In Central America Memories Await

- Kim Kavin

Ofer Ketter never imagined that yachts might become such a big part of his life, or his adopted country’s tourism industry. The native of Israel loves Costa Rica — he’s made it his home for 15 years — and for him, the draw has always been the scenery, both underwater and above. He didn’t even know what a private yacht was until the 1990s, when he was a scuba instructor for dive boats off Cocos Island, some 330 nautical miles offshore. A private yacht would show up once in a while, and maybe another the next year, with owners who needed a dive guide.

The owner of his scuba company, the Undersea Hunter Group, looked at the yachts and saw the future: “They made a company that managed private submersible dives at Cocos Island,” Ofer says. “You could go down to 1,500 feet. It was a whole different planet. It wasn’t just going underwater. It was going where no one has been before. Way before this became something to see at the Monaco Yacht Show, we were the first to operate these deep private subs as a commercial tourism operation.”

Fast-forward to 2010, when the sub company SEAmagine sold one to the owner of the 279-foot (85.2-meter) Lürssen Pacific. SEAmagine contracted Ofer to run the tour operation as the yacht’s liveaboard submarine pilot.

“Then,” as Ofer tells it, “something really interesting happened.”

Ofer, Pacific’s captain and the owner cruised around the world. The owner wanted itineraries that nobody had ever done, incorporating not only the yacht’s sub, but also its helicopter and every other imaginable toy.