LILA

Axopar 37 — Phuket, Andaman Sea Built in 2024, this Axopar 37 belongs to a family of Finnish-designed powerboats that earned their reputation the honest way: on the water, in real conditions. The hull is quick, dry and composed, and the twin Mercury 300hp outboards give it the kind of effortless pace that turns a distant island on the horizon into a plausible lunch stop. What sets this one apart for the tropics is the full-length shaded roof. It covers the whole cockpit rather than just the helm, which changes the character of a day out entirely — you stay outdoors from morning to late afternoon without paying for it in sunburn, and a passing squall becomes a non-event rather than a retreat. The layout is built around open-air living. A generous sunlounger for the ones who came to do nothing, and a large foldable table with a comfortable sofa that converts the cockpit into a proper al-fresco dining space when the anchor goes down. An electric heads is fitted below. A built-in six-speaker sound system handles the rest, from something quiet on the run out to something considerably less quiet on the way home. Phuket rewards exactly this kind of yacht. Shallow-draft agility to slip into coves the larger boats have to admire from a distance, range to reach the limestone karsts and beaches of the surrounding archipelago, and the speed to fit several of them into a single day. A beachside lunch can be arranged for those who like their island-hopping punctuated properly. Handled by a professional local crew who know these waters, the reefs and the tide windows — and who plan the day around the weather rather than in spite of it.