It's called "Serene." At a staggering 436-feet,
with five levels, several swimming pools, two helicopter pads and soaring
chrome exhaust pipes at the top, it outshines every other yacht in the Cabo marina. (Its best amenities are apparently inside: there is an "underwater viewing room,"
an indoor climbing wall, children's playroom and cabins for 24 guests and 52
crew, according to the yacht builder.) In fact - it is actually too large to fit into the marina and was anchored off the RIU hotels.
The owner of Serene is Yuri Scheffler, the vodka-and-spirits
magnate behind the Stolichnaya brand. And with the turmoil in Ukraine and
Russia, many have also speculated that Serene's sudden presence first in the
USA (recently it was docked in New York City) and now in Los Cabos is a sign of worried oligarchs—the Putin-connected, Russian super rich who now face a
financial backlash from the West for Russia's actions in the Crimea and
Ukraine.
However that speculation is pretty far from the mark: Scheffler, who now lives in London, England, has publicly battled President Vladimir Putin for years as the Russian
government tried to seize his company and "renationalize" its assets.
The government even issued a warrant for Scheffler's arrest in 2003 after he
refused to hand over the company.
So when asked about his views on Ukraine recently by CNBC
News, Scheffler was highly critical of Russia's government.
"If Russia were a democratic country as the USA, with a
proper legal system, and Crimea had asked it for help to defend itself from a
hostile neighbor, then this would be OK," he wrote in reply to a written
request. "In the current situation, this is terrible when a country
captures a neighbor's territory. I feel sorry for Crimean people ... there are
no laws in Russia. There is only one law in Russia, and it's called 'Putin.'
Only one justice, called 'Putin'.''
Politics aside though, a mega yacht like this around Los
Cabos creates a stir and gives everyone a glimpse of how the mega rich live.
More on super yachts in Cabo