The Turkish marine industry is millennia old, with traditions of traders, pirates and Ancient navies almost as old as recorded History itself. In fact, the world's oldest known shipwreck (1350 BC) was discovered off the Turkish coast outside the village of Kas by the Texas based Institute of Nautical Archaeology, precursor to the fleets of the Dorians, Romans and Ottomans that sailed in her wake.

Today, gulets bearing remarkable similarities to those Ancient craft still ply Turkey's Aegean coast. Diesel engines have replaced lateen sails and sun worshippers the Ancient cargos of oil, copper and glass. But designs, materials and construction techniques have changed only slightly over the centuries. Traditional boat building can be found throughout the length of Turkey's Aegean and Mediterranean shores but the greatest number of boats and boat yards are still found in Bodrum, home to Turkey's Aegean charter fleet. Visitors cannot help but be impressed by the majesty and sheer volume of gleaming Wooden Yachts (gulets) that crowd every meter of harbor wall, the majority of which are Bodrum built.

Since the time of its most famous resident King Mausolous (4th Century BC) Bodrum has been an important local boat building center. King Ptolemy of Egypt had warships built here in the 3rd century BC in the area now occupied by the present day marina. There are now over thirty boatyards in the immediate Bodrum area and many more on the surrounding Peninsula.

 

Imagine a horizon filled with sails billowing on a fleet of traditionally built Wooden Yachts (mostly gulets), sparkling blue seas parted by their bows and dolphins racing playfully along.