Octopus

Octopus was conceived as a platform for exploration and scientific research, and twenty years after launch that is still what sets her apart from other yachts of her size. Lürssen built a dock into her hull that houses the 20-metre main tender and two submarines, and Espen Øino drew the blue-hulled exterior. With a range of roughly 12,500 nautical miles she can stay in remote waters for months instead of shuttling between fuel stops.

Underwater is where she earns her rate. The submarine, Pagoo, takes eight guests and two crew and can remain submerged for as long as eight hours; a remotely operated vehicle goes deeper still; and a full dive centre with its own hyperbaric chamber supports scuba programmes far from any shore-based help. Back on board, a lounge low in the hull has a glass floor for watching the reef without getting wet.

The nine-month refit in Bremerhaven, finished in 2024, covered her twenty-year survey, a complete repaint and new audio-visual and IT systems, so the platform is up to date even if the design is not new. The aviation side is unusually complete: two helipads, a hangar and a garage big enough for an SUV make excursions by air or by road straightforward.

Life aboard is less formal than her size suggests. A heated pool on the bridge deck sits next to a pizza oven and a barbecue, there is a basketball hoop on the aft helideck, a 15-seat cinema and a music studio fitted out by JQB Design, and a spa with hammam and sauna. The owner's deck keeps its own bar, Jacuzzi and outdoor dining for whoever takes the main suite.

Her current programme matters more than any single feature. She is no longer a Mediterranean yacht: in the northern summer she works the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia, and in the northern winter she heads for South America and Antarctica. That makes her a fit for a family or a small group of friends who want a true expedition, diving remote atolls, flying over ice fields or taking a submarine below the surface, and who are willing to travel to meet her. If the plan is a week between Saint-Tropez and Mykonos, look elsewhere; and if nobody aboard cares about diving or wildlife, much of what you would be paying for would sit unused.