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charterFast-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 live-
aboard submarine pilot.
“Then,” as Ofer tells it, “something really interest-
ing 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.
“Suddenly we became this amazing team,” Ofer says.
“I would go ahead of the yacht, fly into a country, scout
it and create a customized itinerary for the owner. The
captain would bring the yacht, and we’d do a dry run of
the itinerary. Then the owner would fly in with his fam-
ily, and boom, we’d have a perfect product.”For five years, on almost every continent, they created
the itineraries. Their waypoints twice included Costa
Rica, which is where Ofer got an idea of his own.
“I realized that no one was building itineraries for
yachts, and Costa Rica was the perfect year-round
cruising destination,” he says. “Unless you want
luxury shopping—that’s the only thing I wouldn’t put
on the list—but everything else that yachting clients
wanted all around the world, Costa Rica had it.”
At the time, Costa Rica lacked superyacht facili-
ties, but Ofer knew, from his global cruising, that the
marina situation would likely change with time. So
he and his partners, all former scuba guides, created
Origen Escapes. They focused in part on building out
itineraries that private and charter yachts would need
once they had a place to tie up in Costa Rica.
“For people who are into this type of destination,”
Ofer says of Costa Rica, “the list of experiences they
can have—swimming in a private waterfall or a hot
spring thermal river or hiking volcanoes or scuba
diving with dolphins or spearfishing or being in a
rainforest looking for exotic birds or exploring the
coffee culture or the horseback culture or learning
how to free dive or whitewater rafting or rappelling
in canyons or sea kayaking or mountain biking—the
list of options and experiences is long, and accessible
at every level.”
And his instinct about the marinas turned out to
be correct. Today, on Costa Rica’s west coast, Marina
Papagayo, to the north, is able to accommodate
yachts up to 220 feet (67 meters) long. The central
coastline is home to Los Sueños Resort and Marina,
which can take yachts up to 180 feet (54.8 meters),
as well as Marina Pez Vela, whose slips go up to 200
feet (61 meters). To the south is the newly opened
Golfito Marina Village, able to take yachts 350 feet
(106.6 meters) and longer.
For every yacht that visits, Origen Escapes has
itineraries at the ready. The team focuses on three
themes: beach, mountain and jungle, for novices
straight up through experts. From December until
about April, they encourage itineraries along the
southern stretch of Costa Rica’s west coast, and from
May through November, they bring guests to the
north, avoiding the seasonal rains and winds.
Since its founding in 2015, Origen has worked with
a number of private-yacht owners, and Ofer hopes
that as Costa Rica opens up for charter, more and
more guests will want to enjoy similar adventures. photos by diego mejias | photoprocr.comdestinations
below: Costa Rica is
home to some of the
world’s most breathtaking
waterfalls. bottom: A pod
of charismatic spinner
dolphins puts on a show for
some lucky spectators.‘i realized that no one
was building itineraries
for yachts, and costa rica
was the perfect year-round
cruising destination.’—Ofer Ketter,
Origen escapes