What a very eventful day! So nice to wake up to find the sea quietening down and a bit of sun. Still quite a large swell but definitely beginning to die away.

We decided to have a leisurely morning and so we didn't even get up till after 10:30 and then we went up to breakfast, skipping art just for one day. At 12:15 it was the Photography Club prize photo screening and awards in the Playhouse. I was so pleased to see that they showed 4 or 5 of my photos amongst the approximate 100 included in the presentation. Many of them were simply brilliant: a lot of macro work with flowers. Extremely impressive. Then at the end came the announcement of the winners. All of my photos were in the Beginners section and first they announced about 5 Highly Commendeds. I wasn't amongst them which didn't surprise me. Then came the two main prizes: Best Panoramic Shot and Best Shot across Categories. Well, blow me down if I didn't win the Best Panoramic Shot for the picture I took of night-time Recife. I was really surprised because it hadn't featured in the slideshow so I thought that was that. Anyway, lots of inspiration for future photographs and I get the prizewinning photo blown up to a very large size as a prize and also a certificate. Most chuffed!

Then we rushed off and pinned up our few paintings in the art exhibition. My goodness some great artists aboard on this cruise sector. Honestly some of the paintings were just fantastic. A huge improvement on previous exhibitions and certainly on our pictures.

We then ran off to have a read through of the play which we just finished in time to go to the Playhouse for our Tech rehearsal. Both went pretty well other than the intensity of the blackout in the tech came as a bit of a surprise and there was a fair bit of blundering around and giggling. The tech finished and we opened the theatre door to find a massive queue had built up winding through the corridors. YIKES! I felt a bit ill at this point and scurried off to my entry point which was behind a curtain towards the back of the auditorium. Wished Bob and Margaret a Break a Leg on my way past as they were in the wings entering from there. It was a bit of a lonely 5 minutes behind my curtain until I heard the music start and knew that Bob must have made his entrance. I gave it a minute and then we were off….. The next 40 minutes passed in a gratifying blur. Lots and lots of laughter from the house and that just seemed to elevate our performance. It was certainly the best we've ever done it. No dries, pauses, slow pickups or anything. Bob was really really good. He got lots of laughs. There was a lot of applause at the end and many congratulations afterwards. I think there are some photos and certainly at least one video which I may be able to track down.

We four cast members then went off for a well earned g&t and a few chuckles. What an enjoyable experience. I LOVED doing it all again and I would like to do more if I could find a congenial group back in Kent. In fact as the evening progressed we had so many people come up and congratulate us and ask when we were doing it again, all very gratifying.

One downer: After the play, I went back to the art gallery to pick up our paintings… and they were gone……. I very much hope that the tutor took them or some other well-meaning fellow student and we will get them back. They were clearly labelled on the reverse with our names and cabin number. I very much fear some rotten b****** has stolen them. I think this… and then I think, no, surely not…. Who would really want our daubs?…. But….. I will be rather gutted if they have gone permanently as it is my flower picture and my old man under a tree which I really liked. And Bob's fisherman in a boat and his Easter Island statue vignette. Damn…. The worst is that tomorrow we are diving all day, the day after we get off the ship until March 3rd so it will be some days till we return to art and can follow this up. And a lot of people are disembarking in Auckland, the day after tomorrow….

After dinner we went to a movie/tv quiz and ended up joining force with two other couples. And guess what???!! We won!!! Unbelievable….a bottle of P&O wine…..

So a very nice day all round, other than the possibility that someone has stolen our paintings. Tomorrow we reach land in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand and we are so much looking forward to that. The seas are definitely calmer tonight so it all bodes well.