I first went to Japan in 2001 to deal with a 37m yacht being bought from a Japanese owner. We organized a freighter to ship it to the United States, but we would have more than two months before it left Kobe.

“How often are you going to have a yacht in Japan?” I said. “Let’s go cruising.”

I joined the yacht in Japan; however yachts generally approach from two directions. From the north, the first port of call is Hakkodate on the northern island of Honshu or an extra day and a half down to Yokohama and Tokyo.

Gibraltar is a place of contrasts; history vies with the modern life at every corner. Many people consider that the brash Main Street with its duty-free shops is all that Gibraltar has to offer, yet with the minimum amount of effort, an interesting history awaits.

A swath of blood red sky bathes the morning horizon as the brooding hulk of Pitcairn Island emerges from the Pacific.

As the M/Y Turmoil pushes into a heavy swell, the somber red sunrise is a fitting backdrop to a bloody and tumultuous history for this small wind-battered rock that lies at 25 degrees south.

The M/Y Turmoil spent five weeks this spring in the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. We cleared into the Sollies at the capital, Honiara, after the long haul down from Hawaii. Our local agent was Gerald Stenzel from Tradco (tradco@solomon.com.sb ).

Clearance was straightforward, though we did notice that most officials down this way ask for lunch when they come onboard.

One of the vagaries of European law allows many yachts to stay in the European Union without paying VAT, provided they leave European waters at least once every 18 months. It used to be that such vessels would visit Malta, often on their way to or from Greece. The visit would clear the VAT status for another 18 months and allow the boat to fill up with duty-free fuel.

Malta went and spoiled this easy option by, rather selfishly, joining the EU.

After two years of logistics and planning, a megayacht delivered more than $16,000 worth of donated medical supplies to the Belize Emergency Response Team in December, courtesy of the efforts of YachtAid Global.

Founded by Capt. Mark Drewelow in San Diego, YAG puts donated items on yachts heading to Third World countries to deliver to the coastal communities they visit.

Eight years ago, Kathy Parsons published "Spanish for Cruisers" and made communication history amongst the charter captains, cruisers, marina and boatyard workers, marine technicians, mechanics and others who work on, live on, repair, maintain or have anything else to do with boats – and who speak only English or only Spanish.

The southwestern coast of Turkey offers some delightful cruising. Unfortunately, because it is so nice, it can get crowded. There are literally hundreds of the locally built wooden Gulets that charter in the area, especially from Bodrum and Gocek. Many of them are rent-a-bed operations and tend to have some rowdy, cheap and cheerful punters on board. A few of those can spoil any anchorage.

"You’re cruising the Pacific Coast of Mexico from June to November? It’s hurricane season. Are you crazy?"

Actually we are not crazy, or even big risk takers. With a close watch on the weather and the excellent forecasting available nowadays plus common sense on locations for each month, summer turned out to be an ideal time to cruise this magnificent coastline.

If you have recently applied the "been there, done that" attitude to most regular charter destinations, consider the exotic tropical region of southern Brazil.

Of course, there is spectacular Rio de Janeiro, but head south about two hours to a region the locals refer to as Angra and discover 365 islands and more than 2,000 beaches.