Dufour 450 Grand Large with 4 Cabins - Sailing Yacht (2015) - Grace

Poor We rented a sailboat from Fethiye for a week. The boat itself was generally fine, with no major defects, but not particularly well maintained either. Hoisting the sails was difficult, the lines ran stiff and the runners were frequently jammed. The surroundings are beautiful: steep mountains that disappear into the sea, covered with green pine trees. Because of the depth, you almost always have to use lines to shore for anchor, which is just a bit more hassle than free anchoring in the middle of a bay. What was disappointing is how crowded the water is. Almost every bay is packed. Ports and restaurants with moorings are remarkably expensive, especially compared to Greece, for example. There are also few places to land your dinghy near towns or villages. Much of the coast is private land, especially around Göcek. When we finally found a public beach, on our return we found all the gasoline stolen from the outboard motor. In addition, it is good to know that in reality you do not have a full week. We could not set sail until late afternoon on Saturday, and had to return the boat by 4 p.m. on Friday. In practice, you then have to go to the harbor around noon. In addition, the boat has to be refueled, which is a huge time-consuming task. At the gas station it was chaotic, with long lines, pushing locals and large Russian ships taking priority. This whole process took us at least three hours. As a result, you can't really count Friday as a vacation anymore. Finally, be alert when paying. In several cases people tried to inflate the amount when withdrawing money. So always make clear price agreements and check the pin amount carefully. Conclusion: The nature around Fethiye is beautiful and the boat sufficed reasonably well, but the combination of crowds, high prices, limited accessibility from the water, poor organization when refueling and small forms of scams make that we would not choose this sailing destination again soon.