In October 2011, Journeys Destination Specialist Gail Scherer and her husband Walter traveled to Turkey with other Journeys travelers. Gail wrote this post about her experience sailing on a gulet.

After an early flight from Istanbul to Dalaman we had a short drive to Fethiye and then we boarded our gulet (small sailing ship) which was our home for the next 4 days. In addition to us, 4 other Journeys travelers, and our guide, Omer, the gulet had a crew of a captain, a cook, a first mate and “Charlie”, a young sailor who I thought must be skipping school. The whole crew was multi- talented, and the cook was a miracle worker. What he created in the small galley was amazing. Also amazing: one afternoon the captain put on a pair of flippers and goggles, strapped a knife to his leg and dove into the water to get fresh calamari for our appetizer.

We landed several times to hike amongst the ruins on the islands and to swim in the beautiful clear water. We enjoyed these days, exploring Butterfly Valley, St. Nicholas Island and five ancient churches. We were under the impression that we were in the middle of a sea of uninhabited islands… until the bakery lady motored up next to us in her little boat while we were anchored in a secluded cove. We could not resist her fresh bread, cakes and baklava. Even though we had just finished another nice meal, we felt obliged to buy a few treats. After all she had come all that way out to us. Ditto with the ice cream man. We all had to have an ice cream bar, just to make his trip worthwhile.

The one afternoon we were confined to the inside of our boat due to the inclement weather, we used our time wisely to prepare for our home-stay experience. Our guide, Omer, taught us some basic Turkish phrases that proved to be useful when we reached Ikiztas where we were scheduled for home stay.

Journeys International offers custom travel to Turkey. Gail says that she likes calamari, but will save the squid-diving for the captain.