Thanks guys!
Yeah it was amazing to see and it literally looked like that with the naked eye, couldn't believe how bright it was. I was also amazed at how quickly it moved and changed shape, I did a few where I was taking 2 or 4 second shots in sequence (hoping some of them wouldn't be blurry) and the difference between the frames is crazy.
It was a bit of a challenge taking shots from the ship and it wasn't a big cruise ship or anything it was like a large ferry. It's amazing what you can get away with by having a steady hand, good timing and controlling your breathing. That last one was handheld with my 5DmkII + 16-35Lf2.8@16 ISO6400 2sec:
http://hughsblog.files.wordpress.com...6/img_5424.jpg