Hisaronu, Turkey winds/crowds in early season

[bornplaydie]

My Experiece – Last year we sailed Sporades Islands in Greece. A 34 foot monohull. It was our first bareboat and there was one other skipper besides myself. I crew during on a 30 foot monohull during local yacht races, but last year was my only real cruising skippering experience.


Our Plan – Next year we plan to go to Turkey. We plan to hire bareboat out of Bodrum or Marmaris and sail around Hisaronu. We will do 2 weeks on a 32 foot monohull possibly just my wife and I. And 2 weeks on 40 foot catamaran with 5 other non-experienced friends.


Details – We will start May 10, 2014. So I am trying to figure out the timing. Should I sail the monohull first or the catamaran? Last year in Greece, we started May 17 and ports and bays were empty. 3 weeks later things were getting a little more crowded, but we were fine with our monohull and always found a spot. We had good enough winds there for our experience – about 10-20 knots and didn't need to motor much.


Questions – I don't know how similar or different Turkey will be. We choose the “shoulder season” to avoid the large crowds. My first concern is the wind. Will I have any wind in Turkey that early to sail? My other concern is the space at ports and bays. How crowded will it be first week in June in that area? Will it be difficult to find space for a our cat?


Any other advise would be great. I am excited to find this forum with so many experienced cruisers.Thank you for sharing!

[yeloya]

First of all, even in peak season Turkey in general and Hisarönü in particular will not be crowded in any respect. (Göçek is an exception..)

First catamaran or monohull; I would rather go with the mono first and with the cat later.

You have three options for the nights:
-mooring (no problem anywhere..)
-restaurant jetties (for popular restaurants, such as Octopus in Söğüt, the one in Dirsek and Sardunya in Selimiye, etc, you'd better come a bit early than usual) will never have a problem of finding a spot for mooring or in marinas even with much larger boats.
-marina. The only option is Mart marina in Orhaniye (Keçibükü) you will find as much space as you want but they are extremely pricey. 40 ft cat for a night would pay 100 + € a night..

Hisarönü is a very good spot for sailing; always a bit of wind and no large swells. Meltemi (north westerly, more westerly as you go inside the bay) sets up a bit late than usual the last 5-7 years, so May could stii be a bit unpredictable. There are many bays protected from Meltemi and it blows usually around 12-20 kts.
Otherwise, in May you can still have some southerly/south easterly which can be stronger. In this case, the places like Orhaniye and Bozburun still offers perfect protection.

You can PM me if you need more info.

Cheers

yeloya

[steve.garlick]

If you're in Orhaniye, try Dogan Hotel. They have a jetty, are extremely friendly and you can moor for the price of breakfast (20 TL).

Winds in Hisaronu are generally milder than Greek (Cyclades winds). The occasional southerly can hit 40 knots.

Try Perfect Sailing if you want a great charter company right in the best sailing grounds.

[vRUN]

Originally Posted by yeloya

First of all, even in peak season Turkey in general and Hisarönü in particular will not be crowded in any respect. (Göçek is an exception..)

Beg to differ on that one...
"MARMARIS not full ... " seems to be one of the bigger euphemisms to me...

...with a tight schedule Mark I repeat myself: be prepared to motor.
Also: I sadly remember two years (+-may,ascension thursday) where I could "shower" outside every day - cold (for the area).

"moor for the price of breakfast" and "jetties for dinner" I agree is perfect advice - especially if you are a group of 7 and wanting a sundowner on the beach.

Reinhold