TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin Megayacht interdiction action on 03-03

Coming back from our station as Start A at the Heineken Regatta yesterday, we noticed a megayacht in the distance that was not broadcasting an AIS signal, which we found odd. Then we noticed the Dutch coast guard cutter circling around it, and then that the Customs "drug plane" was buzzing about as well. Soon thereafter it looked like it was being escorted away from the island. I got out my long telephoto lens and just now zoomed into the original and found that the places where the vessel name is usually found were blanked out.

I'm assuming that, given the embargoes and restrictions on Russians, this might have been a possible cause.

I haven't found anything in the news, either. That's surprising, considering the good press for the Customs department. See the attached picture for a picture of the action

Lots of boats/ships don't have their AIS on. Not unusual at all.

For those of us not familiar with the boating terminology, what is the AIS?

yacht Symphony owned by Bernard Arnault CEO and chairman of Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH)
but curious as to what was going on,,,

psod--if the vessel wasn't displaying a name or AIS, how do you know that's who it is?

its been in and out of Simpson bay all season ,, was there when we were there in December,, I'm a yacht spotter,,,
yes I'm curious why the AIS is off on that one,,,

psod--ok

@psod - that silhouette certainly matches. Looking at Marinetraffic, it would seem that they have never broadcast AIS, as there are no past tracks for their MMSI! Of course, being owned by the richest man in the world might help put it into a position to bend some MCA/reporting rules. I really wonder what happened, they definitely were headed towards Simpson Bay and then redirected & escorted by the Dutch Coast Guard. But then I entered the lagoon and since neither ship had AIS turned on, we couldn't see where they ended up. The cutter, Poema, was outside of Simpson Bay this morning at 08:00.

As of 5 days ago, Elon Musk reclaimed the title as the richest man in the world. Arnault might have to put the yacht up for sale. Maybe it's in foreclosure and that is why the Coast Guard interdicted the vessel.