Lunch on the Suluada Boat: What Is Served and What Isn't

Lunch is included, cooked on board and served on board. You choose grilled fish or chicken, with pasta or rice, alongside daily Turkish mezes and a seasonal salad. Afterwards there is seasonal fruit and Turkish tea. Drinks from the bar are excluded and paid separately — that is the only line on the menu that costs extra.

It matters more than it sounds. Suluada is a small rocky island off the Adrasan coast and there is no shop on it. Whatever you eat that day, you eat on the boat, so it is worth knowing exactly what arrives at the table.

The day is long — around ten hours door to door from the Side region, closer to twelve from Antalya, Kemer and Beldibi — and between its two ends the boat is the whole world. Food matters more on a day like that than it does on a two-hour excursion.

What Is on the Plate

The main course is a choice, not a set dish. Grilled fish or grilled chicken, cooked during the cruise, served with pasta or rice. Nobody has to negotiate for it — the crew ask, you answer, the plate comes.

Around that sits the part most guests remember: Turkish mezes, prepared daily. Stuffed vine leaves, stuffed peppers, lentil patties. Then a seasonal salad, which means it changes with what the market has rather than with a printed menu. When the plates are cleared there is seasonal fruit and Turkish tea, served while the boat is still at anchor or on the way back toward Adrasan harbour.

The food is Turkish home cooking rather than restaurant theatre, and it is served on deck with the island in view. That combination is the whole point.

Two details worth setting straight. The mezes are prepared daily, which is why the exact spread shifts a little from one sailing to the next. And seasonal, in the salad and in the fruit, means exactly that — whatever is good at that point in the year. We would rather describe the table honestly than print a menu the galley does not follow.

When Lunch Happens

The boat sails from Adrasan at 09:40 and docks back at 16:00. Lunch is prepared and served on board during that stretch, between swimming breaks at Suluada and the surrounding bays — so you swim, you eat, you swim again. Our day itinerary walks through how the hours fall.

Both departures feed you. On the Side departure lunch is part of the ticket alongside the two-way transfer, the cruise, guidance and all the swimming breaks. On the Antalya departure a grilled lunch is served on deck, and that ticket also carries snorkelling masks, pool floats, marine insurance and harbour fees.

You do not need to bring food. Guests occasionally pack a lunch out of habit, watch a full meal arrive on deck, and carry the sandwiches home again.

What Lunch Does Not Include

Two honest exclusions.

Drinks. Everything from the boat's bar — water, soft drinks, tea beyond the after-meal service, anything else — is excluded and paid separately. Bring cash. It is the single most common thing guests wish they had thought about at 06:00.

Breakfast. On the Side departure there is an optional breakfast stop at Adrasan at around 08:30, and it is payable at the local restaurant, not covered by your ticket. It is optional in the real sense: you can skip it, and some guests do.

Beyond that, the ticket also excludes personal beach gear, photos and extras. What it does include is set out plainly on our all-inclusive tour page and on the prices page — where the price stays flat at €40 per adult from every pickup point, €30 per child aged 4–10, infants 0–3 free, paid on the tour day.

Neither exclusion is buried in small print and neither is large. The point is simply to step on board knowing, rather than to be surprised somewhere off the Adrasan coast.

Children, Appetites and Dietary Needs

Children usually solve lunch themselves: chicken, pasta, some fruit afterwards, done. There is no separate children's menu, and in practice most families find they do not need one. If you are sailing with children, our guide to Suluada with kids covers the age rules and the shape of the day.

If someone in your group eats differently — a dietary requirement, an allergy, a preference that matters — tell us in advance rather than on the pier. We will pass it to the crew so they know before the galley is busy. The mezes and the seasonal salad are vegetable-based, and pasta or rice comes with every plate, but do not leave a real requirement to chance on the morning.

Practical Notes Before You Sail

Three things worth writing down.

Bring cash for drinks. The sea is salty, the day is long, and the bar is the only source on board.

Do not plan to buy anything ashore. There is no shop on the island — no kiosk, no café, no bottle of water waiting for you on the sand. Our packing guide is the two-minute version of what to carry.

Eat before you swim, or after — your choice. The swimming breaks are spread across the day, so nothing is a one-shot opportunity. The boat waits, the island stays where it is, and there is more than enough of both.

Bring a snack if you graze. With no shop on the island, the boat's kitchen and bar are the only sources of anything edible between the pickup and your hotel door.

Book free online, pay on the tour day, and let the crew handle the rest.