EYE
OPENER
Chartering – it’s another world
In 1964 the charterers of this 21 metre
centreboard ketch, Traveler II, ventured
off from the Caribbean’s furrowed routes
to the Exumas – and they must have
thought they’d sunk and sailed to heaven.
A journalist from Boating magazine, who
cruised the Exumas on this very boat in 1960,
described lazy sailing, snug harbours, spearing
crayfish, spotting starfish, “swimming from
the boat or from the talcum-soft beaches,
and skindiving over the coral reefs”.
Slim Aarons, who took this picture on the 1964
cruise, was a society photographer with a gift
for capturing beauty – both scenic and
bikini-clad. He snapped this image from
halfway up the mast, a rare reminder that,
despite his lofty position as a high society
snapper, Aarons wasn’t afraid of a little risk
- he had, after all, been a war photographer
during the Second World War.
As yachts have grown in size, Aarons may have
found the view from the 21st century’s largest
sailing yachts rather more precipitous, but the
Exumas remains an eternal charter dream.
Photographer – Slim Aarons