Superyacht Octopus Attempting Northwest Passage

September 6, 2010: Megayachts are known to cruise the Bahamas, even Bermuda. But Baffin Island?

If you’ve never heard of the island, you’re probably not alone. Located in the Arctic Ocean in northern Canada, it’s pretty remote, not exactly on everyone’s must-cruise list. Be that as it may, Octopus was anchored there for a handful of days nearly two weeks ago. Why? The 414-foot Lürssen is preparing to transit the Northwest Passage.

The Northwest Passage is at once famous and infamous. Explorers dating as far back as the late 1400s had hoped to find a maritime route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in the northern region of the world. The main goal was to find a shorter method of reaching the Orient. Roald Amundsen, a Norwegian who explored both the North and South Poles, became the first to cross it in the early 1900s. The waterway is notorious, however, because of the challenging-at-best conditions of its location: 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and about 1,200 miles from the North Pole. Even though the ice pack has receded in recent years, allowing more vessels to traverse it, the Northwest Passage is comprised of tricky channels and shoals.

'Paul Allen's OCTOPUS readies for Northwest Passage' - photo credit ©Fragment.fi

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Photo used with permission from Diane Byrne