5 August 2026 – 17 August 2026
A thirteen-day family voyage aboard Beetfish, from Symi to Nisyros, Kos and Kalymnos, then onward through the bays of Gökova.
Route map
Day by day
Our transfer arrived at 7.20 am. With provisions packed as though for a long expedition, we set off on the winding road. Gökhan felt carsick, while Derin was waiting aboard and Berfin was travelling from Istanbul.
Read the full entry →The engines started at 6.00 am, and by 10.00 we were anchored in Desporinero Bay on Tilos, alone in the broad inlet.
Read the full entry →We left Livadia at 6.00 am intending to reach Astypalaia, but wind and waves carried us not where we wished to go, but where they allowed. At 10.30 am we reached Nisyros.
Read the full entry →At 9.00 am we were off Gyali, opposite Nisyros. Pumice is still quarried from the volcanic island’s striking white slopes.
Read the full entry →This was a day devoted to doing very little. We spent it in Pserimos swimming, reading, dozing and fishing. At last, we ate some of our catch.
Read the full entry →We saw Berfin off at 11.30 am and left Kos harbour an hour later. Wind and waves were still with us.
Read the full entry →At last the wind stopped. At 9.00 am we set off to explore the bays of Kalymnos.
Read the full entry →After completing departure formalities, we headed once more for Pserimos, an island we had grown fond of. Before leaving Pothia we remembered to buy natural sponges. Sponges are not plants but simple animals that filter seawater; the sponge we use is the skeleton left after the living layer is removed.
Read the full entry →Derin was leaving, and sadness settled over the boat. At noon we went ashore to put her in a taxi. The family chapter of our holiday had come to an end.
Read the full entry →Beetfish waited for new guests. For the first time, the boat would host two children under ten. We moved in front of Bodrum Castle for supplies, then went to Yalıkavak for breakfast with Hamit and Burcu.
Read the full entry →In the morning we introduced Maya and Lara to fishing and swam in the beautiful water. At around 11.00 am, before the crowds arrived, we left Orak Island and continued to Kissebükü.
Read the full entry →In the morning we visited the ancient settlement generally identified as Anastasiopolis in the Late Roman and Early Byzantine periods. It flourished particularly between the fifth and seventh centuries before coastal insecurity contributed to its abandonment. A church complex remains on the site today.
Read the full entry →After breakfast we saw a sea turtle directly beneath the boat. Finding one in the same place where I had seen a turtle the previous year felt like a lovely coincidence.
Read the full entry →Album
Address book
The harbour restaurant where we ate Symi shrimp and slow-cooked goat.
PublicOur Livadia stop for ouzo and an excellent dinner.
PublicOur Emporios favourite, with its volcanic view and local dishes.
PublicThe Kos fish restaurant where we enjoyed seafood.
PublicThe monastery above Pothia, dedicated to the protector saint of Kalymnos.
PublicThe Bitez restaurant where we shared a classic Bodrum evening.
PublicWhere we joined Symi’s traditional festival.
PublicNisyros’s great hydrothermal crater, still releasing hot gases.
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