For the past week, diners at Huggo’s and On the Rocks have been enjoying great views of one of the world’s most luxurious super yachts – the Va Va II – moored in Kailua-Kona Bay.
Launched March 2012, the Va Va II is the largest private motor yacht ever built in the UK at a cost of more than $165 million and length of 314 feet. But it’s not just about size! This mega-yacht is also ultra tweaked out – it has six decks, a fold-down beach club, swimming pool, helipad complete with helicopter and four boats of variable sizes (for recreation and also transferring passengers from boat to shore and back again!).
Our sources tell us, the yacht is owned by Italian-Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli and billionaire wife Kirsty Bertarelli, business woman, songwriter, former Miss UK and now the wealthiest British woman. Meanwhile, Ernesto is the wealthiest man in Switzerland and his net worth is $12 billion, ranking him at number 88 among the world’s richest.
The Bertarellis do not lavish all their money on extravagant yachts – far from it. The Bertarelli Foundation funds philanthropic projects worldwide, focusing primarily on marine and wildlife preservation projects. We say kudos to them for supporting these causes!
The couple resides in Switzerland and when not cruising the world themselves on Va Va II, they charter her out for hundreds of thousands of dollars per week.
We’re saving our pennies, but for now we’ll just enjoy the dreamy views of Va Va II in port in our island paradise! All of us here at Huggo’s extend a warm aloha to Va Va II’s crew and passengers, and wish them calm seas and safe voyages.
One Comment
I was in Kona 2-wks ago & usually eat breakfast/dinner at Bongo Ben’s & saw this magnificent yacht. Me & a friend joked about how our ride was waiting for us. I’ve never in my life seen such a large yacht. We took a whale watching cruise in Kona which detoured right around this magnificent beauty up close 🙂