Fantastic voyage: Superyachts and luxury cruise ships are delivering ultra-affluent adventurers to the ends of the earth

Nothing says bragging rights like snorkeling in coral-fringed waters off the coast of Tanzania’s Mafia Island as a constellation of whale sharks the length of standard school buses cruise by.And nothing impresses like a hike up a crater to float alongside thousands of stingless golden jellyfish in one of South Raja Ampat’s hidden marine lakes.This is the new frontier of experiential expedition cruising aimed at a growing subset of seasoned, price-insensitive travelers who’ve already conquered Antarctica and the Galápagos.

For these glitzy globe trotters, the ultimate flex isn’t another five-star resort holiday, it’s unrivaled access to unmarked anchorages, isolated islands, and some of the most inaccessible communities — places no one in their social circle has ever visited or even heard of.“Experiential travel, to be honest, stems from Africa,” Aqua Expeditions CEO and Founder Francesco Galli Zugaro tells The Post.A pioneer in luxury expedition cruising, Aqua Expeditions’ newest ice-class superyacht, Aqua Lares, sails between the Eastern Coast of Africa (from $18,350) and the Arctic, taking just 30 guests at a time to destinations otherwise inaccessible to larger ships.Among the highlights of one of its most coveted itineraries is a stop at the Aldabra Atoll, a UNESCO World Heritage Site some 600 miles southwest of the Seychelles that less than a handful of operators are even permitted to visit. “Aldabra is the Galápagos of East Africa: where the Galápagos has 15,000 to 20,000 giant tortoises and 30,000 people living there, Aldabra has six rangers and 150,000 giant tortoises,” Zugaro said. If Aldabra is East Africa’s answer to the Galápagos, Aqua’s South Raja Ampat itinerary offers an entirely different kind of wonder.

An archipelago of 1,500 islands comprised of towering limestone karsts jutting out from electric-blue lagoons along with some of the most biodiverse coral reefs on the planet, this itinerary is certainly not for the ...