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Camper and Nicholsons welcomes a brand new Amazon expedition vessel to its fleet, the 62.40m Aqua Nera. The 20-cabin vessel Aqua Nera was custom-made to cruise the Amazon. With low impact smokeless engines and a shallow draft of just 1.5m, she causes minimal disturbance and wake. Architectural agency Noor, who designed the Raffles Hotel in Angkor Wat and Furaveri in the Maldives, styled all 20 capacious suites with floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook a revolving Amazonian panorama. Hardwood decks the public spaces, which include an open-air cinema, observation deck, plunge pool, boxing gym, billiard room with customised black table, two spa treatment rooms, infirmary and a tropical chic lounge. The fine dining salon offers cuisine from consulting chef Pedro Miguel Schiaffino, whose Malabar restaurant in Lima ranks among San Pellegrino's World’s Best Restaurants. River fish ceviche and coca leaf cookies grace his gourmet 'rainforest to table' menu.Aqua Nera is the most luxurious river vessel on the Amazon, the most biodiverse area on earth. Peru’s Pacaya Samiria National Reserve, where Aqua Nera offers exciting itineraries, is home to jaguars, pink river dolphins and 449 species of bird including white-throated toucans and capped herons. Her expert naturalist guides lead small groups on flooded forest encounters using four fast explorer skiffs. Other once-in-a-lifetime experiences include kayaking to a secret freshwater ‘swimming pool’ and mountain biking through an Amazon river town. The arrival of Aqua Nera is a story in itself. In July 2020 the 800 ton vessel departed her shipyard in Ho Chi Minh City for a 35-day transport through the Indian and Atlantic Oceans to the mouth of the Amazon. Here her owner, Francesco Galli Zugaro, took charge of the vessel during her 2,000km upstream voyage through Brazil to Peru.“Francesco’s latest launch proves that he can place luxury vessels in the world’s hottest destinations, just as he did with Aqua Mekong in Cambodia and Vietnam in 2014 and Aqua Blu in Raja Ampat and the Spice Islands in 2019. They can all be chartered using Camper and Nicholsons brokers alongside a dozen other explorer yachts from the Arctic to the Indian Ocean,” says Sacha Williams, Camper and Nicholsons’ Charter Marketing Director.Credits: Camper and Nicholsons

Antalya-based Alia Yachts has launched its new 55m superyacht Al Waab II. Al Waab II remains below the 500GT threshold by emphasising the hull form and exterior areas, including a sprawling beach club. With design and engineering by Vripack and Dubai-based SF Yachts serving as the owner’s representative during the build, the yacht can sleep up to 12 guests in six staterooms and includes a lavish split-level master suite on the upper deck. “We’re very proud of Al Waab II. We believe it is the longest steel and aluminium yacht below 500GT in the world, setting a new standard in external and internal volumes offered to a client in this category,” says Alia President, Gökhan Çelik. “Yachts are getting longer and wider, but owners still want to stay below the 500GT mark. We’ve seen increasing interest in this kind of yacht and so to be one of the first with such an impressive project is an important milestone for Alia.”“For many owners, the concept of enjoying a ‘home at sea’ is what drives their passion for yachting,” says Bart Bouwhuis, Co-creative Director at Vripack. “The owner of Al Waab II had the explicit desire to use his boat as a family apartment. That desire became the founding principle of the entire design. The result is the very essence of living on the water.”Once outfitting is complete, Al Waab II will undergo sea trials before delivery to her owner. The official World debut will take place late September 2021.Alia Yachts was founded in 2008 by Gokhan Çelik and Omer Koray. Located in the port of Antalya on the beautiful Turkish Riviera, Alia Yachts shipyard currently occupies approximately 8,000 m2, including three construction halls with their suites of specialist workshops and a dedicated interiors facility. With an additional 16,000 square meters under development for 2019, Alia Yachts will rank among the top facilities in the region.Credits: Alia Yachts

Antonini Navi makes its debut at the French boat show, held next September 7 to 12. The large stand will welcome visitors who want to learn more about the now famous Utility Platform UP40 project, showcasing scale models of the Crossover, Island and Explore versions born from the creativity of multiple-award winning architect and designer Fulvio De Simoni, based on the approximately 40-meter modular steel platform now under construction at the company’s La Spezia shipyard.OPV 56UP40 Explorer On show at the stand there will also be a scale model of the brand’s latest model, the new Offshore Patrol Vessel (O.P.V.), a 56m yacht under 500 GT. O.P.V. 56, also designed by Fulvio De Simoni, is a totally aluminium yacht with an unequivocally military style featuring an imposing high bow and clean, stripped down lines that give the vessel a unique personality.UP40 IslandAntonini Navi, the maxi-yacht builder established in 2019 by the storied Gruppo Antonini Spa and managed directly by the same family in close partnership with partner and commercial director Aldo Manna.Credits: Antonini Navi

Extra Yachts, a brand of ISA Yachts, has launched the new X96 Triplex. Francesco Guida penned the exterior lines while Hot Lab studio designed the interior. Extra X96 Triplex can accommodate ten people in five cabins of which the full-beam owner cabin on the main deck, and the other four very spacious guest cabins (two VIP cabins with central bed and two cabins with single beds) below deck.X96 Triplex is a comfortable, spacious, elegant boat, designed with no boundaries for fashion and technical solutions, ultimately a mature and well-built boat.The X96 Triplex semi-displacement propulsion system can rely on three powerful Volvo Penta IPS engines of 1000 horsepower each capable of pushing it up to a maximum speed of 16.5 knots and a cruising speed of 12 knots.The Extra Yachts range now offers three distinctive lines: Fast, Loft and Triplex. The world premiere of Extra X96 Triplex will take place at the Cannes Yachting Festival.Palumbo Superyachts began to take root in 2008, when the Columbus Yachts brand was established, and in 2011 launched its first 54 metre superyacht, emblematically christened “Prima” (“the First”). Currently, Palumbo Superyachts comprises a representative office in Monaco and a logistics network of five shipyards in the Mediterranean (Ancona, Malta, Marseille, Naples, and Savona), and also operates the following brands: ISA Yachts, Columbus Yachts, Mondomarine and Palumbo SY Refit.Credits: Extra Yachts

Dutch shipbuilder Feadship has shared photos of the 52m Gallant Lady, which has returned to the yard for refitting.“After she passed a meadow with cows, characteristic Dutch houses, various bridge structures and aqueducts, we welcomed the 52.46m Gallant Lady back to our shipyard for a refit,” according to the shipyard's Facebook page. Feadship was formed as a group in 1949 as a marketing partnership between six Dutch shipyards, de Vries Lentch, Van de Stadt, Witsen & Vis, Akerboom, De Vries Scheepsbouw and Van Lent Shipyard, and De Voogt Naval Architects. Feadship is well-known as one of Netherlands’ most elite yacht builders and delivers superyachts from 50–100+ meters in length.Credits: Feadship