Orak Island

This guide to Orak Island off the Muğla coast follows the 1955 land grant that handed the sickle-shaped island to a sponge diver named Mustafa Cengiz on one condition, that he plant pine forest across its bare rock, and traces how it passed in 1970 to a Swiss dentist who built a villa here instead of practicing medicine. It follows the boat-only approach that still defines a visit, since no restaurant, cafe or road has ever grown up around that villa. The water itself changes color on the way in, from deep navy to a lit-up turquoise.