Mystic Cruises’ hydrojets cut underwater noise for better wildlife-viewing

The concept initially was developed for naval warships.

Schottel SPJ 82 Pump Jets

A pair of Schottel SPJ 82 Pump Jets can propel World Explorer at a near-silent cruising speed of five knots without scaring sea life away.

Sailing under the Mystic Cruises brand, World Explorer — and sister ship World Voyager, launching in 2020 — incorporate the hydrojet drive among innovations that help maximize safety and minimize environmental impact when carrying travelers to remote and fragile destinations.

Atlas Ocean Voyages’ World Navigator, launching in 2021, also will be equipped with this propulsion system and other innovative technologies. Atlas Ocean Voyages is the distributor of Mystic Cruises in North America, and both are subsidiaries of Mystic Invest Holding.

Clean, safe and quiet

‘Our goal is to build one of the cleanest, safest and quietest ships in our category,’ said Mário Ferreira, chairman of Mystic Invest Holding. ‘We designed our cruise ships to bring our guests closer to and experience more of a destination, while ensuring that we do our part to help sustain these unparalleled places so we can bring future generations to enjoy them, too.’

Unlike propellers, hydrojets diminish vibration and cavitation to significantly decrease underwater noise. Noise travels farther and louder in water, impacting highly sensitive sea life, which scatter at propeller noise.

Hydrojets pump water in and out to produce drive and, like Azipods, can be directed 360 degrees to navigate along shorelines or dynamically position the ship by GPS without the use of the twin four-blade propellers.

A video is here.

Custom Mark V Zodiacs

In some destinations, passengers will get the thrill of wet landings aboard 18 custom-designed MilPro Mark V Zodiacs. To ensure safer gasoline containment, each Zodiac is constructed with a special reinforced bow chest that accommodates a larger-capacity gasoline bladder to deliver more than three times the average operational range.

Each Zodiac also features 12 anti-skid panels — four more than average — to ensure safer embarking and disembarking anywhere along the buoyancy tube. Furthermore, World Explorer and its sister ships have a gasoline storage and pumping system that makes for safer Zodiac fueling operations.

FarSounder sonar

FarSounder’s sonar is installed at the front of each ship's 1B ice class-certified hull to ensure safe navigation through harbors, rivers and ice fields.

Each ship is also equipped with two C25:33L8P main engines and a Bergen C25:33L6P auxiliary dual generator. These connect to a low voltage AFE ‘SAVeCUBE’ power electric system, which provides maximum fuel efficiency while operating at variable speeds and consumes as low as one-fifth the marine diesel oil compared to conventional engines.

Reservations for Atlas Ocean Voyages are scheduled to open in January for World Navigator, to enter service in 2021. World Navigator will be joined by sisters World Traveller, World Adventurer and World Seeker in 2022 and 2023.