The Other Face of the Sea,

We have lived with the sea for more than thirty-five years. During this time we saw different faces of the sea. However, after all these years seeing its new beautiful face makes me sorrow and happy alike.For someone who struggled and fought the sea in the most difficult conditions, trying to make a living from it,  it is a big loss for being delayed in experiencing her beautiful face. Until yesterday, when saying the beauty of the sea, what came to my mind was the 4:00 am to 8:00 am shifts, drinking my coffee while watching the sun rising, the rise of the horizon or the reflection of the stars on the water. But there is so much more of this beauty that I could not see up until I left myself on the lap of the sea by sailing. As a seaman I have always dreamed of a holiday with a boat, just myself and the blue sea, away from stress, noise and chaos. However, I always neglected and postponed my dream, and my dream was always preceded by things that I thought were more important.

But this year finally I stopped postponing my dreams and I caught an opportunity to spend a week on a 12- meter sailing boat with my family and loved ones, while trying to discover the bays of Göcek and Fethiye once again. I say I tried to because it is impossible to see everything that needs to be seen in a week time

You live a different morning and night and each bay you go. To get rid of the hot coming from the angry sun, turning the boat’s back to the west and tying it up to the bottom of the  steep cliffs, you can set the sun 3-5 hours earlier. In the same way, you can have an early sun rise by turning the boat’s back to the east.

You not only control the sun, but also the temperature of the sea water. For no cost at all, you can enjoy the warm sea water in the bays that are not too deep, and the cool sea water in the deep and shaded coves.

It is a great entertainment to control the magic power of your sails meeting the wind. It is impossible to realize how the hours flow when enjoying this. The fact that I only used fuel as much as a meal cost at the end of a week of intense and brisk holiday, increases the pleasure of sailing.

Some of the bays have restaurants that can only be reached by sea. These restaurants have a menu that will suit all your needs. In these restaurants you can have a delicious meal for 40 to 50 Liras per person. Especially in the mobile, floating kitchens, which consist only of a few tables and seats, having a village breakfast, hot tandoori bread, lunch and dinner is always a pleasure.

Our country is located in the most beautiful climate zone of the world. Besides, the fact that we have the most beautiful coastline and elite bays of the world adds another meaning to the concept of sailing and makes it special.

Our traditional holiday concept and the options of the country tourism play an important role in determining our holiday style. A week spent in a hotel, its room, pool, its sea and the restaurant is accepted as a holiday.

Another holiday type is the summer house. Thousands of dollars are thrown decorating the interior and exterior of this place, but we get to spend not more than a month per year there. Every year same place and the same people, the holiday is almost a task execution. Even if we get bored, after all that investment we can’t just leave leave the place and go searching for another adventure.

Sailing boats not only offer us the possibility of a holiday but also the possibility of doing a brisk sport. In addition to dealing with the sails, swiming at intense tempo, walking in incredibly beautiful nature, climbing small hills, photographing the wonders of nature we see is possible as well.

The ability to rent and use these sailing boats without a captain makes this holiday more attractive for seafarers. A few hours of sailing training, which we took in Istanbul for safe navigation, is sufficient for seafarers, even if not for everyone.

It is a great privilege, especially for those who can skipper these boats, to live this concept.

It is a sacred duty that we live without polluting  these unique beauties that God carefully created and entrusted to our people to be conveyed to the next generations. Sailing boat tourism is the tourism sector which makes the least damage in nature. It is a great loss for our country and for humanity to give paradise bays, which are given by God to people, to the use of only 300-500 families and to be in a way that was never before.

However, these bays where sailing boats come for vacation just for a few days, turn back to the old, once the holidaymakers leave them. In the sailing boat tourism, we can vacation for centuries without harming the trust of our children. It is possible to turn sailing boat tourism into a shape that does not cause any harm to nature with just very little attention. Although there is a risk of environmental pollution coming from the motor yachts, the only risk from sailing boats re detergents. If environmental friendly detergents are used, the risk of marine pollution is completely eliminated.

We need to go out of our comfort zone to pay our debt to the world by reducing our ecological print in order to experience these beauties.

Reducing our ecological print in the near future will be one of the most sacred values. One of the best ways of doing it in the field of tourism will be "Sailing".

Ahmet Haznedar

Sailing World