An $80 million yacht cruised into Hilo Bay on Thursday morning, spurring at least a few East Hawaii residents to do a double take.
An $80 million yacht cruised into Hilo Bay on Thursday morning, spurring at least a few East Hawaii residents to do a double take.
“It was like a tiger shark sticking out,” said 59-year-old Hilo resident Steve Miller, who was lounging at the Bayfront early that morning. “I first noticed looking out at the breakwater, and the waves were really high. And I looked and thought, ‘Oh, a yacht.’ I didn’t know if it was an undersea experiment or something.”
The ship is Vive la Vie, a 195-foot private luxury vessel that anchored in Hilo around 8:30 a.m. Thursday after stopping most recently in Honolulu, according to online tracking information.
It’s unknown who exactly was aboard, but the vessel is reportedly owned by Willy Michel, a Swiss entrepreneur and founder of the company Ypsomed. The yacht was constructed in 2008 by a German shipbuilding company called Lurssen and last valued at $80 million.
Vive la Vie can accommodate more than two dozen guests and crew members and has multiple cabins, including a master suite and VIP stateroom, according to the website yachtcharterfleet.com. It also features a gym, an on-deck Jacuzzi, air-conditioning and “at anchor stabilizers,” which create a more enjoyable cruise when the yacht is stationary — particularly during rough waters, the website says.
The yacht was featured in a 2009 Super Yacht Times article that can be found at tinyurl.com/HiloSuperYacht.