Introducing Aqua Lares

Sailing East Africa’s most remote biodiverse waters—Aqua Lares will host up to 30 guests per voyage to the Seychelles outer islands, Aldabra Atoll, the world’s largest atoll for giant tortoises, Zanzibar and Tanzania. 

With no crowds, no fixed schedules, and untouched marine environments, the New Aqua Lares offers a variety of voyages. Guests can explore ancient trade routes and Swahill-Arabian heritage and enjoy birdwatching for rare species on extended itineraries. Flexible on-off ship discovery and explorations include places such as Aldabra, Rmeire, Farquhar and Astove- home to the four-mile-long wall, often described as an underwater Grand Canyon teeming with reef sharks, rays and marine life. 

A sanctuary at sea, the 6-deck super-yacht has 12 beautifully appointed suites, including 3 generous owners suites, and three twin cabins. Wellness offerings feature two Jacuzzis, a sauna, massage room and spa. Personalized service, a one-to-one crew to guest ratio, cuisine by world-renowned chefs and expert-led small group excursions with three naturalist guides in reveal the best of each destination.

The small ship carries private tenders renowned for their shock-absorbing, stable hulls for comfort and safety at sea. She’s also outfitted with paddle boards, kayaks, snorkeling and diving gear as well as mountain bikes which are ideal for reaching remote beaches, lagoons and forest trails.

Aqua Lares is the fleet’s 6th expedition vessel. Her once-in-a-lifetime inaugural adventures start February ’26.
aquaexpeditions.com

Denmark’s Ozempic epicentre

Once a ship building centre, and a hair-roller manufacturing boom-town Kalundborg, a small Danish community just north Copenhagen, has revitalized with Novo Nordisk’s plant development in the region. While the company core business was insulin for more than a century, the turning point in the company’s fortunes has come from insatiable demand for weight-loss semaglutides, Wegovy and Ozempic which grew 86% last year alone. Case in point… 800 million people world-side live with obesity. 

In 2023 Denmark’s small economy was be ranked among Europe’s fasted growing. More than half of the growth is being driven by the pharmaceutical sector with Novo having an significant impact as the country’s largest tax payer. The company is now said to account for one fifth of all new jobs.

With municipal tax growth the town has begun to see benefits such as a smart looking waterfront, life-sciences campus, Helix Lab public swimming area, a new culture house, a library and the build underway more than 1250 new homes. According to experts, overseas dollars coming into Denmark has put pressure on the krone and lowered borrowing costs. 

Amid tensions over control of Greenland, and US tariff threats, locals are focusing on long term stability. There’s comfort that Novo Nordisk is, like other Danish corporations, owned by a foundation. The philanthropic foundation is said to be the world’s richest, showering 1.3 bn on hundreds of projects in Denmark and beyond.  
Source: BBC

Reservation fraud on the rise

‘Dine and Dash’ is on the rise with the latest perpetrators making and re-selling pre-paid reservations at high-end dining establishments using stolen credit cards. 

The result—a clutch of Michelin starred restaurant owners have been  reeling after the astounding number of chargebacks they wake up to in the morning after the diners have enjoyed their pricey meal. While credit card fraud is nothing new, this scheme is targeting high-end Japanese and Michelin starred restaurants like a virus suggests industry experts. 

It works like this: Restaurants use a pre-paid system to avoid no shows. X buys a prepaid reservation using a stolen card then advertises and sells it on Instagram or Red to Y at a discount. A few weeks later, the establishment gets a notice to say the reservation was made with a stolen credit card and the entire dinner charge is being refunded to the original owner of the card. When the restaurant contests the chargeback, their request is denied as the banks tend to side with the credit card holder.

For example: Sushi Ichimura serves a 20-course tasting menu for $475.00 per person. Owner Howard Chang says he lost $475.00 just last month alone. He and other restaurateurs say it’s frustrating that people are beating the system. They’re also bothered by the time it takes to try and to get the “reservation for sale” posts taken down along with gathering the evidence and reviewing video footage of diners to try and dispute the costly chargebacks.
eater.com

Images: iStock. aquaexpeditions.com