This subject came up on another group I read and I offered a few
suggestions. I'll re-post them here just in case anyone might find them
useful.

quote

This is a complicated subject these days even for people with tons of money.

One of the first things consider is where you live. For example if you live
anywhere on the US East Coast, "sailing off into the sunset" is a very
difficult technical accomplishment. In fact it may be impossible. You will
either crash into the dock at the west end of your marina, or run aground
along some sandy coast. Either way you'll probably need costly repairs to
the boat, and that will cut into the old nest egg. Some of the above
comments will not apply if you have an amphibious vehicle.

Until a month or so ago it was possible to "sail off into the sunset" from
the West Coast of Florida. Unfortunately the activities of Big Oil and some
of their fully-owned subsidiaries in DC and Crawford, Texas, have curtailed
a lot of this activity. Most of this sailing destination is now closed and
will remain closed for what is called "the future" as far as marine life is
concerned. According to the Federal Register "sailing off into the sunset"
from western Florida is now under the control of the Department of Homeland
Security and is regulated using armed USCG vessels. Be careful with this. It
may be safer to just head for Cuba and suffer the consequences.

US West Coast sailors are luckier when it comes to "sailing off into the
sunset." The only problems they encounter (besides racial profiling by the
INS and Tea Party vigilante groups) are earthquakes and the accompanying
tsunamis. I haven't personally experienced one of these but I'd guess that a
set of sturdy drop boards and some good oilies are a good investment if
you're thinking about this.

Happily these problems do not exist in many other parts of the world. If you
live on the west coast of Ireland or in the Hebrides, you're good to go.
Just don't forget to release all the docklines. The same is true for a lot
of Portugal and western Spain. Western Africa is another possibility if you
don't mind your typical bloody revolution every 3 weeks, genocide once or
twice a decade, and bad drinking water. Do not (I repeat: DO NOT) enforce
"close pack" on your crew. This leaves a bad impression with local
authorities.

Right now we are not recommending Thailand, and in fact I'm not even sure
they have a western coastline. I hear there are some bargain slips in Greece
though.

I don't want to give the impression that things are terrible everywhere, but
you must admit that life used to be a lot simpler.

/quote

--
Good luck and good sailing.
s/v Kerry Deare of Barnegat
http://home.comcast.net/~kerrydeare