Rays of light

It is often quipped that we know more about space than we do about our own oceans, and for anyone who has spent any time at sea exploring the wonders and mysteries of our blue planet – or even watched nature documentaries of eerie alien-like lifeforms in the depths – it seems an entirely plausible thought. It’s one of the joys of superyachts that they offer the opportunity to get just a little bit closer to those mysteries, and at the same time vastly increase our understanding and emotional connection to something that is vital for the future of our little blue dot.

Take the great sweep of Indonesia, for example, which spans more than three thousand miles east to west encompassing 17,000 islands large and small. It’s hard to grasp not only the scale but also the extraordinary number of places offering an extraordinary array of experiences – from dives on pristine coral to getting up close with Komodo dragons – many of which are only accessible by boat or superyacht. It is in areas like this that nature’s true wonder is found, particularly when we venture below the surface.

The pristine coral reefs of the Raja Ampat archipelago – a day’s cruise from Sorong in West Papua – are some of the most bio-diverse marine environments on Earth, which makes them one of the most breathtaking experiences on Earth. Nothing quite prepares you for the colour, the clarity, the teeming life and the total isolation of the area, and with no towns, no resorts, no hotels and no facilities for hundreds of miles, exploring on a self-contained superyacht is one of the few ways to delve into the magic. My very first experience with scuba gear was a dive to 22 metres and swim along a coral wall in the heart of Raja Ampat, made possible thanks to the 50-metre yacht that had taken us there and the extensive equipment it carried on board.

It’s not just about reefs, of course. There are also the remote corners where shallow underground rifts – shallow enough to scoot along in the currents with snorkel gear – are the highways for manta rays. As I can attest, it’s almost impossible to describe the feeling of swimming with these vast, gentle, balletic giants in their own habitat in the wilds of the tropics, but it’s something that the more adventurous superyacht owners and charterers – determined to move beyond the bustle and clamour of the Mediterranean coasts – know only too well.

As master dive guide Todd Thimios explained to me recently, diving with sharks, rays and whales goes beyond the physical – it’s an emotional experience, and it has a lasting impact. “When I put a guest on to an experience like that, it flicks a switch very quickly,” he says. “They get a new high that they haven’t experienced before and I know it makes an impact because I’m immediately asked to write them an itinerary for the next year. They were doing Monaco and so forth and then all of a sudden it’s all about ‘where do we go next?’. And that happens all the time – one very profound experience, and the whole itinerary changes.”

There’s an important side to this, too – because this knowledge and these encounters are all part of the fundamental essence of being on the ocean, and that means that those with access to superyachts are also acutely aware of the fragility of these environments and are often keenly involved in their preservation. It’s not just about preserving the oceanic wildlife and trying to combat rising pollution and plastics either, it’s also about the basic health of our planet – phytoplankton, algae and bacteria in the oceans are the Earth’s largest producer of oxygen, and they capture more carbon per year than all forests and grasslands combined.

“It’s good to see the reaction of guests with conservation, because you put them on to these experiences, and you might be having drinks at night on the deck with the guests and the horizons will be lit up with lights,” offers Thimios. “They ask what the lights are and when you explain that it’s commercial fishing you see them realise that they’ve had an amazing experience and now they’re seeing the reality of what’s going on behind the scenes.”

It is something that the superyacht industry is starting to take more and more seriously, evidenced both in the endeavours of owners and of the yachts themselves, and also in moves by organisations such as Water Revolution Foundation (WRF). Indeed, WRF has moved not only to drive the industry toward a more sustainable future, but has also chosen to simultaneously make a positive impact through support for Important Marine Mammal Areas – protected areas that will help whales and marine mammal species thrive and which will in turn help fight climate change.

“It’s time we made the oceans a key stakeholder of our industry,” says Robert van Tol, WRF’s Executive Director. “We need to shift from viewing ocean conservation as philanthropy to understanding that it is an investment. And if the water is in bad shape, there’s no fun in yachting – yachts use the oceans as their back gardens, and we have a special connection to the oceans. As an organisation we focus on reducing the environmental impact, but ocean conservation is actually our opportunity to have a positive impact.”

It’s that positive impact that is being rolled out across the superyacht industry, from yachts taking part in science projects and owners banning single-use plastics on board, to broader personal and superyacht industry initiatives that recognise the benefits the oceans confer not just for those who enjoy them up close, but for the future of the planet itself.