A Royal Navy survey ship turned expedition yacht
The hull of the Aqua Blu was launched on 7 September 1967 at the
Brooke Marine yard in England. She entered service the following year
as HMS Beagle, a Bulldog-class survey vessel, with forty-five sailors
aboard. Her work was to measure the sea floor, from the Indian Ocean to
the West Indies and from Scotland to South Africa. The Royal Navy
modernised her in 1990 and paid her off on 7 February 2002.
Sold the following month to a company in Poole, she became the yacht
MY Titan. Aqua Expeditions took her on and in 2019 handed her to the
Dutch naval architect Cor D. Rover, who turned her into a sixty-metre
expedition ship for thirty guests. A hull drawn to stay at sea for
weeks of survey work now explores the Coral Triangle, and you feel it
in the way she behaves.
Fifteen suites, thirty guests
The ship has fifteen suites in three categories. Each has a king bed
or twin beds, a private bathroom with a walk-in shower and rain head,
air conditioning, a safe and a coffee machine. Suites 301 and 302
interconnect, as do 401 and 402, which suits families and small
groups.
Aboard you will find a sky lounge with a bar, a library, a
television room, an indoor dining room, an alfresco table, a spa, a
workout area and a deck jacuzzi. Zero-speed stabilisers cut the roll
when the ship lies at anchor.
Where she sails
The Aqua Blu stays in eastern Indonesia all year. Her ground covers
Bali, Komodo, Flores, the Spice Islands and Raja Ampat, the heart of
the Coral Triangle, the part of the world holding the greatest number
of hard coral species. Days mix diving, walks on active volcanoes and
visits to villages and old trading posts.
Diving
The ship carries a dive team and the gear that goes with it, along
with kayaks and paddleboards. Raja Ampat and Komodo are dived in strong
currents, which calls for a current certification and recent entries in
your logbook. A diver who has been out of the water for a while would
do well to refresh before departure rather than aboard.
The table
The galley is led by chef Benjamin Cross, who built a repertoire of
more than a hundred and sixty recipes drawn from the history of the
Indonesian spice trade. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free and
kosher diets are handled on advance notice.
What costs extra
Water activities and equipment travel with the ship. Drinks deserve
a precise question at the time of booking: several travellers report
that some spirits are billed separately in the evening. Suite service
is unavailable. We obtain the exact list of inclusions from the line
for each departure, because it changes with the programme.
What we could not establish
Sources contradict each other on two points. The crew complement is
given as twenty-five in one place and thirty in another. The number of
decks varies between four and five depending on the document.
Accessibility goes unmentioned in every public source we found: nothing
says whether a lift or an adapted suite exists. On a 1967 naval hull, stairs are steep and sills
are pronounced. A traveller with reduced mobility should speak to us
before booking.
Who this ship suits
She suits the traveller who dives or wants to learn, who likes small
numbers and who accepts living to the rhythm of the sea and the tides.
She suits less well anyone looking for lively evenings, a choice of
restaurants, or the chance to walk into a town every day.
For comparison, see the
Aqua Mekong, the
Aqua Expeditions page, and
Ponant and
Silversea for expedition travel in
the same region.
