Has anywhere you have sailed choked you up?

[Nostrodamus]

Now I love the odd piece of history and try to read a little bit about the places we sail.
There are some places however that have had a real choking experience on me as we have sailed past or over them.
One was the coasts of Normandy when I couldn't take my eyes of the various beaches or stop thinking about the thousands of young men who died there. It really did choke me up.
Another was Trafalgar which we sailed over a day before the anniversary of the battle. Coupled with the sadness was also elation at being able to see another continent at the same time, Africa, and realise that as a family we had managed to sail there.
Are there places you have been that affect you more than you thought?

 

[OldBawley]

First arrival in Turkey, Bozburun. In the morning I heard a live Muezzin sing for the first time.
Choked.

 

[Seajet]

Personally I find Portland very powerful, I have to say not in a nice way.

When my parents - neither of whom are the slightest bit spiritual - visited La Rochelle in the 1980's, Mum had a compelling vision of rivers of blood she still mentions to this day; knowing something of the WWII history I think I can see why.

 

[Daydream believer]

Yes
my marina
Chokes me off every time I get the bill

 

[jordanbasset]

I got choked up when I got to the Algarve, the sight of those all day English Breakfast brought tears of joy

 

[Nostrodamus]

I got choked up when I got to the Algarve, the sight of those all day English Breakfast brought tears of joy

Ah, the Algarve and the tears of joy as we left

 

[Gerry]

Walking down the old slave road in St Eustatius in the West Indies, imagining the horror and sadness of those thousands of shuffling feet moving down the steep and winding track to an unimaginable future. Choked.

 

[Tradewinds]

Anchoring near the landing at the leper colony of Chacachacare, Trinidad.

Putting yourself in the place of a leper & the realisation that you were likely to spend the rest of your days there.

Ashore, back then in the 90s is was quite intact - a bit like the Marie Celeste - with all the records still lying about in the offices (it was abandoned in the mid 1980s). There was a film projector/cinema set up and even a maternity ward (IIRC).

Very, very humbling.

More info Chacachacare

 

[Baggy]

Seeing Cape Finisterre for the first time was awesome..

especially after a bit of a beating in Biscay ( southbound )

As we rounded Cape finisterre into a flat calm sea
I looked back into Biscay to see what looked like a cauldron of
mountainous boiling water
and the rock slowly hiding it all away.

an amazing sight.

 

[Nostrodamus]

Seeing Cape Finisterre for the first time was awesome..

especially after a bit of a beating in Biscay ( southbound )

As we rounded Cape finisterre into a flat calm sea
I looked back into Biscay to see what looked like a cauldron of
mountainous boiling water
and the rock slowly hiding it all away.

an amazing sight.

We had a bit of the same around there. Afterwards, totally flat seas, dolphins and I swear the temp went up instantly by 5 degrees.

 

[Frankie-H]

Dubrovnik and indeed a lot of Croatia. Over 80% of Dubrovnik's roofs were destroyed and as you travel inland you can still see the shot up and abandoned villages. I still have no way of coming to terms with Man's inhumanity to Man.

 

[guernseyman]

The Germans had built fortifications along the top of the cliffs behind Camaret. From a distance we could recognise several types like those in Guernsey. But as we got closer we saw the difference - bomb craters everywhere and shell holes all over the bunkers.

Suddenly I realised what might have happened if the Germans had not quietly surrendered in Guernsey.

 

[dylanwinter]

An otter on the Broads

I used to spend my winters sailing a 15 foot trailer sailer on the Broads

I spent one up a narrow dyke and ass I stood in the cockpit an oter came along the dyke poking around the reeds

completly obliviouos to my presence

I did not dare to move to get the camera

but I can still see it in my mind

never seen an otter before or since

Dylan

 

[TimBennet]

Sailing in passed Ambrose light, passed Sandy Hook and swinging north to see the Statue of Liberty against the NewYork skyline.

Anchored off some old piers on the Jersey shore and sat in the cockpit at night and thought about all the other millions that sailed in, on all sorts of boats, and seen that sight for the first time.

 

[V1701]

Felt very humbled when I went to St. Peter's Basilica in Rome & I'm not religious in the slightest, in fact I think it's the biggest load of claptrap going so explain that one! Also when diving saw a whaleshark that swam straight towards me & passed me by close enough to touch (which I didn't), no-one else was close at the time. Occasionally circumstances make it very obvious how small & insignificant we all are...

 

[Captn D]

Isles of Scilly

and the Golfe du Morbihan !

 

[Nicholas123]

Now I love the odd piece of history and try to read a little bit about the places we sail.
There are some places however that have had a real choking experience on me as we have sailed past or over them.
One was the coasts of Normandy when I couldn't take my eyes of the various beaches or stop thinking about the thousands of young men who died there. It really did choke me up.
Another was Trafalgar which we sailed over a day before the anniversary of the battle. Coupled with the sadness was also elation at being able to see another continent at the same time, Africa, and realise that as a family we had managed to sail there.
Are there places you have been that affect you more than you thought?

Dunkirk.Sailing past a place called I think Zydercoot I was struck by the strange space age type control tower onshore & looking closer all the pill boxes & fortifications on an otherwise remarkably unspoilt bit of coastline.
(Photo attached,hopefully the right one).Then I realized what I was sailing over & the desperate scenes that must have taken place there Very moving.
Later the white cliffs of Dover & good old England

 

[oldharry]

Calgary bay on the Isle of Mull. This was one of the main exit ports during the Scottish Clearances. There are the remains of the transit camp up the hill where thousands of displaced crofters waited to be compulsorily 'exported' to the Americas.

Their crime? They produced less money for the landowners than the sheep grazing which replaced them.

walking on the now derelict quay visualising the thousands of crofting families whp had lost everthing other than what they could carry with them waiting to be shipped out in coditins which would kill many of them to lands they knew nothing of, and where the chances of scraping a new living were well less than equal.

And such a beautiful place, too!

Travelling in Croatia, seeing the empty derelict villages: same thing again. Men women and children driven from their homes or killed simply because of who they were. very poignant.

Croatia again, reading the account of group of farmers in 'armed tractors' standing up to and holding back the combined efforts of both the serbian and the official Jugoslavian army. Armed tractors?! Against modern weaponry - but they won!

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Well, I found this pretty amazing - but I have to admit I didn't sail there. Did manage a bit of boating, though!

 

[ukmctc]

Now I love the odd piece of history and try to read a little bit about the places we sail.
There are some places however that have had a real choking experience on me as we have sailed past or over them.
One was the coasts of Normandy when I couldn't take my eyes of the various beaches or stop thinking about the thousands of young men who died there. It really did choke me up.
Another was Trafalgar which we sailed over a day before the anniversary of the battle. Coupled with the sadness was also elation at being able to see another continent at the same time, Africa, and realise that as a family we had managed to sail there.
Are there places you have been that affect you more than you thought?

hmmm, yep all over Scotland........Freedom