Most Turkish charter yachts carry a rig they never use. This one does not. A deluxe motor sailer charter aboard a 26-metre Mural ketch means three sails set and the engines off for real hours of the day, which is a rarer proposition on this coast than the brochures suggest. Four en-suite cabins, eight guests, four crew, and a flybridge that seats all of them at once.
She was built at Mural Shipyard in 2007 and has been refitted through 2026. The hull is 26.11 metres with a seven-metre beam and a 2.84-metre draught — deep enough to hold a course under canvas rather than slide sideways, which is the compromise most gulets accept and this yacht does not.
The rig is a proper ketch: main, mizzen and a headsail, all of them working. On the afternoon thermal that fills in across the Gulf of Fethiye from about two o clock, she will hold nine knots on a reach with the engines shut down. That is the whole argument for a deluxe motor sailer charter over a motor yacht, and it is worth an afternoon of anyone week.
Under power she has twin Scania diesels of 320 horsepower and a bow thruster, so ten knots is comfortable and berthing stern-to in a crowded Gocek marina is not an event. Turkish-flagged, based in Gocek, full commercial survey, and available for a deluxe motor sailer charter from May through October.
Four crew: a captain, a chef, and two deckhands. One to every two guests. The chef cooks every meal aboard from provisions bought at the Gocek market that morning — nothing catered in and nothing reheated, which is the standard Aquinox holds every deluxe motor sailer charter to.
Breakfast is Turkish and unhurried: menemen, white cheese, olives, honey in the comb, tomatoes and cucumber, and bread from a bakery ashore. Lunch is mezze at anchor, which on a deluxe motor sailer charter is the meal that runs longest. Dinner changes daily and follows the day — grilled fish if the fishing was good, lamb if it was not, and always the local vegetables.
Dietary requirements should be given at booking rather than on arrival, because the galley provisions ashore before departure and the bays east of Gocek have no shops. Vegetarian, pescatarian and gluten-free menus are routine.
The bays behind Gocek are the best-provisioned cruising ground in Turkey for a specific reason: the good kitchens are on the water and nowhere else. No road reaches them. A deluxe motor sailer charter is the only practical way to eat at more than one of them in a week.
Bedri Rahmi Bay, with the painted fish on the rock, has a jetty and a kitchen and nothing else. Wall Bay and Tersane island are the same — a pontoon, a handful of tables, and fish landed that morning. At Ekincik, the restaurants sit at the head of a bay that also serves as the departure point for the Dalyan river and the Lycian rock tombs at Kaunos.
The yacht carries a full bar, an ice maker and a cellar of Turkish wine. The Bozcaada whites with fish, Kalecik Karasi from Anatolia with anything grilled, and Narince if the chef is serving something with weight to it.
The flybridge is the feature that separates this boat from her peers. It seats eight around a table, carries sun mattresses forward of that, and sits high enough that the view over an anchorage is the whole anchorage. On a deluxe motor sailer charter week it becomes the default position for everything except lunch.
The aft deck holds the main dining table under a fixed awning, with a cushioned banquette wrapped around it. The foredeck carries sun pads forward of the mainmast for guests who want the sound of the bow wave and nobody talking. Three separate areas for eight people is the right proportion, and it is what makes a deluxe motor sailer charter of a full week feel unhurried rather than close.
Below deck, the saloon and galley carry the same cherry joinery as the cabins — a proper room for the whole party to sit inside together, with a bar and galley just forward of it.
The master takes the full seven-metre beam: a queen berth, a walk-in wardrobe, a vanity desk and a sofa along one side, with en-suite shower and heads. It is a genuinely large cabin for a 26-metre boat, and the reason is the beam — seven metres at this length is unusually generous.
A second queen double sits to port, and two twin cabins complete the accommodation. All four are en-suite, all four have air conditioning that runs 24 hours, and all four carry satellite television, a DVD player and a minibar. Cherry joinery throughout, warm rather than the pale oak that has become the default on newer boats, and refinished rather than replaced in the most recent refit.
Eight guests is the maximum. On a deluxe motor sailer charter of this size that number is the point: two couples and a pair of teenagers, or four couples who know each other well, with enough deck for everyone to be alone when they want to be.
Gocek is the best base in Turkey for a boat that sails. Twelve islands sit within an hour of the marina, all of them anchorable, most of them with a restaurant. Beyond them the Gulf of Fethiye opens west to Ekincik and Dalyan, and east past Olu Deniz and Butterfly Valley toward Kalkan, Kas and the sunken city at Kekova.
A first week usually runs the Gocek islands and the Gulf of Fethiye: Bedri Rahmi, Tersane, Wall Bay, Kizil Ada, Boynuzbuku, Sarsala. A second week goes east to Kekova and Simena, which needs the engine hours but rewards them. Rhodes and Symi lie west and are arranged with notice for a transit log; the captain handles the paperwork so a deluxe motor sailer charter can cross a border without losing a day.
Aquinox also charters from Bodrum and Fethiye if a different base suits your flights better. This yacht will also depart from Marmaris, Kos or Rhodes by arrangement.
The tender is a 4.20-metre Joker Boat with a 70-horsepower outboard, rated for eight, which means one trip ashore rather than two. Two kayaks, two stand-up paddleboards, water skis, a wakeboard, ringos, windsurfing gear, snorkelling equipment and fishing rods are aboard. Rendezvous diving is arranged on request rather than run from the yacht, and the crew will organise dives at Gocek or Fethiye with a day of notice.
Length overall 26.11 metres, beam 7.00 metres, draught 2.84 metres. Two Scania 320-horsepower diesels with bow thruster; ten knots cruising, twelve maximum. Four thousand litres of fresh water carried. Air conditioning throughout with 24-hour operation, HD television and music in the saloon, satellite television and DVD in every cabin, internet access in Turkish waters, minibars and hair dryers in all cabins.
Low season begins at EUR 3,000 per day and high season at EUR 4,200 per day, quoted for the whole yacht with her crew of four rather than per person. A deluxe motor sailer charter normally runs Saturday to Saturday; shorter periods are considered outside July and August.
What the daily rate includes varies by season and itinerary. Aquinox confirms it in writing before any deposit is taken rather than leaving it in a footnote, and fuel for the motorised water sports is charged as used.
A deluxe motor sailer charter in July or August on this boat is usually committed by late winter, and the full-beam master is the reason. May, June, September and October are easier and, for anyone who cares about the sailing, better. Send your dates and guest numbers to Aquinox Yachting for a written quotation, a provisional hold and the full inclusions list the same working day.
Eight guests in four en-suite cabins: a full-beam master, a queen double and two twins. All four have 24-hour air conditioning, satellite television and a minibar.
Low season begins at EUR 3,000 per day and high season at EUR 4,200 per day. The rate covers the whole yacht with her crew of four, not per person.
She sails. The ketch rig of main, mizzen and headsail is used in earnest, and on the afternoon thermal in the Gulf of Fethiye she will hold nine knots with the engines off.
Gocek is her home base. Departures from Fethiye, Marmaris, Bodrum, Kos or Rhodes are arranged by prior agreement, and Greek crossings need a transit log lodged in advance.
July and August are usually committed by late winter. May, June, September and October are easier to secure and give the more reliable sailing breeze.
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