September 4, 2010
CBS News has reported that the 416-foot (126m) M/YOctopus has set off to cross the Northwest Passage.
A resident from Pond Inlet, Nunavut, contacted the news agency and shared a photograph showing Octopusanchored offshore, where it stayed for five days before “slipping away” on Aug. 30, CBS reported.
Officials with the Canadian Coast Guard confirmed to CBS that Octopus filed plans to attempt the Northwest Passage, a route through the Arctic Ocean along the northern coast of North America that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Pond Inlet is on the Atlantic side, near Greenland (72 degrees 47' 59" North, 77 degrees 0' 0" West).
Private yachts are rare in the area, which sees cruise ships and cargo ships. Even so, the passage is challenging. CBS reported that in late August, two ships ran aground in the region.
Much press has been given in the past year to the building of M/Y Big Fish, an expedition-style private yacht built by Aquos Yachts of New Zealand specifically to cross the Northeast Passage, the route between the Atlantic and Pacific along the Russian Arctic Coast. Several company press releases claim that Big Fish would be the first private yacht to make the trip. That portion of the yacht’s polar circumnavigation is expected in September 2011.
To read CBS News’ story, click here.
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