“A yacht isn’t a flex anymore,” said a St. Barts boating bon vivant scanning what he called a “superyacht parking lot” off the Caribbean enclave this week. “It’s how many support craft you have.”
Boats owned by Jeff Bezos, David Geffen, Eric Schmidt and many more billionaires have descended upon the starry island for New Year’s.
But making things even more crowded at sea are the increasingly elaborate “chase vessels” that house their own guests and crew, complete with luxe amenities like subs, choppers, toys and diving centers.
Our nautical source, called The Cap’n by some, pointed out that Bezos’ support boat has its own helipad.
The Amazon tycoon’s main ship is the $500 million mega yacht, Koru — which has a wooden sculpture supposedly of Sánchez on the prow. But his chase boat is the 246-foot, allegedly $75 million Abeona, which can hold up to 45 crew and guests.
Other boats parked off the island include Geffen’s $400 million Rising Sun, Schmidt’s Whisper, Michael Jordan’s yacht M’Brace, Walmart heiress Nancy Walton’s $300 million boat Kaos, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’ $225 million Bravo Eugenia and Whatsapp founder Jan Koum’s new toy, Moonrise — the $330 million vessel he purchased this year that has its own hair salon, gym and movie theater.
Walton’s support vessel to Kaos is called, cutely for a secondary 220-foot boat, Kalm. The ship was reportedly previously owned by Meta billionaire Mark Zuckerberg and has its own submarine and helicopter.
Koum’s matching chase ship is worth a reported $20 million and called “Power Play.”
The St. David, which appeared on the last season of Bravo’s “Below Deck,” is also on the scene.
More boats spotted off St. Barts are owned by CAA co-founder Mike Ovitz, retail tycoon Sir Philip Green, billionaire entrepreneur Gary Kelch, gaming billionaire Dmitri Bukhman, Google co-founder billionaire Sergey Brin, former Washington Commanders owner Daniel Snyder, vacuum tycoon James Dyson and too many more to list.
A map of boats in the area shows how tight a squeeze it is. And the yachts have also brought paparazzi to the island who’ve been spotted with long lenses camped out in the hills overlooking exclusive Shell Beach.
The boats have also meant a major influx of security on the island. (One amateur fotog even got some dirty looks from Bezos’ security boat while snapping shots of the water.)
Meanwhile on land, we hear that stars seen on the island include Patrick Dempsey, David Letterman, Heidi Klum and Bethenny Frankel.
Bezos and Lauren Sánchez spent Christmas in Aspen, Colo., before decamping to the Caribbean.
The pair were spotted partying at celebrity hotspot Nikki Beach this week, with Sanchez jumping on a banquet to dance as bottle service was brought out.
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