MIZU is a 53 metre Austal from 2004, refreshed in a 2016 refit, a fast aluminium motor yacht that brings real pace and generous volume to the clear water of the Caribbean. She looks after ten guests across five cabins with a crew of nine, and her appeal is clear: the turn of speed of a lightweight aluminium hull, broad sun decks for long days in the open air and a warm, light filled interior with room for a large party to spread out. For a family or a group of friends who want space, service and the reach to explore the islands at pace, she reads as composed, sociable and genuinely capable through a long week aboard.
Her point of difference is the aluminium build and the performance that comes with it. Austal and Oceanfast made their name on fast, lightweight yachts that cover ground other hulls of this size cannot, and MIZU still shows that character, holding a confident cruise of twenty four knots and a top end near twenty eight from her twin MTU engines. The light hull shortens the run between the islands to a lively passage and opens up the quiet anchorages beyond, while the 2016 refit kept her finishes and systems current, so a charter aboard her feels fresh and well tended from the first day.
Life in the open air spreads across her decks. The forward sundeck is a broad run of teak with chaise loungers and a sunpad open to the sky, the natural place to lie out over the water through a long afternoon, while the upper deck sets out a shaded table for alfresco dining and drinks as the light drops over the bay. An open sports deck gives active guests room to move, the aft deck gathers a few paces from the sea, and a swim platform at the stern keeps the tender and a full spread of toys close at hand for a day of swimming and exploring the coast.
Inside, the main deck is warm and composed, finished in honey toned timber that glows under soft light. The main saloon gathers around deep white sofas with the sea drawn in through large windows, a calm lounge for quiet evenings, while a second zone forward carries the social life toward a bar and a lit onyx counter, and a further seating area a few steps on keeps the party connected through the open room. The whole deck flows together so guests move easily between the sofa, the bar and the deck, the warm joinery and pale upholstery carried from zone to zone so the space feels bright by day and soft after dark.
Accommodation is arranged over five cabins for ten guests. The owner and VIP cabins take private, well lit positions with wide beds, generous storage and their own bathrooms, while further double and twin guest cabins, each quiet and comfortable with their own facilities, look after the rest of the party below. It is a generous, flexible plan that suits a large family or a group of friends, the twin with its single beds ready for children or younger guests sharing, every cabin lined in the same warm timber as the main deck and finished to the same considered standard.
Under way she is quick and assured, a composed semi displacement yacht that holds a fast, comfortable cruise and settles quietly at anchor at the end of a long day. Her natural ground is the Caribbean, the clear water and white sand of the Bahamas, the Leeward and Windward Islands and the harbours of Antigua, St Barts and St Lucia all within an easy run, exactly the kind of island cruising her speed and range were made for. Fast, spacious and attentively crewed, MIZU is a capable and gracious way to charter the islands with the whole party kept close.
