If you’ve driven or strolled down Bluff Drive recently, you’ve no doubt noticed the mega yacht docked at the Isle of Hope Marina. The privately owned, 140-foot motor yacht Capricorn can accommodate 12 guests in six luxury cabins and features a helipad, a cinema, Jacuzzis in the master cabin and upper deck, a captain and a crew of seven, including a chef.
If the picture looks familiar, maybe you also saw her docked on River Street during Savannah’s recent Fashion Week, where owner Ben Carter hosted a reception for the event’s sponsors.
“This is one of my two getaways,” Carter said, adding that the other is his farm in Madison.
“I used to have a 90-foot sailboat that my family and I took around the world,” he said. “It took about three years to complete.
“Next year, we’re going to do the same thing on the new boat.”
In a few days, the Capricorn will move to Thunderbolt Marine for maintenance work, then it’s up to New York and on to Newport, R.I., for the Newport Charter Yacht Show at the end of June.
“We do charter her occasionally when I’m not on board,” he said. “I think we did about a half-dozen charters last year.
“The Newport show is where brokers from all over the world get a chance to go aboard and tour the yacht, meet the captain and crew and familiarize themselves with the yacht so they can better match up clients,” said Savannahian Georgia Byrd, a charter broker with Nicholson Yachts Worldwide.
“Capricorn will be available some in the New England area through the end of the summer,” Byrd said. “She’s a beautiful yacht with all the amenities.”
And she can be yours for the low-season rate of $135,000 per week plus expenses, which include food and beverages, docking fees and fuel.
Drug bust at ports
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s field operations team at the Port of Savannah recently seized some 346 pounds of cocaine from a shipping container at the Garden City Terminal.
Officers discovered 133 packages that contained a white powdery substance during inspections of shipping containers in mid-April. Field-tested samples proved positive for the properties of cocaine.
The estimated street value of the haul is more than $9 million.
“Most successful narcotics enforcement operations are the direct result of solid teamwork. This significant cocaine seizure is a great testament to the dedication, perseverance and resolve of our employees to keep these dangerous and deadly narcotics off of our communities’ streets,” said Lisa Beth M. Brown, Savannah Port Director for Customs and Border Patrol.
In November, Customs seized 6,400 pounds of a leafy substance that was identified as khat, a Schedule 1 narcotic. Listed on the ship’s manifest as tea, the khat’s estimated street value was about $1.7 million. Several people connected with the shipment were arrested.
The Savannah bust was the largest single khat seizure ever in the United States.
Both the cocaine and the khat seizures remain active investigations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations agents in Savannah.
Chief CBP Officer Melissa Mataxas declined to name the ship that brought in the cocaine, citing the ongoing investigation.
CBP routinely conducts random inspections operations on passengers and on sea and air cargo and searches for narcotics, currency, weapons and other prohibited or illicit products.
Young artists recognized
For six years now, the Port of Savannah and Isle of Hope Elementary have conducted a student art contest in cooperation with the Port of Shimizu, Japan.
Locally, Isle of Hope students enter themed art projects each year. The winners, who are determined by a panel of GPA employees, each receive a certificate and a decorative Japanese enameled porcelain tile provided by the Port of Shimizu.
A similar contest is held each year in Shimizu, where the winners receive certificates and kaleidoscopes from the Port of Savannah.
This year’s local winners were:
• Pre-K: Gianna Ruiz
• Second/Third Grade: Tashiyah David
• Fourth /Fifth Grade: Emily Nguyen
• Sixth Grade: Javon Harrison
• Seventh Grade: Isabelle Smith
• Eighth Grade: Aminata Luke
The in-school coordinator is art teacher Magen Peigelbeck.
Senior business writer Mary Carr Mayle covers the ports for Savannah Morning News and Savannahnow. Reach her at 912-652-0324 or mary.mayle@savannahnow.com.
SHIPPING SCHEDULE
Following are the ships expected to call on Georgia Ports Authority’s Garden City and Ocean terminals this week. Schedules are supplied by GPA and are subject to change.
TERMINAL VESSEL ETA
GCT DUESSELDORF EXPRESS Today
GCT ZIM CONSTANZA Today
GCT AKRITAS Today
GCT MAERSK DHAHRAN Today
GCT ZIM PIRAEUS Today
GCT NYK RIGEL Today
GCT JO LOTUS Today
GCT MSC VANESSA Today
GCT OOCL SOUTHAMPTON Today
GCT WARNOW ORCA Today
OT GRANDE SIERRA LEONE Today
GCT NYK CONSTELLATION Saturday
GCT CMA CGM FLORIDA Saturday
GCT ALSIA SWAN Saturday
GCT HANJIN NORFOLK Saturday
GCT CMA CGM EIFFEL Saturday
OT CI YUN SHAN Saturday
GCT BERLIN EXPRESS Sunday
GCT MSC JUDITH Sunday
GCT CSAV LINGUE Sunday
GCT CSCL VANCOUVER Sunday
OT STAR LINDESNES Sunday
OT TIGER Sunday
OT ATLANTIC IMPALA Sunday
GCT FOWAIRET Monday
GCT NYK JOANNA Monday
GCT MSC DYMPHNA Monday
GCT ARNOLD MAERSK Monday
GCT VIRGINIA Monday
GCT JENNIFER RICKMERS Monday
GCT PHILADELPHIA EXPRESS Monday
GCT CHARLES DICKENS Monday
GCT HYUNDAI DYNASTY Monday
OT IOANNIS THEO Monday
OT ANJELIERSGRACHT Monday
OT WARNOW MERKUR Monday
GCT MSC MELISSA Tuesday
GCT EVER DIAMOND Tuesday
GCT MOL ENCORE Tuesday
GCT HANJIN MUNDRA Tuesday
GCT ZIM MONACO Wednesday
GCT MUSTAFA DAYI Wednesday
GCT NEW YORK TRADER Wednesday
GCT HS BACH Wednesday
GCT MOL PARTNER Wednesday
OT TULANE Wednesday
OT ASIAN DYNASTY Wednesday
GCT MERKUR BAY Thursday
GCT SAFMARINE BANDAMA Thursday
GCT MAERSK DENVER Thursday
GCT CSAV LARAQUETE Thursday
GCT BREMEN BRIDGE Thursday
GCT ZIM HAIFA Thursday
GCT YM ETERNITY Thursday
GCT MAERSK CAROLINA Thursday
GCT NYK DENEB Thursday
GCT MSC JOANNA Thursday
OT ATLANTIC PENDANT Thursday