At sunset, with a warm wind blowing off the desert, we sail Jelal's felucca, the open boat that more than any other evokes the romance of the Nile.

BBC: The perfect trip: Egypt

They say if you visit when the moon is full, the mountains shall open up and a boat will appear carrying a princess...

BBC: Legends of the Italian Dolomites

As a city, Nagasaki has a remarkable history (it was the only place in Japan open to foreigners for over 200 years), and the boat trip is surprisingly attractive, past a hypermodern cruise ship terminal and countless inlets filled with shipyards, all cradled between mountains.

FORBES: The Mystery Island From 'Skyfall' And How You Can Go There

Once the seals are fitted with their sensors, they are taken out to open water on their own personal speed boat, the Steller Shuttle.

BBC: Sea lion test to probe declines

No ships spotted the rubber dinghy and they drifted alone in an open boat.

CNN: Miraculous survivors: Why they live while others die

Growing up in South Florida, it had become an annual ritual to travel by small boat across nearly 100 miles of open ocean to be in the Abacos at the beginning of August, when the Bahamas opens a "sport season" during which visitors are allowed to hunt the spiny lobster that live in and under the coral reefs and outcroppings in its shallow waters.

BBC: Lobster diving in the Abacos

Residents are being invited to comment on a project to open up a mile-long section of canal on the Surrey and Sussex border for boat trips.

BBC: Wey and Arun Canal boat trip plans on display

His boat was found floating, empty, with his log-book open charting the depths of his despair.

ECONOMIST: The hubris of racers today

During that October practice run, the Oracle team's upturned boat ended up drifting from the San Francisco Bay under the Golden Gate Bridge and four miles into the open Pacific Ocean before the team could get it under control.

WSJ: Before America's Cup Capsize, Concerns About Safety