SY Meta IV
Mergui Archipelago

SY Meta IV is one of Ampersand's Top 10 Luxury Sailboats.

Sleeping up to 8 guests and with a crew of 4 people, Meta IV sails Burma’s (Myanmar's) stunning and undiscovered Mergui Archipelago, offering a unique new experience for luxury explorers.

Meta IV is a classic wooden two-master made entirely of Thai teak, designed by the famous naval architect Thomas E. Colvin. First constructed in 1998 as a private yacht for a Swiss businessman who made his fortune in hotels, in 2010 the Austrian skipper Herbert Mayrhauser found her at a pier in Phuket and immediately fell in love. After two years of intensive restoration work and refitting, Meta IV started her new life as a luxury charter vessel in the fall of 2012. Meta IV measures 85 feet in length or 25 metres; she has four air conditioned guest cabins, each with ensuite bathrooms and electric toilets. Two of the cabins boast queen-size beds and the other two have twin beds. It has a triple stateroom, a saloon dining area and multiple dining spaces and sunbathing areas. The crew includes a captain, a guide, a chef and a deckhand.

The sheer size, the facilities on board and the remote destination she sails makes Meta IV one of the most exciting luxury sailing options out there. Virtually unknown to the outside world, the Mergui Archipelago is located in Myanmar's remote south: a group of 800 deserted islands with white beaches, swaying palm trees and dense jungle. Azure waters are swimming with colourful reef fish and spotting corals, and above water you can see eagles circling, gibbons and monitor lizards eyeing you from the thickets, while a sundowner is being mixed for you on board the yacht. Best of all, you can sail for days on end and meet not a soul but the odd fisherman in a dugout canoe. Just across from the Thai border, the archipelago opened to foreigners as recently as the late 1990s. With only a few of the 800 islands sparsely populated and a couple dozen visitors to the entire area each month, the Mergui Archipelago remains one of the planet’s most unspoilt destinations.

To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted.
Bill Bryson