The Solar Eclipse
Most of the passengers on our cruise booked it in hopes of seeing the total eclipse of the sun so there was a lot of excitement coming into today. The cruise line had an astronomer on board who gave a number of lectures on eclipses and they provided everyone on board with solar eclipse classes for safe viewing of the eclipse.
The eclipse would begin about 5 PM with the total eclipse coming just before 6 PM. Unfortunately the day did not look promising for viewing an eclipse but I readied my camera and gear in preparation for whatever we could see.
Since the main event was not happening until late in the afternoon we had much of the day to just enjoy the ship. We were not that hungry at lunch time so we picked up some bite sized sandwiches at the coffee bar and enjoyed them in a lounge before attending a martini class at the martini bar. It was a fun time. The bar tenders at a number of the bars like to perform tricks as they mix drinks. We got a good show as our bar tender made 3 different martinis for us. Thankfully all were fairly small as photographing an eclipse has a number of challenges that don’t mix with too much alcohol..
I went up to the main outdoor deck around 4:15 PM with my camera, tripod and everything else I needed to film the eclipse and I was able to secure a table and chairs at a good spot. I dressed in multiple layers as iI knew it would be cold up on deck for at least part of the time. Everyone was thrilled that the captain had positioned our ship in an area with blue skies above us. There were lots of clouds in the area however. It was actually warm on deck with the sun out despite being only 55 degrees. I was able to get a few photos of the full sun through my specially filter so I was all set for the eclipse. The photo below was taken with blue skies but the solar filter is needed to see the details of the sun and the filter removes so much light it makes the sky look black.
People started gathering on the deck just before 5 and wrapped themselves in blankets provided by the ship. Cruise staff came around and offered hot chocolate and hot soup as we waited. Unfortunately as 5 PM approach the cloud cover started to increase. I started taking photos with the filter but shortly after the eclipse started it began clouding up so much that the sun was totally covered by the clouds so I had to take the filter off in order to see anything. During the partial eclipse the clouds periodically cleared and we were fortunate to be able to see many of the phases of the eclipse as the sun became obscured by the moon. Unfortunately during totality the clouds totally covered the sun but we did experience the total darkness and the lighted horizon for about 2 minutes. Many of the cruise ship staff were out on deck taking selfies and enjoying the event with he passengers. Despite not getting to see totality, it was a wonderful experience .
Once the eclipse was over the decks cleared pretty quickly and most people headed to dinner so the dining rooms were a bit overwhelmed. We waited a bit to head to dinner but the crowds were still there so dinner took a little longer than usual, but we just went with the flow. Dinner was excellent. After dinner we enjoyed some of the entertainment on the ship and stopped by one of the bars where they make specialty cocktails. Afterwards we headed to our cabin for some sleep.