57:04.4N  59:31.3W

What a treat. Last night we witnessed the most spectacular display of the Northern Lights. As night fell, we entered intermittent banks of fog, but as time moved on, the fog cleared the skies darkened and we started seeing the odd flicker of green towards the North. These flickers gradually built up until at midnight they burst into their full glory. Great sheets of flickering, waving, green luminescent light filled the northern sky, while elsewhere there were swirls of green like galaxies, shifting and changing shape. At times the green colour was edged with reds, whites and blues. It was quite mesmerising and lasted for a full three hours. We’d all said that if we got a display of Northern Lights we wanted to be woken, so at midnight the full ships complement was on deck, blown away by this extraordinary natural phenomenon.

This came after an uneventful day, moving slowly towards our waypoint off the Labrador coast opposite Nain. Well, not exactly towards it. We were on starboard tack, heading South West parallel to the coast, waiting for a forecast shift which would allow us to tack towards our destination. The shift kept us waiting, but at 20.45, suddenly kicked in and we were at last able to tack onto port.

We have seen no shipping, but have been accompanied on several occasions by large pods of pilot whales. This time we have managed to get some excellent photographs and video footage.

If all goes as planned, we should be into Nain by late this evening.