, Turkey