Aqua Bin
THE OWNER of the 198-foot Brooke Marine Aqua Blu bought her in October 2018 and turned her 968-square-foot master suite into three staterooms. That gave the naval-vessel-turned-luxury yacht 15 staterooms to accommodate 30 guests, in addition to quarters for 25 crew. The owner also hired Dutch designer Cor D. Rover to refurbish the interior decor in time for this winter's charter season. SISTERSHIPS
Aqua Blu is part of the Aqua Expeditions fleet, which started with the river cruisers Aqua Amazon and Aqua Mekong. The company specializes in bringing high-end experiences to remote destinations. Aqua Blu is the first superyacht to join the fleet and base year-round for charter in remote parts of Indonesia.
MINOTTI ON BOARD
The owner of Aqua Blu says designer Cor D. Rover is using “a lot of Minotti” furnishings in the makeover of the yacht’s interior. The decor will be neutral with white accents, to emphasize the natural light already coming in through the vessel’s windows.
ALFRED WALLACE
Alfred Russel Wallace was a British explorer who conceived the theory of evolution separately from Charles Darwin while in the Amazon and Indonesia. The owner of Aqua Blu brought a book by Wallace to custom dish-makers in Bali, who created hand-painted plates and more for the yacht, based on Wallace’s original sketches.
LOCAL PRINTS
While visiting Manhattan this past summer, the owner of Aqua Blu explored a rare-book store. He found and purchased original prints of the Spice Islands—one of Aqua Blu’s charter destinations—and bought them to hang in each of the guest staterooms.
FAIR SHARES
In redesigning the interior of Aqua Blu ahead of this winter’s charter season, the owner created not one but three staterooms that he says qualify as masters. His thinking is that because the yacht can accommodate 30 guests, three families may want to charter together and split the weekly base rate. With the three masters, each family’s patriarch and matriarch can feel equally comfortable on board.