At Sea - Aurora Spotting????

Day two we spent at sea, travelling to our next port of call, the beautiful Flam. The first time we visited it was beautiful although the weather was not brilliant and there was lots of low cloud obscuring the views, this time it was clear and we got to see a whole lot more!!

During the day on the ship there were some demonstrations, a chef carving fruit and vegetables, plus beauty and massage demonstrations. We were also very fortunate to have a sunny day so we sat at the rear of the ship on our special deck absorbing the rays!! We had the deck to ourselves which was even better, like a private balcony without the added cost!!!

On the evening of that sea day we approached the start of the Fjords, the sun didn't set until around 11.45pm, we watched it go down from the disco bar on the 12th deck. It was so odd being so light that time of night.

The moon was out and it was still light AND it was nearly midnight, it was weird!!!

We went back to our cabin to go to bed, Beth was really tired and went to bed and fell asleep straight away . We put on the TV and watched the ships web cam. (its very useful when you have an inside cabin as it gives you an idea of where you are going!!) We noticed a strange yellow glow on the horizon, it was not where the sun had just gone down, it was in the complete opposite direction, we were heading north. So we left a note for Beth in case she woke up and went to investigate.

The picture is not very clear but this was the first shot I took, it was quite cloudy as well as being dark, the camera had trouble focusing. The light patch on the horizon just left of centre is an oil rig.

We watched and the sky gradually changed in colour to the below picture.

The sky seemed much brighter and the oil rig is more in focus, possibly due to the extra light, clouds are still quite heavy though. I wonder if we saw the Aurora Borealis??? Once we arrived in Flam the next morning I bought a post card and I now think that we did see a distant Aurora Borealis.

It certainly started off like the orange glow on the horizon, I think the clouds obscured any spectacular display of the green colours. When I got home and checked my email I found a mail from Aurora watch (I subscribe to their early warning emails) which advised that on the 2nd and 3rd of June there was a high chance of of spotting the Aurora from England, so I think that is what we spotted on that evening. I now want to go and see a real display!!!