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Superyacht Arcadia Completes Voyage of Northwest Passage
Launched by Royal Huisman in 2006, the 36m explorer yacht Arcadia has now successfully completed her east-west transit of the Northwest Passage – making this superyacht the 159th vessel to complete the intrepid journey since the original record was set 108 years ago.
This treacherous journey requires a sturdy vessel and an even studier crew, but what makes Arcadia’s journey so significant is that this is no steel-bound ice breaker, but an elegant luxury yacht.
She was designed and built with the vision of her owner to become a globe-trotting gentleman’s yacht with the ability to go anywhere in comfort and style. Her Tony Castro design certainly alludes to high latitudes and explorer tendencies – a visual heritage that Arcadia has evidently lived up to in real life.
Arcadia departed on her voyage from Christianshab, Greenland, on 2nd of September and crossed the Baffin Sea to Pond Inlet where she commenced her transit on the 5th of September.
Under the command of Captain James Pizzaruso, Arcadia’s owner and guests experienced a stunning journey that included numerous polar bear sightings, weather which both challenged and awed those on board and some exhilarating shore-side hiking.
Over the month long journey, Arcadia covered a total of 3,278 nautical miles, of which 1,587 were completed between Ilulsisat and Cambridge Bay, and a further 1,691 between Cambridge Bay and Nome, Alaska. The route from Pond Inlet took in Bylot Island, Devon Island, Prince Leopold Island, Fort Ross (Somerset Island), through Bellot Strait to Jenny Lind Island, Cambridge Bay (Victoria Island) and on to Nome Island via Banks Island, Beaufort Sea, Chukchi Sea and Bering Sea.
Before Arcadia departed for her adventurous high latitude cruise, she made preparations at the Royal Huisman yard by taking advantage of the recent Huisfit programme for general and mechanical service work, upgrades to her technical systems and minor cosmetic repairs for a truly reliable, luxurious and all-together groundbreaking journey.