Totality Down Under

Everything went perfectly!

Diamond ring

 Because the moon was about as far away from the Earth as it could be and still result in a total eclipse, the path of totality was very narrow, 25km or 40 miles, and totality lasted only 60 seconds. This also meant it didn't get totally dark, because the Earth was outside totality 20 miles on each side of us.

The further away the moon is, the smaller it looks, so there is about a 6% variance in the apparent size. Because the Earth is spherical, and we saw the eclipse at very close to noon, we were about as close to the moon as we could be, so we got to see a total eclipse. Further away around the Earth it's farther from the moon, so they got to see only an annular eclipse. So this eclipse is "hybrid"--total in some places, annular in others.

The ship put down anchor in the cove, so the water was as still as it gets. The skies were clear. We were even asked not to move around during totality, so not even footsteps would disturb the photographers. We took some pictures before and after (bad ones), but during totality we just took off our special eclipse viewing shades and just looked with our naked eyes.

First contact--when the moon just touches the sun--was about 10am. Second contact (totality) was 11:30. Third contact, 11:31, end ot totality. Fourth contact, about 1pm. We got to see the diamond ring effect at both second and third contact, and Bailey's Beads in between. And yes, I did also see Jupiter, not far from the sun.

Tim and Elise managed to reserve the aft deck on deck 11 for just our group (of about 150), so we even had plenty of room.

Ritz cracker photography