Black Pearl Ölüdeniz — Local services in Fethiye

DO NOT BOOK. We booked this boat trip under the guise of it a being a small sunset boat trip. We get there and it’s a pirate ship, bearing in mind I was with my 8 year old autistic son. I absolutely did not know what to expect but got on the boat as I had already paid. The music was so loud you couldn’t hear anyone even speak , the view of the sunset was awful , took us to a bay and purposely left us there for AGES in the hopes people would drink more so in turn they could make more money. Even with everybody asking to go home , they refused. Nearly everyone on the boat said this is not what they told the boat trip would be like and felt conned. There were babies and elderly people on the boat who I felt so bad for. We got on the boat at 6pm and didn’t return until midnight as we got STRANDED in the middle of the sea. While we were stranded , the owner of the boat made no announcement, no apology or communication to let us know what was going on, probably hoping everyone would continue paying for more overpriced drinks. By the end of it , everybody was complaining , waiting by the exit and begging to be let off. When we were leaving , the owner just snuck past us hoping to not be seen , didn’t give anyone an apology or any compensation. Absolutely ruined my holiday. They didn’t give us any food till the very end which I actually ended up vomiting all night from. This is a scam, they will take you so far out , not take you back for HOURS , even when everyone is begging to be taken back just so that they can make more money of you because you’ll need to buy drinks because your hot and thirsty. Terrible experience. It’s funny that when the ship set sail the owner was very vocal, hyping everybody up to party and drink, walking all around the boat with his parrot but as soon as things went wrong , he went and hid and left his staff who were polite but could not speak hardly any English , to talk on his...

Honestly we booked this thinking it would be a good day out and then kept thinking we are too old for a party boat as it got closer and closer.

It turned out to be the best experience of our holiday, we saw many different islands/beaches and stayed at each one to swim or walk around.

The staff were all very nice, happy, and helpful throughout the whole experience.

There are a couple times where foam parties happen but you're not forced to do anything you don't want to do, and you can simply continue doing what you're doing if you want (we sunbathed)

The ship has different areas for different people, there is a lower deck if you want it to be quieter since the music can be very loud, and at the top are a lot of sunbathings mats and seats. The middle is loudest for partyyyy

Food is included, but not drinks, and they can quickly stack up (you pay at the end), just assume all drinks are around 200 lira and all cocktails are 400 lira, the bill can add up a lot towards the end depending if you're there to get drunk or not.

Overall though we massively enjoyed the experience (as a 30 year old couple) and would even do it again if we are ever in the area because each place they took you too was beautiful, I don't normally swim in the ocean but I jumped in at each location because the water was so clear...

Volkan 4, formerly Black Pearl - they lied about the duration of the trip and each stop when selling the tickets (they said 11am-18pm, 1 hour at each stop), making the stops much shorter in reality. St Nicholas’ Island, an open-air museum, had an only 30 min stop instead of 1h as promised (which is ridiculous as the island is huge to walk and swim around and it is the only stop where water activities are available). They also made shorter stops at all other islands and returned to Ölüdeniz 30m early. Food is bad (it is always bad on these tours), seats are dirty and unpleasant. Have been taking these Ölüdeniz tours for 2 decades now - they’re not perfect, but this one, with a 30min St Nicholas’ stop, was particularly disappointing. Will be taking a different boat next time and hopefully having a better experience. We do not recommend Volkan 4 even with their...