Kalkan Harbor

Description

Kalkan Harbor has mushroomed since the 1980s from a former Ottoman/Greek fishing port into a vibrant and often noisy tourist resort. The old town, rising up the slope above the small harbour, is now surrounded by a vast swathe of modern hotel and older houses jazzed up in many pastel colors. The harbour itself is hemmed in by bars, restaurants and discos. The harbour is, nevertheless, a convenient stop for yachts on passage around the coast between Fethiye and Antalya and is the best port from which to visit the ancient sites of Xanthos and Patara and the natural phenomenon of the Saklikent Gorge. Its small but crowded `marina` is just 14 nM west of Kas. Yachts moor on the SW quay, where there is room for about 12-14 yachts. Harbour staff will hail you on arrival and help you anchor moor back to the quay. The holding is mediocre here and you should aim to lay out at least 30 metres of chain. Absurdly, tripper gulets and dive boats moor on the quay at the end of the harbour, laying out their anchors at 90 degrees to the chains of yachts moored on the SW quay.