Antarctic Cruise Day 22 / 40 - sea day 10/11 - sea day - boat building & cocktail creating

Antarctic Cruise Day 22 / 40 - sea day 10/11 - boat (losing) & cocktails (winning)

Trip day: 22 / 40

Port days: 6
Sea days: 15
Countries: 3
Continents: 2
Ports: 3

Our efforts in building a boat and creating a cocktail all hit their climax today as both competitions are on the calendar.

First, at 11:30AM, the flotilla of guest and crew boats hit the high seas, or more correctly, the tepidarium pool in the Aquavit area on deck 5 aft.  With construction complete - structural design by Arlona, outfitting by Linda & Debra, with some finishing touches last minute by Arlona, we were ready to sail.  My only contribution to the effort was some of the backstory of the vessel and some input on the various names.

Our team:

• Garry
• Linda
• Arlona
• Debra

designed and build the SS GLAD.  Based in the Caribbean, it sails to:

• Grenada
• Lesser Antilles
• Aruba
• Dominica

It is a rumrunning vessel, taking the finest untaxed rum to the islands, avoiding the law.  Its crew, headed by Admiral Nelson, includes Captain Morgan, Sailor Jerry, and seaman Don Q.

We sailed under the Atlantean flag as that was untraceable.

A tri-hull catamaran design

Colorfully decorated and a view of the front anchor

The ebony flooring (chopsticks)

Our "rum barrels" - the required four soda cans

A port hole and an anchor

The other port hole and anchor

The untraceable Atlantean flag

Team GLAD - Garry, Linda, Arlona, Debra

Also known as Don Q, Admiral Nelson, Captain Morgan, & Sailor Jerry

Our boat sailed well with the required weight.  Adding three more cans, however, plus the relentless sloshing of the waves in the pool caused her to list hard to port, dumping our precious cargo and ending our day at sea.

Other vessels in the competition:

The ultimate winner carried about 20 cans - 8 were built in as ballast

A crew entry that took second - from the Explorers' Desk

This was a crew entry sanctioned by General Manager Sujith - an amazing replica of the Polaris built by the deck crew

Everyone had a great time and it was fun to see all the creative designs.  It was a great way to spend a few sea days.

Next up was the cocktail competition. Six teams competed, presenting one or two cocktails to the judges.  Teams were judged on taste, presentation, teamwork, and garnish.

Team Alex's Explorers: Donna, Ardy, Alex, Arlona, Garry

Here is the story (we completely made up) of the origin of our cocktail.

We are ALEX’S EXPLORERS and we’re here to tell you a story.

This is a story of a voyage, a wrong turn, an accident, an epiphany, and potatoes.

In the mid-1840s, an intrepid pair of Russian dreamers set out to make their fortunes.  This pair of young eastern Russian brothers were potato farmers from the Spudenov family – Mikhail and Ivan.   

 

In 1845, news of the Irish potato famine reached the Spudenov family in eastern Russia.  The Spudenovs had harvested a bumper crop of potatoes that year. Mikhail and Ivan came up with the idea to take their crop to Ireland and become rich.   

 

Living on the very eastern end of Russia, Mikhail and Ivan developed a simple plan.  Load the family boat with potatoes and provisions, sail north through the Bering Strait, and continue westward across the north of Russia to Ireland.   

 

In late September 1845, Mikhail and Ivan left the family farm with a fully loaded boat and headed out to earn their fortune.  Unfortunately for Mikhail and Ivan, they were farmers, not navigators.  As they entered the Bering Sea, and after too much vodka, rather than turn left and head north as planned, Mikhail turned south. 

 

As the journey continued, both brothers were somewhat surprised as the temperature kept getting warmer, rather than the cold weather they expected on Russia’s north coast. Ivan, being relentless, insisted that they carry on, trusting his brother’s misguided sense of direction. Ultimately, they shipwrecked on the island of Tahiti, more than 10,000 miles in the wrong direction. 

 

The brothers finally accepted that they might have made a wrong turn.  But, when they saw the lush landscape, beautiful ocean views, and throngs of topless native women, they accepted their fate and decided to stay on the island.  Since their travel rations of vodka had run out months earlier, the brothers decided to use their remaining potatoes to distill vodka.

 

One day, Mikhail went to check the still and noticed that some dried vanilla beans from a neighboring vanilla tree had broken off and dropped into the still.  He poured a glass of the vodka and saw it had a slight brown/gold color.  He assumed that the batch was ruined.  Ivan said it would be a waste to throw the batch out and tried it.  Much to his surprise, the vanilla had mellowed the otherwise medicinal-tasting booze.   

 

With the help of the friendly locals, the two slightly inebriated men mixed their new spirit with local flora. They continued experimenting with a squeeze of this, a pour of that, testing the flavors of the island until they finally arrived at the perfect combination of flavors that included their vanilla vodka, sweet lemon juice, lime juice, pineapple juice, and sweet syrup. 

 

The islanders agreed that this was indeed a delicious elixir and everyone enjoyed it regularly.  The brothers, while not rich with money, were wealthy with Tahitian women and drink.  They never returned to Russia. What happened to the Spudenov brothers after that was lost to the annals of history, but we’re sure that they were smiling.   

 

Thanks to the awful navigational skills of Mikhail the Misguided, the perseverance of Ivan the Relentless, and a distilling accident, we can now enjoy what has come to be known as a TahitiTroika.

Now, ALEX’S EXPLORERS will prepare for you, a TahitiTroika!

• Two parts of their accidental vanilla vodka

• One part of lemon (or in this case, Limoncello) juice

• One part of pineapple juice

• One-half part of fresh lime juice

• One-half part of sweet syrup 

 

The drink was so compelling that local birds would often perch on the glass.

As I narrated the story, the ladies prepared the glass, peeled citrus, cut pineapple for the garnish, and got everything ready.  Once the narration was over, we all played a part in adding the ingredients and shaking the cocktail, including throwing a full cocktail shaker from person to person. 

Our completed cocktail

Once the scores were added, Alex’s Explorers came away with the win!

In the back, our judges: Beverage Manager Tammy (taste), Staff Captain Xavier (garnish), Captain Olivier (presentation), Guest Services Manager Nico (teamwork)

Our reward – actual French Champagne

All of the final cocktails

It was a rousing good time and all the teams did a great job.

I was able to catch a few wildlife photos from the bow today as well.

Prion

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Petrel

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Group meeting

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In the end, it was a great day. We had a port talk about Ushuaia tonight. Tomorrow, we have mandatory submarine training and a port talk about Port Stanley. It will be our final contiguous sea day before anchoring in the Falklands.