I've done significant research about ferries to Rhodes and hope the information is helpful to others (you too, Cheese!

<b>Passport Control</b>
To be safe, I have concluded that going through passport control should be done the day before a morning departure. Similarly, it should be done the morning of an afternoon departure.

<b>Bodrum to Rhodes</b>
Anker Travel shows a &quot;fast ferry&quot; from Bodrum to Rhodes every Monday and Saturday departing at 8:30am, arriving at about 10:45am. That's from May 15 to October 15.
http://www.ankertravel.net/ferry.asp...m117673=RHODOS

Olympus Yachting has a hydrofoil from Bodrum to Rhodes every Monday and Friday departing at 8:30am, arriving at about 10:45am. That's begining June 1. No ending date is provided.
http://www.olymposyachting.com/en/fe...rum_rhodes.asp

<b>Marmaris to Rhodes</b>
Anker Travel shows a &quot;fast ferry&quot; from Marmaris to Rhodes every day departing at 8:30am and 6:00pm, arriving an hour later. That's April through October.
http://www.ankertravel.net/ferry.asp...m117673=RHODOS

Olympus Yachting has a hydrofoil from Marmaris to Rhodes every day at 9:00am, arriving at about 10:00am. No beginning or ending date is provided.
http://www.olymposyachting.com/en/fe...ris_rhodes.asp


Marmaris Info shows a hydrofoil from Marmaris to Rhodes every day departing at 9:00am and 4:00pm, arriving an hour later. Information about the morning ferry clearly indicates that that's May through November but the dates aren't mentioned for the afternoon ferry.
http://rhodes.marmarisinfo.com/

<b>Drive to Bodrum or Marmaris?</b>
When driving from the area of Ephesus, Turkey Travel Planner shows that it only takes about 30 minutes longer to drive to Marmaris than to drive to Bodrum.

Mike,

Judging from our experience, I don't think it's necessary to go through passport control in Marmaris the day before an early morning departure to Rhodes. We got to the port where the fast ferry departs at about 8:15, and had plenty of time to spare. And that was in the height of the busy tourist season.

Also, I have a feeling that Turkeytravelplanner is wrong that it ony takes 30 minutes longer to travel from Ephesus to Marmaris than Ephesus to Bodrum. Maybe we went the long way, although I doubt it. Anyway, I'd double check this with a Turkish travel agent.

Weadles, that's good to know that I don't have to be concerned about getting to the passport control so much in advance of the departure.

I'll do more research on how long it takes to get to Bodrum and Marmaris.

Mike,

I think if you're at the port an hour before your scheduled departure, you'll be fine. Even with a busload of tourists in front of us, we were among the first to board the ferry.

As far as times go, I posted this before, but our drive from Ephesus to Kusadisi took a little less than 30 minutes.

From Kusadisi to Bodrum was about two hours. From Bodrum to Marmaris was about 2.5 hours. I know the distances look deceptively short between these places, but the roads were in part curvy and or mountainous. Anyway, have fun!

Weadles,

I used ViaMichelin as the Turkish equivalent of MapQuest. According to the website, it takes 8 minutes longer to go from Kusadasi to Marmaris than to Bodrum. I tried other searches from other places near Kusadasi and the biggest variance I got was that it takes 20 minutes longer to go to Marmaris than to Bodrum.

My hunch is that you probably went from Bodrum to Marmaris. The timing you gave for that trip is similar to the ViaMichelin data. However, I'm thinking of bypassing Bodrum and going directly to Marmaris, which is a very different route than getting to Marmaris from Bodrum.