The world has changed a great deal TeeDee, even since I made my first voyage in 1998, so my answer is very much influenced by a number of different changes to the World as we know it..now.
There was a relatively tiny flow of refugees from various countries 20 years ago, and that is just one fact which affected my life style to a considerable degree. I'm talking now of a single handed sailor, not the package deal charter yacht holiday folk. I tended to visit the small non touristy harbours, anchor in isolated bays and wander in areas off the holiday sailor circuit. One of my favourite haunts was along the North African shore and the area around Sicily or in the far Eastern area around Thessalonica bordering Turkey
Now they are virtually a " No go areas" for the likes of me as a single handed voyager.
The Charter yacht people may not notice a difference in their brief holidays in the Mediterranean, but as a live-a-aboard voyager I found the freedom to wander frustrated me. I do not consider sailing up and down the Spanish Coast or around the Greek Islands or coastline, dodging Charter Yachts or Inter Island Ferries to be my style of voyaging.
Don't misunderstand me, I fully appreciate the reasons why officaldom, Customs boardings, Maritime Police checks became so frequent. I remember being berthed in the Canary Islands on one occasion, waiting for the Hurricane season to blow through before I crossed the Atlantic. Refugees from the West African Coast were brought ashore having been rescued at sea by Spanish Patrols, from this..
A Builder's skip with a bow welded in place. They ran out of fuel between the West African Shore and the Canary Islands. It was rumoured that 28 people, men women and kids were aboard when they put to sea. Eight days adrift in the sun without water or shade and the Spanish rescued seven men and a woman they found alive on board....I know about the refugee problem believe me, and not having the freedom to wander is not something for me to complain about.
Long winded answer, Mate, but if times were the same, I was not 76 but in my late 50's early 60's again, I would be gone tomorrow. Absolutely no regrets. I had a service pension, good health and fitness, a good ex oppo and his Mrs who were my shore base " Home address" and I put my motorcycle and few belongings in a rented security container and sailed home every 18 months or 2 years to see the grown kids and watch how people ashore did Face Book, Strictly Come Dancing and bought a BMW X5 on credit...Then I ran away to sea again....
