Bezos Sails $500m Superyacht to Costa Rica To Save Sharks

ANDREA PATTARO / AFP) (Photo by ANDREA PATTARO/AFP via Getty Images

Bezos Sails $500m Superyacht to Costa Rica To Save Sharks

Originally posted on SURFER | By Owen James Burke | Last updated Apr 21, 2026 12:20 AM ET

The sharks of planet Earth are in dire straits, and the news has stricken the third-richest human on this sphere along with his dearly wedded with great aplomb. Such great aplomb, in fact, that one Mr. Jeffrey Bezos and wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, commanded their $500m sailing superyacht, Koru to points south, helicopter and $75m support vessel, Abeona, in tow.

Indeed, the sharks of Costa Rica are in need of relief, and how better served than by none other than the tech mogul of all tech moguls and his journalist-cum-philanthropist partner in crime to arrive with multitudes of solidarity.

But, to save the sharks, they couldn’t stay on those diminutive vessels—Koru merely being the world’s largest sailing yacht, which arrived at Costa Rica’s Cocos Island a week ahead of the Bezoses, who flew in on their almost modest Gulfstream G650ER jet.

Of course, the relative newlyweds required more expansive accommodations to save the sharks, so they opted to find digs aboard their 247-foot “support” vessel, Abeona, which was waiting just offshore of Koru at her anchorage. Sadly, the Bezos’ 416-foot Oceanco, had to be left out on this voyage.

Lauren Sanchez and Jeff Bezos are seen on Jeff Bezos' yacht on the "Koru" in Italy in 2023.MEGA/GC Images/Getty Images

But whether we’re talking two superyachts or three: Is all this fanfare for sharks? And what of them?

“During the trip,” reports the tell-all, boot-licking lifestyle website Luxurylaunches.com, “Sánchez, who serves as vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund, shed light on their efforts to expand marine protected areas around Cocos Island, supporting science, equipment, and training, while linking protected marine zones across Costa Rica, Ecuador, Panama, and Colombia. The Earth Fund’s direct implementation grant for Cocos stood at $640,000 in 2021.” Money talks, eh? And that’s about all they had to say about that.

Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), overseen by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) do wonders for the flora and fauna of the sea from the smallest of organisms to ecosystems—sharks included.

But does the high-profile couple’s arrival and week of presence show enough solidarity to save surfing’s great toothed friends and foes, Selachimorpha? Well, Cocos Island is, reportedly, among the world’s most important shark habitats, so here’s hoping. And Bezos’ 2020 infusion of $10b into the Bezos Earth Fund in support of scientists, NGOs, activists, and climate-change-fighting organizations is, perhaps, not all for naught.

Koru and Abeona were later reported as having been seen heading into the open Pacific.

At least the big-hearted humanitarians arrived by wind power—oh, wait… Well, surely the extra carbon footprint involved in the delivery of a twin-engine jet, a helicopter, and a 247-foot support vessel can’t have harmed our precious seas too much, right?

This article first appeared on SURFER and was syndicated with permission.

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