Tersane Island

Tersane Island is the largest island in the Gulf of Fethiye, lying off the coast near Göcek and enclosing three sheltered bays around its shoreline. In antiquity it was known as Telandria, a settlement founded by Greek colonists in the fifth century BCE and, for a time, a member of the Delian League, the alliance of Greek city-states led by Athens; Lycian-era ruins on the island point to later occupation as well. The island took its present name, meaning "dockyard" in Turkish, after the Ottoman navy began using its calm, enclosed anchorage to build and repair ships in the early twentieth century.

The island's Greek residents left in 1923 as part of the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, and the abandoned stone houses they left behind still stand among the pines and goat trails that cover the island today. A small quay, a seasonal restaurant, and two anchorages long known to sailors as the Summer and Winter Harbours make Tersane a regular stop on the Gulf of Fethiye's well-known twelve-island boat tours. As one of the anchorages you'll visit on a private gulet charter from Fethiye, it combines a swim in clear water with a walk through ruins spanning more than two thousand years of history.