| IMO | 9872327 |
|---|---|
| Gross tonnage | 8,076 GT |
| Length | 104.4 m |
| Beam | 18.4 m |
| Service speed | 15.5 knots |
| Builder | China Merchants Heavy Industry |
| Yard | Haimen |
| Launched | 2021 |
| Maiden voyage | 2022-12-10 |
| Operator | Aurora Expeditions |
| Status | Active |
Overview
Sylvia Earle is a SunStone Ships Infinity-class expedition vessel, operated on long-term charter by Australia's Aurora Expeditions and named for the marine biologist, oceanographer and conservationist Dr Sylvia Earle. Delivered from China Merchants Heavy Industry at Haimen on 22 October 2022, she is a small ship — 8,076 GT registered, 104.4 m long — built around Ulstein's CX103 design and its inverted X-BOW, the first generation of expedition cruise ships to carry that bow form. She is Aurora's second purpose-built ship, following Greg Mortimer, and her whole design and naming are organised around the operator's education-and-conservation ethos; Aurora describes her as a floating ambassador for the planet.
Key specifications
The dataset records her registered tonnage as 8,076 GT — Aurora's marketing for the class has used a higher figure of about 8,500 GT, and the dataset build deliberately took the registered figure, logging the variant. Length is 104.4 m and beam 18.4 m, with a draught of about 5.1 m reported for the class. Her recorded speed is 15.5 knots. The dataset leaves her passenger capacity and crew blank, because the sources conflict — figures of 126 and 132 guests both circulate; Aurora's own delivery material describes her as designed for an average of 132 passengers per voyage, and that is the figure used, attributed, in this guide's narrative. Class-level data from the designer gives the Infinity ships a passenger range of roughly 130–200 and crew of 85–115 depending on fit-out, which is why no single figure was baked into the dataset. She is built to Ice Class 1A and Polar Code standards, with dynamic positioning and zero-speed stabilisers.
Design and construction
Sylvia Earle is one of SunStone's Infinity series, designed by Ulstein Design & Solutions as the CX103 and built by CMHI at Haimen, China — a series that pairs a Norwegian design house and European technology with Chinese series construction. The X-BOW is the design's signature: the inverted bow lengthens the waterline and softens the ship's motion in head seas, reducing slamming, improving comfort on the long ocean crossings expedition ships make, and cutting fuel consumption. She was launched in 2021 per the dataset, built alongside her classmates, and delivered together with her sister Ocean Odyssey — the fourth and fifth Infinity-class ships — with the final delivery documents signed on 21 October 2022 and the handover completed on 22 October. She is owned within the SunStone structure and chartered to Aurora Expeditions for year-round operation, the standard Infinity-class arrangement under which SunStone supplies the tonnage and expedition brands supply the guests.
Naming, launch and maiden voyage
The ship is named for Dr Sylvia Earle — National Geographic explorer-in-residence since 1998 and Time magazine's first "Hero for the Planet" — continuing Aurora's practice of naming ships for figures in exploration and conservation. Her maiden voyage departed Ushuaia, Argentina, for Antarctica on 10 December 2022, the date recorded in the dataset. In February 2023 she carried a privately organised Antarctic Climate Expedition led by Dr Earle in partnership with Ocean Geographic, an early marker of the science-and-advocacy role the ship was named to perform.
Career by operator
Sylvia Earle has operated under one name and for one operator since delivery, under charter from SunStone Ships.
| Period | Name | Operator |
|---|---|---|
| 2022–present | Sylvia Earle | Aurora Expeditions (charter from SunStone Ships) |
Her work is Aurora's expedition programme — polar voyages in season and small-ship expedition cruising elsewhere. This guide records her operator and charter arrangement, which are the durable facts, and does not track her itineraries.
Onboard character
The Infinity class's character comes from its bow and its scale. The X-BOW gives the ships their unmistakable profile — a stem that rakes backwards rather than forwards — and a seakeeping quality that expedition passengers feel most on Drake Passage-type crossings. Inside, Aurora fits the ships informally: staterooms and suites mostly with private balconies, and public space given to the lecture-and-briefing culture of expedition cruising, with education and conservation as the stated organising themes rather than entertainment. A swimming pool, gym, spa and sauna are part of the class's standard fit. She is, by design, a ship whose passengers are expected to spend their days off her — in Zodiacs and ashore — and whose comforts are aimed at the evenings and the crossings.
Major refits and incidents
No refit has been reported for Sylvia Earle, and no significant incident involving her had been reported in the sources used for this guide at the time of writing.
Sister ships and class
Sylvia Earle belongs to SunStone's Infinity class of Ulstein CX103 expedition ships, all built by CMHI at Haimen. Her classmates include Greg Mortimer (the class's first ship, also with Aurora), Ocean Explorer, Ocean Victory, Ocean Odyssey, Ocean Albatros and Douglas Mawson, operated by a range of expedition brands under SunStone charters. The class is notable as the first series of expedition cruise ships built in China for the Western expedition market, and for spreading the X-BOW form across that market.
Fate and where she is now
Sylvia Earle is in active service with Aurora Expeditions (status as recorded in the dataset), under her SunStone charter.
Sources: https://ulstein.com/references/sylvia-earle; Ulstein Group delivery report (October–November 2022); MarineLink, "Sylvia Earle & Ocean Odyssey: SunStone takes expedition cruise ship pair from China" (26 October 2022); Aurora Expeditions delivery press material (2022).