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Eclipse Trip
Not all that many months after we’d made it back from our first cruise in years, my parents presented a short list of upcoming cruises to me and asked which seemed the most interesting. I said that I appreciated in a certain way that they’d noticed a “circling Japan” voyage, but the cruise that promised to observe the upcoming total solar eclipse would be something that wouldn’t happen again.
With that said, I was a little conscious that I’d been thinking “I won’t have to leave my province to reach the path of totality.” My parents had already taken note of the weather generally being clearer off the coast of Mexico, though. At Christmas we gifted each other eclipse glasses and began selecting “shore excursions” for the other stops on the way, but I might have been a bit detached from too many thoughts ahead until just a few weeks before leaving when I had to start thinking about just what I’d pack and just what else I needed to get.
After flying to California, boarding the cruise ship there, and a first stop at the southern end of Baja California, the day of the eclipse arrived. The days just before had been a bit overcast in the morning; this one was clearer. Perhaps the only issue was that we’d found a space on the upper deck early and set up chairs facing one way, then had the ship turn around to point its stern towards the sun. Back in 2017 the eclipse that year advanced enough where I work for the light outside to change in a peculiar way, which offered a first sense of familiarity. I suppose what I hadn’t imagined was that, despite knowing the most familiar photographs of a fuzzy white mass surrounding a black circle don’t match what eyes can see, other more heavily processed images showing more delicate coronal streamers couldn’t show just how bright a narrow ring around the black circle in a dark blue sky remained. That had me thinking of when I managed to see one of the last space shuttle launches in person. I could just see streamers anyway, and the solar prominence that got the attention of so many got my attention as well in part for how red it was, an intensity of colour in the sky matching or exceeding clouds at sunset.
After one more stop in Mexico we spent six days on the ship heading to Hawaii, and after interesting stops at three of the islands (dropping in on different sides of “the big island” for our first stop and our last) we spent five more days heading back to the mainland. Having saved some money by not buying an internet package I was conscious of my disconnection making these comments out of date, but the experience stayed memorable.
With that said, I was a little conscious that I’d been thinking “I won’t have to leave my province to reach the path of totality.” My parents had already taken note of the weather generally being clearer off the coast of Mexico, though. At Christmas we gifted each other eclipse glasses and began selecting “shore excursions” for the other stops on the way, but I might have been a bit detached from too many thoughts ahead until just a few weeks before leaving when I had to start thinking about just what I’d pack and just what else I needed to get.
After flying to California, boarding the cruise ship there, and a first stop at the southern end of Baja California, the day of the eclipse arrived. The days just before had been a bit overcast in the morning; this one was clearer. Perhaps the only issue was that we’d found a space on the upper deck early and set up chairs facing one way, then had the ship turn around to point its stern towards the sun. Back in 2017 the eclipse that year advanced enough where I work for the light outside to change in a peculiar way, which offered a first sense of familiarity. I suppose what I hadn’t imagined was that, despite knowing the most familiar photographs of a fuzzy white mass surrounding a black circle don’t match what eyes can see, other more heavily processed images showing more delicate coronal streamers couldn’t show just how bright a narrow ring around the black circle in a dark blue sky remained. That had me thinking of when I managed to see one of the last space shuttle launches in person. I could just see streamers anyway, and the solar prominence that got the attention of so many got my attention as well in part for how red it was, an intensity of colour in the sky matching or exceeding clouds at sunset.
After one more stop in Mexico we spent six days on the ship heading to Hawaii, and after interesting stops at three of the islands (dropping in on different sides of “the big island” for our first stop and our last) we spent five more days heading back to the mainland. Having saved some money by not buying an internet package I was conscious of my disconnection making these comments out of date, but the experience stayed memorable.
