Places to visit before you die ...

For Christmas 2020 my daughter bought me a book I had been hanging my nose over for several years, '50 places to sail before you die'.

This book not only gave me inspiration for places I could go on my sailing adventures, but also got me thinking what other places I would like to go, visit and experience.

Sailing the seven seas

No-one is quite sure where this saying comes from, there are various theories and I'm sure most if not all of them have a grain of truth in there as the definition appears to have changed over the years. There are five oceans of the world, the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian, Arctic and Southern, or Antarctic oceans, although the pedantic and unromantic say the all the worlds oceans are connected and so are just one. Nothing about my story is directed towatds these pompous and blinkered souls. Some people split the Pacific and Atlantic into north and south to make seven oceans, a bit of a cheat, but it works. Sailing the Arctic and Antarctic oceans would probably provide more of a challenge than I want to undertake, at least on my own boat. Who knows, maybe opportunities will arise for side trips to cover all the worlds oceans.

On a slightly smaller scale there is the Mediterranean sea, the Caribbean sea and the Gulf of Mexico, the Sea of Cortez on the west coast of Mexico, the Tasman sea between Australia and New Zealand, and the Andaman sea and Bay of Bengal, all of which sound a whole lot more appealing, and warmer, than the UKs own North sea and Irish sea. Of course there are numerous others around the planet, to have a "tick list" of seas would fill pages, but there are seven seas to be going on with.

Continents of the world

There may not be a true Seven Seas, but there are seven continents to visit, most of them, North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australasia don't present too many problems, just time and distance. The last one however is a challenge to add to the list, that is Antarctica. Getting here would of course mean crossing the Southern Ocean off the list to, but that is either an extreme, or an expensive, challenge.

Wonders of the world

From Cuba (before the western commercialisation spoils it beyond repair) to Vancouver and British Columbia. Ancient civilisations from the western Mediterranean, through central and southern America to the seafaring island nations of the Pacific and the equally ancient Eastern cultures. The world is full of fantastic, individual, places. And yet the modern commercial "globalisation" of consumerism wants every town and city, every hotel and restaurant to look the same just with a different backdrop.

Not for me a world where everything looks, sounds, smells and tastes the same.

There have been lots of lists of "Wonders of the World" over the years. I would like to visit many places on my travels, and they do not all have to be in coastal areas, I am happy to leave the boat and "holiday" in land at times.

There are many places that have been on my list for a long time, such as the wonders of ancient Rome and Greece, the Mayan temples in central America and sail to Easter Island. There are some points in the modern world that I would like to visit, such as the beautiful city of Porto and sailing under Sydney Harbour bridge. Despite my wish to steer clear of large parts of the USA there remains the appeal of sailing under the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco and mooring my little home up in New York and taking a look at the Big Apple.

Why do I want to keep away from the USA? For a start gun law, or gun lawlessness. Just one city in the USA has seen more gun murders than the ENTIRE casualties of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars during the same period In the last 50 years more people have died on the streets of the USA than soldiers in all the wars they have fought put together The American answer to this? Have more guns! You are more likely to get shot standing on a street corner in many parts of the USA than sitting in a war zone in army uniform!

Volcanos, a dangerous and powerful beauty

As a young child growing up I remember watching the film East of Java with my father about the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano. The film was dated even then, but the power of nature fascinated me, and stories of Mount Etna's eruptions in the late 1970's and the eruption of Mount St Helens in 1980 all just fuelled my inquisitiveness. I'm no geologist, but learning how and why these events took place has always fascinated me.

In 2001 I was visited Montserrat just 4 years after the horrific eruption that killed 19 and left so much of the south part of the island uninhabitable, for the time being at least. We had to sail a little way off shore due to the exclusion zone around the still active volcano, but the sight of such destruction was strangely mesmerising. When we stopped at the make shift ferry dock for the night we were amongst the first visitors to the island since the eruption and were welcomed with open arms.

And in 2010 I visited White Island volcano off the coast of New Zealand with my family, an absolutely stunning experience and as close to an active volcano as you are likely to get. In December 2019 this island erupted without warning, killing 22 and injuring 25. The volcano settled to its resting state almost as quickly as it had erupted.

I suppose you could liken it to the fascination some people have with fire, only on a much, much bigger scale. I would love to walk on the volcanos of Italy at Stromboli and Etna, to walk on Anak Krakatoa (Child of Krakatoa) and the volcanos of the Hawaiian islands and (safely) experience the power and majesty of these extreme and awesome projections of natures power.

Where to next ....

As a starting trip I am hoping to sail around the coast of the UK in 2023, kind of like a shake down cruise with the new equipment I'm hoping to fit on Isosceles this winter. But also there are many places I want to visit, and re-visit, around our coast, some haunts from my younger years, some new places that I have never had the chance to see.

Before I start this adventure though, I have some upgrades to make to my boat, but more about them in future posts.

A trip around the UK is the first trip I have planned

After that I begin to think about Sailing South to warmer climates. Of course Brexit has messed up my original plans for the next few years, but the Mediterranean is not all European so there are ways to extend my travel time here before I head off towards the Caribbean and beyond.

Bill

Part 2 - Round Britain