Sunday 1 May

Saturday afternoon.

Yay! I made it – 1 mile around the deck! I was really rugged up and the wind was very strong, but considerably less chilly than earlier days. I could have done more but I was conscious that I’m trying to put on some weight, not take it off!

Sunday morning

Well, that’s a ship’s service I’ll never forget. This morning we were moved into the showroom for the Sunday service and a good thing we were because there would have been at least 200 people in attendance. After some introductory prayers, nothing of a formal “liturgy” type (some ship chaplains use the Anglican format) Walt was about 10 minutes into his message from Jonah when he paused for quite a while, appearing to be looking for his place, then he staggered backwards a little, against the stage and fell to the floor, bumping the top of the stage as he fell. He lay still for a few seconds before a few people moved to help him. After another minute or so the medical team arrived. We all sat and prayed in silence; Walt was awake and responsive but they kept him very still, and then the nurse asked us to clear the theatre. Lydia, Walt’s wife, didn’t appear to be there for some reason. If you’ve seen “A Man Called Peter”, it was almost exactly the same thing. So now Walt has a whole bunch of Christians praying for him. I hope someone tells us during the day how he’s going.

I was planning to go to the 2^nd History of Hawaii through Hula session and then my first digital session of the cruise – queues for every session so far, although nothing has particularly grabbed me, so I haven’t bothered. However, Rita rang and we met in the Explorer’s Lounge for about 90 minutes, so that took care of the sessions I had planned! However, we had a lovely time, looking through pictures, which Bob loves, and chatting about all sorts of life events. Walking the mile on deck was so much easier today, with the wind being less wild and the temperature being a little higher. Still no sunshine, grey skies and a vast, grey ocean to match.