Some yachts are built for posing in marinas. VivieRae II is not one of them. She has swum with Galápagos penguins, dived the ghost fleet of Chuuk Lagoon, and been welcomed by remote Vanuatu communities paddling out in dugout canoes. She has crossed the Panama Canal three times. She has a hyperbaric chamber onboard — because when you're diving 200-foot WWII wrecks in the South Pacific, you want one. This is a yacht with a story, and now, she's available for a private yacht charter along one of our favourite coastlines: Croatia.
Built for the Horizon
VivieRae II is a Nordhavn 96 — a 29-metre expedition vessel conceived for serious, long-range passagemaking. With a range of roughly 4,000 to 4,500 nautical miles depending on speed, she can reach places that most yachts simply cannot. Her owner, Bob Giles, has spent years proving it. After taking delivery in 2017 and beginning her maiden voyage from Hong Kong to Bali, Bob spent over 200 days aboard in the first nine months alone. That's not a charter guest's relationship with a yacht. That's a life lived afloat.
What strikes us most about VivieRae II isn't any single specification — it's the philosophy baked into her build. She was designed not as a showcase, but as a home. A functional, capable, genuinely comfortable platform for extended voyaging with family and friends. The substantial interior volume that first drew Bob to Nordhavn remains one of her most compelling qualities: proper living spaces for long passages, not just a glossy saloon for overnight stays.
Croatia Yacht Charter — The Perfect Next Chapter
After years of circumnavigation, VivieRae II has arrived in the Mediterranean — and Croatia, frankly, is one of the finest cruising grounds she could have found. The Adriatic rewards exactly the kind of explorer's instinct that defines this vessel. Sail south from Split through the Dalmatian islands and you'll find something new around every headland: the wild pine forests of Mljet, the oyster beds of the Pelješac peninsula, the medieval warren of Korčula's old town glowing amber in the evening light.
A Croatia yacht charter aboard VivieRae II offers something beyond the typical itinerary. Her range means you can push further — up to the Kornati archipelago, that extraordinary scatter of 89 limestone islands with virtually no fresh water and almost no inhabitants, where the sea runs an improbable shade of turquoise. Or south to the Elaphiti Islands, draped in fragrant pine and rosemary, where the bays are calm enough to kayak before breakfast. The Croatian coast is, honestly, unmatched for variety — and VivieRae II is built to make the most of every nautical mile of it.
The Experience Aboard
Bob has always invited friends and family to join different legs of his journeys — ten days here, two weeks there — and the yacht is ideally configured for exactly that kind of shared luxury charter holiday. The interiors don't feel designed; they feel lived-in, in the best possible sense. This is a yacht where you'll actually want to spend a rainy afternoon. Or a very sunny one, for that matter.
The toy collection is worthy of an expedition vessel: the kind of water sports kit that makes a Croatian island anchorage feel like an adventure playground. Dive the walls at Vis. Kayak into sea caves along the Hvar coast. Wake surf in a sheltered bay off Brač with nothing but limestone cliffs and pine trees for company. VivieRae II doesn't just get you to these places — she makes you feel like you've earned them.
A Name Worth Carrying
She's named after Bob's first granddaughter, Vivienne Rae. Both this vessel and her predecessor carried that name — and there's something quietly moving about it. A yacht that has circled the globe, crossed the Panama Canal three times, hosted Kava ceremonies in Polynesia and dived wartime wrecks in the Pacific, all under a name that belongs to a child. It gives VivieRae II a warmth that no interior designer could manufacture.
Bob is now looking ahead to his next chapter — a custom 45-metre explorer — and so VivieRae II enters the charter market at a fascinating moment. She's not a new build with a showroom sheen. She's a vessel shaped by genuine, extraordinary experience. That's rarer than you'd think.
Charter Her This Summer
VivieRae II is available now for Croatia yacht charter. Whether you're dreaming of a week weaving through the Dalmatian islands or a longer passage taking in the full length of the Adriatic, our team at Exclusive Gulets would love to help you plan it. A yacht with this much history deserves an itinerary to match — and we think the Croatian coast is exactly where she belongs right now.
Reach out to us directly to check availability and discuss your ideal luxury charter holiday aboard one of the most remarkable expedition yachts in our fleet.
