 We cannot evade the fact that people are reluctant to visit Turkey in 2016. Ignoring this would be akin to dancing around a large pink elephant in the living room.
Southern Cross Blue Cruising is thus offering you a completely contrarian view.
Remember that the odds of being in a terrorist attack or on an airplane crash are miniscule compared to driving on a freeway or being the victim of a gunshot wound. It's why our headlines focus on what is improbable, instead of the mundane.
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 In our winter newsletters, we like to re-acquaint our latest subscribers with who we are and what we do.
Dave Stanley is Australian, having moved to Turkey permanently 9 years ago pursuing his love of sailing and wooden boats. Dina Street is half Turkish, half American having relocated to Bodrum in 1990, with a background in IT from Silicon Valley and an entrepreneur whose creative ideas were often a decade too early. We are both permanent residents of Bodrum and own/operate three gulets (Southern Cross Timer, Why Not and Queen of Karia.) We are also an agency for a limited number of selected gulets in Bodrum, and custom bareboats. Our Southern Cross Blue Cruising charter businesses are registered both in Australia and Turkey, and our boatyard business Bodrum Yacht Services oversees winterization, refits, painting and brokerage in Bodrum. We are passionate about what we do, so do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or comments.  In the winter, in addition to looking after our full time crew, charter enquiries, contracts, year-end accounting, fleet additions, and website revisions, Southern Cross Blue Cruising and Bodrum Yacht Services are also very actively involved at the boatyards including minor and major refits on our own fleet as well as those yachts under our care, overseeing electrical systems, mechanical checks and replacements, tank cleaning, electronic instrument maintenance and of course, never-ending varnishing.
We have also updated just about all the gulet PDF files on Southern Cross Blue Cruising to a sexier, easier to read format and also, now have graphic itineraries available for your destination preferences, and would love to have your feedback. Drop us a line for some initial itinerary samples and a secret preview of the new website.  The annual, Bodrum Ladies Lunch took place at the swish Mandarin Oriental in Göl-Türkbükkü on 5 December. The venue, food and atmosphere were fabulous, with 32 local participants, including a lottery with many prizes. The venue is beautiful and the staff were fluent in English, exuding confidence and discretion with a backdrop of granite, teak and wafts of vanilla and lemongrass. A great check-in for a pre or post Blue Cruise stay.
We also partook in a Thai food preparation course hosted by Erenler Sofrasi with guest chef Byron Ayanoğlu. Owner of Erenler Sofrası Aslı Mutlu arranged the annual ''hands-on'' cooking class with a varied group from fascinating backgrounds, all with the common interest of learning to prepare wonderful Thai food from an expert.  Southern Cross Blue Cruising has wound down the 2014 season with great fun. October brought a high school reunion cruise on board Why Not, followed by the Bodrum Cup, various weddings and military send-off festivities.
On the left, our colleagues Istanbul native Baris and Kos-native Ayser tie the knot in Kos, bringing the bond between Bodrum and Kos even closer. What a wedding!  On a personal note, we would proudly like to congratulate my daughter 18 year old Jasmine for her acceptance to her preferred universities.
She has grown up in the home office environment of Southern Cross Blue Cruising and Bodrum Yacht Services and is familiar with our very odd hours, humming printers, midnight faxes, a revolving front door, and the occasional profanity. When asked what she wants to study (and why), she vaguely mumbled something about needing to attend university in order to not work as we do for a living. Eh? Anyway, congratulations Jasmine!  It is with great pride that Southern Cross Blue Cruising announces the 2014 and 2015 lease of Queen of Karia and Why Not gulets.
Having worked closely with both yachts since their launches, we know them extremely well and are pleased to bring our high standards and professionalism to the full management of both yachts. Queen of Karia is 35 meters long with five staterooms, including a Master suite, VIP, two twins and a double. She has a magnificent presence in the water and is one of the best known luxury gulets in the Aegean and Mediterranean. She will charter for 3800 Euro per day during high season, 3200 Euro per day mid-season, and 2500 Euro per day all other months. Why Not is 24 meters long with a master, VIP, double and twin cabin. She has a extraordinary contemporary, clean feel throughout and is an affordable luxury gulet for up to 8 persons. She charters for 2250 Euro in July/August, 1900 Euro in June/September and 1500 Euro all other months. We realize that new subscribers who receives our newsletter may not know who Southern Cross Blue Cruising and Bodrum Yacht Services are, so we are repostiing our brief biography to kick off the 2013 New Year.
Australian born, European bred and retired professional motorcyclist racer Dave Stanley began one of his several careers as a port emergency services diver in Melbourne. With a childhood passion for sailing, he also has been involved in building Herreschoff replicas. Dave first came to Turkey on a sailing holiday and was enamoured with the beauty of the country, friendliness of the people and the plethora of wooden boats. He eventually moved to Bodrum permanently, bought classic gulet Southern Cross Timer in 2004 and entered the gulet charter business. Dina Street moved to Bodrum in 1990 after finishing double degrees in Applied Mathematics and Near Eastern Studies from U.C. Berkeley and realized that she preferred a life in the Mediterranean over Silicon Valley. After opening Caravan Frozen Yogurt, Bodrum's first full service ice cream shop, she followed with the Turkey's first Starbucks-style internet cafe in 1996. In 2000, she authored and launched the soon to be resurrected Bodrum Gulets as an non-commercial website, and worked extensively with the charter department of Zephyria Yachting before founding Bodrum Yacht Services and Southern Cross Blue Cruising with Dave Stanley. Bodrum Yacht Services deals with gulet brokerage, new construction, post-sales support, project management, refits, winterization and charter management. Southern Cross Blue Cruising focuses upon chartering our fleet of hand selected gulets. Our companies are respectively registered in Turkey and Australia. We run an on-going, in-depth blog pertaining to gulets, Turkish cuisine, local characters and off the beaten path subjects related to life in Turkey. We always appreciate your comments on our meanderings. |
Dina StreetWelcome to the First Gulet Charter Blog. Archives
August 2019
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