Hurmalibuk

Hurmalibuk lies on the Hisaronu Gulf side of the Datca Peninsula in Mugla Province, roughly 37 km from Datca town and 35 km from Marmaris, between Bencik to the east and Gonlucek Buku to the west. No road reaches it. You arrive by boat, or on foot down a steep, rough trail over the hill behind the cove, and that inaccessibility is exactly what has kept the bay in the state most visitors hope to find it.

The Bay and Its Palms

Green and rocky slopes drop straight into deep water on either side of the cove, and the beach at its head is pale sand backed by pines. The feature that gives Hurmalibuk its name, though, is the palm grove behind the sand. These are Phoenix theophrasti, the Cretan date palm: the only palm that grows wild in Turkey and, with the European fan palm, one of only two palm species native to the Mediterranean basin. It survives in a small number of pockets in Crete, on nearby Greek islands and on the Datca and Bodrum peninsulas, and the IUCN lists it as Near Threatened. Hurma is the Turkish word for date, and bok or buk denotes a bight in the coast.

The water in the bay is clear and unusually blue, which makes it good for snorkelling, but the bottom close in is a mix of sand, gravel and seagrass rather than clean sand. Sea shoes are worth packing if you plan to wade in from the beach rather than swim off the boat.

Anchoring at Hurmalibuk

Boats typically anchor in about 6 to 9 metres off the beach. The bottom is sand with patches of weed, and the distinction matters: sand holds an anchor well, while an anchor dropped into weed tends to skate across it instead of digging in, so it is worth picking a clear patch and backing down hard to confirm the set. As in most coves on this coast, the standard method is to anchor and run a line ashore to a rock or tree, which holds the boat bow-out and removes the need for swinging room in a narrow bay.

Hurmalibuk faces south and takes wind and swell from that quarter, so it is a comfortable overnight stop only when no southerly is running; in settled weather it is calm enough to sleep in. The absence of a road means the beach never fills the way the peninsula's drive-in bays do, which has made the cove a popular stop for gulet charter guests exploring Turkey rather than a day-trip destination.

When to Come

August is the peak month, with air temperatures around 31C (88F) and sea temperatures reaching about 26C (79F), the warmest water of the year for swimming and snorkelling. June and September carry nearly the same sea temperature with far fewer boats in the bay, and outside high summer you may have the anchorage to yourself.

The Rest of the Datca Peninsula

The peninsula was Carian and Lelegian territory before the Greeks knew it as the Cnidian or Dorian Peninsula, and traces of that occupation are scattered along its length. The best of them is Knidos, the ancient port city at the western tip where the Aegean meets the Mediterranean, which is worth a stop on any itinerary that runs the full peninsula.

• Bays: Sigi Liman Bay and Adabogazi sit within easy sailing distance, and the south coast is lined with similar coves between Bencik and Palamutbuku.
• Walking: the Datca Peninsula carries marked hiking routes over the ridge, including the trail that drops into Hurmalibuk itself.
• Towns: Marmaris, about 35 km away, is the nearest large resort town and a common start or finish point for charters working this coast.

Mugla Province

The Datca Peninsula sits within Mugla, the province that also holds Bodrum, Marmaris, Fethiye and Oludeniz. Its coastline runs from Aegean to Mediterranean, and inland it climbs into pine-covered mountains and lakes; Butterfly Valley near Fethiye and the beaches of Bodrum are among its better-known stops.

Mugla is also the centre of Turkey's pine honey. The Pinus brutia forests of Datca, Marmaris, Koycegiz and Fethiye host the densest population in the world of Marchalina hellenica, the scale insect whose secretions the bees collect, and roughly 80 percent of Turkish pine honey comes from this one province. Turkey in turn accounts for around 92 percent of world production, so a jar bought in a Datca village shop is about as close to the source as it gets. Beyond honey, the local table runs to fresh seafood, almonds and the Datca almond and thyme products sold along the peninsula road.