Gemiler Adasi

Approaching the island of Gemiler Adasi

As it turned out, we got to Gemiler Adasi first. At the western entrance to the bay there is a smaller bay with a fish restaurant and pontoon you can moor up to. We, however, had agreed to anchor at the northwestern end of an island further into the bay.

Our almost empty anchorage when we arrived at the northwest end of the island

The island is covered in Byzantine ruins with several ruined churches dating back to the fifth century BC. It is often known as Father Christmas Island because St Nicholas (who was born in nearby Patara) was supposed to have lived here. Also, the island has an interesting ruined tunnel running from its highest point down to the old quay. Legend has it that a beautiful princess lived here and the tunnel was built so she could walk from her temple to the boats without the sun touching her delicate skin.

A short time later when we had been joined by some of the cruise yachts and several gulets 

Whatever the truth in the legends, it has certainly made it a popular tourist place for gulets. When we arrived we dropped the anchor and Nicky swam ashore so that we could secure to the island. Once in place, we radioed the other group members to tell them that there was lots of space for them too. The available space then rapidly filled up with gulets crammed with trippers. Kurban Bayram, the Feast of the Sacrifice, had started and so most of Turkey was enjoying a 9 day holiday and celebration period. Clearly several hundred of them had decided to take a gulet trip to Gemiler Adasi and so our arriving yachts had to pick their way amongst the swimmers to moor up beside us. We swam ashore with their lines and then helped to set things so that 3 of our yachts could be pulled together as a drinks party venue for later in the evening.

That left us with the rest of the afternoon and early evening to explore the island and its Byzantine ruins which proved to be well worth the effort of the climb up the hill.

The route up looked like it might be a hard climb but very quickly we were amongst the ruins 

Of course, we had to climb to the summit but were rewarded with panoramic views down onto the ruins…   

…and aross the bay

We saw the princess’ tunnel…   

…as well as lots of ruined chapels and graves   

As is normal, the tripper boat gulets all disappeared late afternoon and we had the place to ourselves. Even better, with 3 yachts rafted up we had an excellent venue for a drinks party and the evening passed far too quickly in excellent company. The temptation to continue until the early hours with tales of our experiences was tempered with the knowledge that we had a reasonably early start in the morning for the passage to Kaş and so we were all left wanting more but turned in for the night.

Gemiler Adasi, Turkey