The 126-meter motor yacht Octopus stirred up serious waves when it was commissioned by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2003. One of the biggest yachts in the world, this gigantic vessel will now be available for charter to Antarctica in late 2022.
Built by a renowned German shipyard, Lürssen, to a design by Espen Øino, Octopus was kept incredibly private with few images of her interior ever released to the public. She sports an ice-class 1A steel hull, allowing her to safely traverse the iceberg-filled seas surrounding the southern-most continent. “She’s the perfect yacht to undertake such a voyage,” says Jacqui Lockhart, Head of Charter Marketing Europe for Camper & Nicholsons, who traveled to Antarctica herself in 2018. Octopus is well-equipped with a gym, pool, spa, and a cinema. The superyacht also boasts an underwater lounge and a forward-facing indoor observation deck. It also features a submarine and two helipads along with an array of water toys for day trips and exploration.
After the sale in 2021, Octopus joined the Camper & Nicholsons – one of the oldest yachting companies in the world, founded in 1782 as a shipyard in Gosport, England. This is the first time Octopus has been available for charter, making the occasion with a two-year round-the-world tour, which began in January this year. The megayacht spends the first half of the year visiting costa Rica, Panama, and South America before starting her journey to the southmost continent in early December 2022. The UK-based yachting company’s seven-day Antarctica tour will leave the guests witness to some of the most extraordinary natural wonders.
Octopus’ tour of Antarctica is truly the trip of a lifetime. Her voyage is among the first superyacht expeditions to the region and guests will do so aboard one of the world’s largest superyachts available for charter. This opportunity, often only afforded to researchers and documentary-makers, will bring intrepid explorers to face to face with some of the most breath-taking landscapes and wildlife, opening up the least-explored continent on earth for ski touring, ice exploring, polar plunges, and even contributing to wildlife conservation with alongside locally-based scientists.
