BODRUM, Turkey — On a white-hot day in this seaside town, a gaggle of onlookers gathered at the marina, snapping shots with their camera phones. Behind them hulked a 15th-century crusader castle straight out of a medieval dreamscape, and yet they’d trained their cameras on my seven traveling companions and me. It’s a heady moment when you realize you’ve trekked thousands of miles to a tourist destination like Bodrum only to become an attraction yourself.

But who could blame them for gaping? We stood aboard Regina, at 170 feet the largest private charter sailboat in Turkey. With its sweeping, scimitar-like profile, lustrous mahogany woodwork, and towering masts, it’s a megayacht born to draw goggle-eyed stares. And while Regina has been turning heads on the Aegean since its maiden voyage in 2011, this fall it dazzled an international audience of millions as the backdrop for a steamy encounter between James Bond star Daniel Craig and co-star Bérénice Marlohe in “Skyfall,” the newest 007 film.