Amster-shh!: The Flying Dutchman

Welcome to the Flying Dutchman—Ghost ship of the North Aaaaaaarrrr

Our co-worker Ollie generously organized a weekend of fun for about 30+ soon-to-be salty sailors. After work Friday (Sept. 7th) we all piled in a bus and took a ride North to our ship. We unpacked and got down to it—eating and drinking. And later walking into town for some dancing.

Ignasi designed our t-shirts and wine labels, modeled by the lovely Kimia:

Saturday we de-docked and set sail North. It definitely took some hoisting to get the sails up.

(photo credit Kelli B)

We wound up not having a whole lot of wind, but welcomed the opportunity to bake in the sun and take a dip in the North Sea:

(photo credit Jaime T)

Our 'sailing' that day brought us up to the island of Terschelling where we docked and got dressed in the appropriate attire for the evening:

Leaving the boat, we went for a short walk and were treated to a lovely sunset:

(photo credit Kimia F)

Back at the boat we ate some dinner. I brought some black face paint and a brush and we got busy making some pretty serious tats:

The island we were staying at is surrounded by sandbars. And there is a very specific route, during high tide, you need to take to make it through the minefield. When we set sail that morning during our sand-bar time-slot, so did dozens of other boats. So, we had some pretty lovely scenery of traditional old Dutch boats.