Octopus has filed passage plans with the Canadian coast guard to transit the Northwest Passage.



The 126m (414ft) Lürssen-built yacht left Baffin Island on August 30 in northern Canada in preparation for the journey.



The Northwest Passage is at once famous and infamous. As far back as the 1400s explorers have tried to establish it as a maritime route connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans in the northern region of the world — and as a shorter method of reaching the Orient.



Norwegian arctic explorer Roald Amundsen was the first to cross it in the early 1900s. The waterway is notorious because of the challenging-at-best conditions of its location — 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and just 1,200 miles from the North Pole.



Even though the ice pack has receded in recent years — allowing more vessels to traverse it — the Northwest Passage is comprised of tricky channels and shoals.



Locals in the Baffin Island area — accustomed to seeing cruise ships rather than yachts — were understandably impressed with her appearance.



Octopus won’t, however, be the first superyacht to undertake the voyage. In the summer of 1994, the late William Simon — treasury secretary under two US presidents — did so aboard his yacht Itasca, in 23 days. Unlike Octopus’ intended itinerary, Itasca started in Alaska and ended in Greenland.