Day 24 - At Sea

Day 24 – Sunday 2^nd February 2014 – At Sea

After the morning routines, today is going to be something special.

We are off Mexico at the southern end of Bahia California.

Cape San Lucas

This is Cape San Lucas and famous for whale watching as this is where the whales give birth to their young and nurse them for about six months before heading back up north to feed on the Crile.  There were lots of other small boats around out looking for marine life and the Captain took the ship in close on our 95,000 ton boat.  I saw three water spouts and one whales’ tail.

During this time upon deck 11, we were playing bowls while whale watching and we were joined by Moira, a South African Lady for croquet.  Moira actually knew the rules, as she played the game at home.  It makes a big difference when you are playing a game and shown your mistakes, and it is more fun.

Theatre

Theatre

At lunch time we have our last choir practice in the yacht club.  Today is our big day after the practice everyone is off to get showered and put on the choir rig of the day, black and white.

We all assembled on stage, half an hour before our performance at 14.00 all arranged in our positions there are around eighty people in the choir.  The curtains were drawn and we waited in anticipation and silence, behind the curtain, as one of the technicians went through the final countdown.

Stage

The Royal Court Theatre can seat just over 800 people and we had no idea how many would turn up.  In front of the curtain our choir leader Leah was introduced to the audience by Joanne the Entertainments Director, then Robin our Aussie pianist. When we were introduced, the curtains opened, and wow, in the theatre there must have been 500 people in the audience.

Choir on Stage

We commenced with the song ‘Summertime’, followed by ‘You Raise Me Up’ by now, we were over the nerves and got into ‘Delilah’; ‘I Am Sailing’, the musical song ‘My Favourite Things’.  On the stage, we had got it all together and the hairs standing up when we sang ‘Let It Be’.  The audience were joining in with ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’ combined with ‘Pack up your Troubles’.  For the finish, it was Abba’s ‘Thank You for the Music’ sang unaccompanied, we could see Leah, choking up as the tears flowed and we came to the finish, the choir very, very happy. 

The audience reaction was amazing, they all stood up and gave us a standing ovation, and we were all flabbergasted.   We bowed and thank them, all of us with the biggest smiles on our faces. It was a wonderful feeling to be part of it.  The audience cheered for more, but we had not rehearsed an encore song.  So, we sang once again ‘You Raise Me Up’; our emotional  Leah, the tears were now in full flow, and we managed to keep it all together for the finish.  Amongst the choir, lots of handshakes and hugs for what we had been part of, and what we had achieved.

Grand Lobby

We were taken along to the grand lobby to have our photographs taken and while this was going on we started an impromptu ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’.  The other passengers in the area and who had not been in the theatre had no idea what was going on but joined in the fun.

Choir over and it was off to the Golden Lion for a celebration pint.  Today is also a big sporting day for our American cousins.  Namely, Super Bowl, the American football cup final being played in New York.  I came back to the pub after getting changed for the kick off at 16.30.  Sitting with an American couple who helped me with some of the technicalities of the game and with Robin the Aussie piano player, we spent the next four hours there.  The game was too one side as the Seattle Seahawks trounced the Denver Broncos.

Just managed to make it in time for dinner in the Britannia Restaurant at 20.30 but cannot remember what I had to eat, it would have been nice.

Along to the theatre to watch an American comedian but the day had been too much for me and I fell asleep and missed most of the show.

Needless to say, I went off to bed very happy after a wonderful day.