The Pleiades is a cluster of stars in the constellation Taurus which is also know as the Seven Sisters. The stars are named (going from left to right, bottom to top) Alcyone, Merope, Electra, Maia, Celaeno, Taygeta and Asterope.

We have a special fondness for this beautiful cluster of stars which can be seen with only binoculars on a clear night. We have also named a couple of cats after the stars in the Pleiades over the years much to the consternation of our vetenarians (their names are tongue twisters to someone used to names like Whiskers).

We originally were thinking of naming our new boat Pleiades but found that there were over 50 documented vessels with that name. Given that we were looking for something a bit more unique we continued to consider other names including Dark Star.

During some late night research we discovered that in Aboriginal mythology that Makara was a name also given to the Pleiades. On the following morning after this discovery "Makara" was born.

A secondary meaning of Makara is a crocodile like sea monster who was the mount of Varuna, one of the most important gods in the Hindu Pantheon. We like to think of this boat as a sea monster designed to cross the worlds oceans and incidently our dinghy is named Varuna.

Lastly Makara in old Greek means "Blessed". We hope that in our journeys that Makara will indeed be a blessed vessel.

The complete logo of Makara has a representation of the seven stars making up the Pleiades and are proudly displayed on our battle flag and Gennaker.