Perhaps you haven’t noticed them, but they’ve probably checked you out—thoroughly.They are the ever-increasing swarms of yacht spotters around the docks of St. Tropez, Monaco and other ports where you and your guests are pretty much on display. This is especially true if you have a water-level spa on board, and you’re tied stern-to.
 The spa on Trinity's 177' Katherine is screened by umbrellas and superstucture aft. Photograph by Bill Muncke. (Click image to enlarge)
Some may relish this opportunity to strut about in their thongs, but a floating spa that looks good on paper may end up not being much fun because its position isn’t user-friendly once the boat sails off paper and into port.Privacy is a key issue in spa design for yachts among international designers. Other trends are the increase in exercise and swimming facilities, as well as the introduction of architectural spa features, such as unique water fills for pools and hot tubs, and specialized spas, such as aroma therapy rooms and heated mud baths. Behind all this is a growing social phenomenon—exercise, nutrition, relaxation and health are finally becoming important to everyone. Many yacht owners have elaborate exercise rooms and spas at home, and they expect the same at sea, with similar attendant privacy.
 Daylight streaming through a skylight designed by Jon Munford makes Katrion’s soaking tub all the more welcoming. Photograph by Bill Muncke. (Click image to enlarge)
United Kingdom–based designer Don Starkey says he is designing owners’ private gyms of 150 to 160 square feet; slightly larger guest gyms of about 180 square feet » and 10-foot by 10-foot workout spaces for the crew. For yachts of 200 feet or more, separate sun decks for owner and guest—both at water level and discretely placed on upper decks—are also realistic.
 The Benetti My Way, expresses a similar theme. Photograph by Bill Muncke. (Click image to enlarge)
Seattle-based Jonathan Quinn Barnett, who designed interiors and decks for 410-foot Octopus and worked on the design of 236-foot Coral Island while employed by the late designer Jon Bannenberg, has this to say about the privacy issue: “You’re not always at anchor at a beautiful spot, secluded bay or inlet. One spa we are doing now features a private elevator so guests can arrive at the spa in total
privacy…unlike a hotel where you are traipsing through in your bathrobe.” The owner of Coral Island, having once been caught by paparazzi practicing yoga on an upper deck, saw to it that it never happened again: The owner’s next boat featured a world-class indoor spa on the lower deck.
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