Master of Panorama II, a sail powered cruise yacht of Variety Cruises, has decided to anchor the vessel for a few hours each week and to go ashore and clean up a beach, with crew members and passengers joining him in an initiative that has become a regular feature of each cruise.

“Currently cruising the waters of the Flores and Bali Seas in Indonesia, Captain Antononiu Leontios decided to dedicate a few hours every week to dropping anchor in a bay, venturing ashore with some crew members and filling as many bin bags as possible with rubbish which he then stowed on board and disposed of properly at his next port of call,” the company said in a statement.

“It seemed the right thing to do,” Captain Leontios said, “the sea and the natural beauty of beaches and islands is the livelihood for myself and my crew. We need to respect and protect them and whilst our passengers are off sight-seeing we thought we’d do our bit.’ But it didn’t stop with just the crew.”

“When the Panorama II’s passengers discovered what the crew were doing they too wanted to get involved,” explained Captain Leontios. “News soon got around and next time we planned a stop we were joined by eight guests. It’s now become a feature of our week – so much so we’re going to print beach clean-up t-shirts to give to anybody who joins us.”

According to Variety Cruises UK's MD, Chris Lorenzo, environmental responsibility is part of the cruise line’s ethos: “We have already started eliminating single-use plastic from our fleet,’ he explained. ‘As for the beach clean-up program, our vessels are uniquely placed to do something practical – we only have small ships of 50-70 passengers so we can get close up to beaches and moor anywhere. Overall our philosophy is ‘small is beautiful’ and that’s not just about the size of our ships but about doing the small things that can add up to a big difference.”