April 30 – Key West

I forgot to mention how wonderful the Main stage show was last night. They had a full orchestra (augmented by some U. of Miami musicians) and did a Pops concert centered around Opera. It was incredible! They brought on one extra soloist and featured Karyn a girl who didn’t sing in my first segment shows but is an employee who did a couple shows the second segment in addition to singing in the Crystal Chorus I sang in. All the entertainers participated including some headliners who were violinists and dancers and it was a marvelous show. I had an opportunity to sing in it but there were too may rehearsals, I had to learn Italian and too many shows. I’m on vacation for heaven sakes!! Today I did another catamaran and snorkeling tour that was only 3 hours this time. It wasn’t as much fun because the catamaran was huge and didn’t have a place where I could sit right above the water. But it was nice to get out on the water and see all the boats and schooners. We were also able to see a lot of fish right off the side of the boat. The water was 70 degrees so there was NO chance I was getting in, particularly with the outside temperature at 70 degrees and a strong wind. People didn’t snorkel long as it was a little rough in addition to being cold. I haven’t been back to Key West in over 10 years and boy has it grown. No longer a sleepy little town but a tourist cruise port that has lots of t-shirt and souvenir shops. The nice thing is they still have a lot of quaint bars and restaurants and the touristy shops are pretty anyway. With so many white building the town looks very clean. I had been to all the sights before so I just walked around for about 4 hours and got a gelato and a snack at the famous “Sloppy Joes.” I came back to swim but the pool was closed because those crazy Americans sent their public health inspector on board, probably because we came from the Amazon, and closed the pool as of 6am this morning because the ph was too high. It will reopen once they get off at 6pm, but by then I’ll be at dinner. Oh well I did my strokes in the hot tub. I REALLY miss having the opportunity to swim every morning!!!! Tonight the movie, “Great Expectations” and a countdown to next year’s world cruise in the atrium. Tomorrow: Miami and end of cruise