Athos, a 210-foot Holland Jachtbouw that is one of the world’s most impressive sailing yachts, has joined the Fraser charter fleet. The yacht is heading to the Bahamas, Caribbean and Bermuda this spring ahead of accepting bookings in the unusual destination of Greenland this summer—part of the current owner’s program of using the yacht to visit remote destinations.

Launched in 2010 from the Dutch shipyard and most recently refitted in 2022, Athos is the world’s largest privately owned two-masted schooner. The amenities listed on board since the time of launch rival what guests find on some power-driven superyachts, with top-quality construction and technology systems.

The award-winning refit was done at Huisfit, which in 2019 took over the Holland Jachtbouw facility where Athos was originally built. The refit included extending the 203-footer to 210 feet by way of the stern overhang.

On deck, the cockpit layouts were redesigned, and a new forward navigation deckhouse was added. New booms, new sails and carbon rigging were installed, and all systems were updated. A considerable amount of the interior was replaced or reconfigured and updated, according to the Huisfit team.

“The multiple modifications to Athos have been beautifully done,” owner’s representative Jeremy “Bear” Wynne said at the time of the refit. “The attention to detail and finish is excellent. The new additions and modifications have not only improved the functionality of the yacht, they have also enhanced the appearance.”

The sheer size of Athos is also notable. The yacht’s main mast towers to about 200 feet in the sky.

The charter team at Fraser says the owner has also added a slew of watertoys to extend adventures in remote locations into all the various harbors, nooks and crannies.

What’s the lowest weekly base rate to charter Athos? It’s $220,000 per week, with a high-season base rate of $235,000.

How to book a week on board: contact a charter broker at fraseryachts.com

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“Perfume-making happens when you least expect it,” says Isabelle Ramsay-Brackstone, owner and master perfumer of Lili Bermuda, a landmark on the island since 1928. Inspiration often strikes Ramsay-Brackstone while she’s picking flowers, walking along Warwick Long Bay Beach or simply breathing in the ocean air.

The greatest challenge and thrill of her career arose out of Bermuda’s waters, a salvaged present from the distant past. Among Bermuda’s 300-plus shipwrecks is the Mary Celestia, a Confederate blockade runner that sank in 1864. In 2011, a team of marine archaeologists explored the wreck and discovered two intact bottles of perfume among its cargo. The brand, Piesse and Lubin, was a London perfumer whose scents Queen Victoria might have worn. Ramsay-Brackstone was presented the two bottles to analyze so she could re-create the fragrance.

“It took us 110 iterations to re-create this masterpiece,” she says. The final composition—redolent of rosewood, grapefruit, orange flower and white musk—proudly bears the name Mary Celestia. Part of the proceeds from the perfume fund the nonprofit Lili Bermuda Foundation, which pays for Bermudian youth to earn their Professional Association of Diving Instructors open-water certification as scuba divers.

“The conditions of our shipwrecks and reefs are out of this world,” Ramsay-Brackstone says.

How would you describe the perfume-making process? It’s very much like making music. You hear the scent in your head, and then you try to create it physically.

What do you consider the trademark scents of Bermuda? It’s very floral: white flowers, roses, lilies. There’s Bermuda cedar and lots of citrus: lemons, mandarins, guava. I love to capture the ocean in my fragrances too—and the smell of the wind, which is really cool, dewy and fresh.

Isabelle’s Island Favorites

Fort Scaur (Sandy’s Parish): Bring a bottle of Champagne and take in the beautiful sunset from here.

Wahoo’s Waterside Bistro & Patio (St. George’s): They serve wahoo every way you want—a spectacular ceviche, tacos, nuggets, sandwiches.

1609 Restaurant (Hamilton): I go there on Wednesday nights in the summer to watch the regatta in Hamilton Harbor. Seeing the boats all leaving at the same time, unleashing their beautiful spinnakers, is smashingly gorgeous.

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For a crash course on Bermudian culture, there’s no better source than Graham Foster. This 47-year-old native artist is celebrated for his detailed paintings of Bermuda’s people and places, flora and fauna, often in a style he calls mid-Atlantic surrealism.

Foster spent more than 7,000 hours creating the Hall of History for the National Museum of Bermuda at the Royal Naval Dockyard. It’s a 1,000-square-foot mural that chronicles five centuries of the island’s history. “It can feel a bit of visual overload,” he admits. “There are more obvious parts that tourists will pick up on — Bermuda Cathedral, Hamilton City Hall — and more subtle details that locals will recognize.” Look for the Easter eggs: Gombeys parade on stilts, a pack race tears up a street, and legendary diver Teddy Tucker hoists an emerald from a Spanish shipwreck.

Cruisers can find Foster’s work at Flying Colours on Hamilton’s Queen Street, the Bermuda Arts Centre at Dockyard, and on his website.

How would you describe mid-Atlantic surrealism?

It’s an alternate universe where anything is possible: giant mechanized rainbow wheels on the shoreline, a troop of colonial-era soldiers marching off a pier where a tiger shark awaits, etc. All of these scenarios take place in a uniquely Bermudian environment.

How did Bermuda become your prime subject?

After knocking around Bermuda for the last 40-plus years, I have the iconography of Bermuda ingrained in me. Living on a 20-square-mile island, you are constantly aware of the horizon where the sea meets the sky, so this features as a backdrop in many of my paintings.

What do you hope visitors take away from your paintings?

On cold winter nights, I hope they feel warmed by these Bermudian images and remember the great time they had here and what a beautiful place it is.

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_{The 25-minute ride to the roundabout in Hamilton from either end of Bermuda has a huge payoff. Provisions, yeah. Fine dining on Front Street, sure. But the moment that can change an entire journey is a three-second encounter with the friendliest, happiest man on the island: Johnny Barnes. Every morning for the past 30 years, Johnny, 92, has stood on the side of Crow Lane. Waving. Smiling. Sometimes ducking thrown objects. Even then, he’ll shout, “I love you!”}

The queen of England once told me she loved me too. It was in 2009. When the procession passed, her limo slowed down and I blew her a kiss and said, “I love you.” She looked at me and said, “I love you right back.” That was a pretty good day.

I come to wave every day because of my mother. When I was a little boy growing up in Little Town, I passed by an older lady and didn’t say, “Good morning.” My mother said, “Don’t ever pass by someone without saying hello. People need people. You be friendly to everyone.” I never forgot that. There’s a statue of me at the train station. Back when I worked there I’d sit on the wall at lunchtime and wave at all the people passing by in their cars. People didn’t know what to make of me. They’d give a look like, “Has that fella gone off his head?”

My wife didn’t understand it at first either. I’d leave in the morning to come wave, and people would stop by the house and say, “Do you know what your husband is doing? He’d down at the roundabout telling folks he loves them.”

Not everyone says hello back. Some people tell me to get a job. One morning some fellas threw water at me. But that’s OK. I still told them I loved them.

This is enjoyable. There’s no reason not to be friendly to people. As long as the Lord gives me health and strength, I’ll be out here waving. Except when there’s lightning — that’s when I take cover.

Bermuda in 3 Steps

1. THE BIG EVENT

Bermuda will host the 35th America’s Cup in June 2017. The racing will be in the waters of Great Sound (pictured below), which is horseshoed between Bermuda’s capital city of Hamilton and the planned America’s Cup Village at the Royal Naval Dockyard.

2. BEST SNAPSHOTS

Local photographers find eye candy in the form of colorful cottages and, at sunrise, the pink-sand beaches that ring the island. Church Bay and Chaplin Bay are secret favorites, so… shhhh.

3. NATIONAL DRINK

The Dark ‘n’ Stormy is said to have originated on Bermuda, and Gosling’s has a trademark on the drink. In it’s purest form, according to Gosling’s, it’s 2 ounces of Black Seal rum (very dark) mixed with fizzy ginger beer (quite stormy). That’s it.

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