Well although the weather is grey and dreary I have to say the temperature is quite a lot warmer than we've experienced in a long time. Gone is the dry icy chill from the air and now it feels comparatively warm and damp. Funny to be saying it feels very warm when we're still at 74° N. According to the Eshamy thermometer the sea temperature is now approximately 8°C. I wish the clouds would disappear for a day and night though! We are now within the Norwegian 200 nm limit so to celebrate we had a feast of fried potatoes, boiled tinned vegetables and tinned salmon. This was followed by a shot of Russian vodka for something different, although alcohol seems to be dangerous at the moment with our current reduced tolerance! The wind wasn't very kind to us late Tuesday night, early Wednesday morning and we've been pushed further north again in our attempt to head west. It's a bit painful knowing we are so close to land yet so far..are we there yet? Wednesday didn't improve much and the afternoon was spent checking the batteries and fixing the furling line for the genoa which had gotten itself in a mess. The evening got better though. When I went on deck it was so dark that all I could see were the flashes of phosphorescence in the waves. After a while it seemed to get quite bright and I noticed the clouds had cleared and I could see some stars. At first I thought I was hallucinating from too long spent at sea or sleep deprivation but then I realised it was the auroras! What a sight..it was spectacular and I was treated to an impressive display and a sky full of stars (with the odd shooting star) for hours, interrupted only by the occasional patch of clouds. Out of habit I found myself looking for the Southern Cross amongst the stars then realised what I was doing..wrong hemisphere. I am very happy now I've seen the auroras (thanks for the info Dad)! It's currently Thursday afternoon and we're becalmed again so to boost crew morale we had pancakes and are now sitting here waiting for the wind. I think this is the calm before the storm as the saying goes. There are 50 or so fulmars surrounding the boat and it's so still that you can smell them!