#humansofyachting – Fatih Aslanoba

Lila on board White Lion

“Ever since she was just a few months old, my daughter Lila has enjoyed cruising around on boats with me. Today, I spend a good three months of the year on board my Sunseeker, White Lion, and usually, it’ll be over the school holidays so that Lila can come with me. We love trying out the toys on board. We’ll take out the pedalling Hobie kayaks to explore the Greek islands or we’ll be in and out of the caves along the Turkish Riviera. Lila also loves diving and using the Seabob – she’s very good at it.

We’ll usually spend some of our time fishing together. We’ll park up in the turquoise waters of the Aegean and put our underwater lights on to attract fish. Recently, in Platis Gialos Bay in Mykonos, we ended up catching 20 squid! We had a blast, but it was also a bit shocking as the squid squirts ink all over when you pull them out of the water. The next day though, we had the best calamari of all time.

When it’s time to chill, we play lots of Monopoly on board. Lila also loves hanging out with her friends and it is so much fun to see the kids enjoying themselves – they seem to make friends in a flash in the marinas. Boating really adds a lot to our lives. It’s just a great feeling to take off from our house in Bodrum and find ourselves exploring in Milos or climbing up the volcano crater in Santorini in just a few hours. Often, we’ll choose to go somewhere we’ve never been before. We’ve already decided on Kefalonia for next summer.

Lila is thrilled that I have plans to buy a bigger boat for longer trips. The Aegean is always amazing but with the next boat we can explore a little further. We can’t wait!”