Inside the Yacht Johnny Depp Named After His Ex-Girlfriend But Changed for Amber Heard
Fans have been learning a lot about the tumultuous relationship Johnny Depp and Amber Heard had as the two exes battle it out in court in their defamation trial.
The Pirates of the Caribbean star is suing his ex-wife for libel, alleging that she falsely portrayed him as an abuser in a 2018 op-ed she wrote for the Washington Post describing herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” Heard did not name Depp in the piece but he claims it has negatively affected his acting career ever since. He’s seeking $50 million in damages. Heard has counter-sued for $100 million. Something that was recently brought up in the trial is the luxury yacht Depp owned and his private island in the Bahamas. Here’s more on the island, plus a look inside the yacht and why he changed the name of the vessel before Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling bought it.
Depp owned a private island and named its beaches after his family
In 2004, Depp purchased an entire 45 acre-island in the Bahamas called “Little Hall’s Pond Cay.”
Famous Entertainment noted that when speaking about the private island Depp once said: “I don’t think I’d ever seen any place so pure and beautiful. You can feel your pulse rate drop about 20 beats. It’s instant freedom.”
The island has a handful of beaches and the actor named some of them after his children Lily-Rose and Jack, and their mother Vanessa Paradis.
Little Hall’s Pond Cay came up in the trial when the island’s property manager, Tara Roberts, testified that she saw Depp passed out drunk in the sand in front of his children. And that incident is said to have occurred in the summer of 2013 when Depp and his family were taking a trip on his yacht the “Vajoliroja.”
A look inside Depp’s ‘Vajoliroja’ yacht
Depp’s yacht was built in 2001 in Turkey. It’s a 156-foot-long steamship-style motor yacht that cruises at a speed of 12 knots. It has three decks and can accommodate 10 people boasting four staterooms and a master suite with a dressing vestibule and a marble-accented bath. It also has staff quarters for the five-cabin crews.
The vessel includes plenty of watersports equipment for windsurfing and kayaking, as well as snorkeling gear and wakeboards. Some of its amenities include a cinema, a salon, onboard Wi-Fi, videogame consoles, and a state-of-the-art entertainment system.
Depp named the yacht Vajoliroja, which is a combination of his first name as well as Paradis’ and their kids. Later, when he married Heard, Depp reportedly changed the name to honor her and the vessel became “Amphitrite” — the Greek sea goddess and wife of Poseidon.
Click here for a complete walkthrough tour of the yacht.
The actor sold ‘Amphitrite’ to ‘Harry Potter’ author J.K. Rowling
According to the Telegraph, Rowling bought Depp’s Amphitrite in 2016 for around $28 million and when she wasn’t using it chartered for as much as $130,000 a week. However, the author put the yacht up for sale less than a year after the purchase for just under $20 million.
Amphitrite was listed by Curtis Stokes at Curtis Stokes & Associates and was sold with Jim Webster at Webster Associates representing the buyer in 2017. It’s not clear who owns the boat today.
