MEDITERRANEAN 2006

For the eclipse of 29 March 2006, we decide on a Mediterranean cruise organised by Mayhugh Travel of California. There is longer totality mid-Sahara, and less cloud. However, there are other considerations.

South Libya seemed the destination.
Totality, four minutes duration.
But a hot desert land
Where cold beer is banned
Does not enter my computation.

Our cruise ship is operated by Costa Cruises of Italy, and is called (I kid you not) the Costa Fortuna. It leaves from Savona, near Genoa. Embarkation is an all-day event. At first, we regard this as a boring wait, but we convert this to our first onshore excursion, a fascinating three-hour walk around the old city.

Many old Italian city centres have cobbled streets. In Savona, the pedestrian crossings are made with white cobblestones.

Day two, our time on board is largely spent exploring the ship and worrying about clouds. The ship is enormous—105,000 tons, more than 3,000 passengers, more than 1,000 crew, 890 feet long.   (It is bigger than some towns it will visit, in population and height, and probably mass, if not in area.)

Us eclipse freaks all want to know now How much viewing the clouds will allow. Ask one of the crew What the weather will do— He’ll say “In the stern or the bow?” The picture shows the main shopping street in the old centre of Savona. At the end of the street and across the harbour, you can see the Costa Fortuna, taller than the buildings.

Day three we have shore time in Greece including a tour of ancient Olympia. As we bus through Pyrgos on our way to Olympia, our guide tells us that a very well-known fellow came from this town.

The icons of culture we seek.
Ancient temples to noble physique.
Zeus’s temple of course,
The flame’s holy source,
And the birthplace of the famed Nick the Greek.

Day four is spent on Crete, visiting the ruins at Knossos and several scenic spots. I like Crete. I like the people, the scenery, the weather, the olives, and Mythos Hellenic Lager. I like the local custom of training mulberry trees into arches and other shapes. I even like the bloodthirsty stories from Minoan/Greek mythology.


I think I’ll be retiring to here.
I’ll be worshipping the children of Rhea.
Superintending
The mulberry bending,
And living on olives and beer.

Day five is eclipse day. As in 2005, we find that breaking Rule One is justified if one has a high degree of mobility. We head well north of the original planned course because of fog in the south Mediterranean, and find clear skies for totality despite some cloud with half an hour to go. 

A long eclipse, three minutes and 52 or 53 seconds. To me the corona seems smaller and spikier than in other eclipses. As expected at a time of minimum solar activity, the corona is very short at the sun’s north and south poles, where the lines of the sun’s magnetic field are clearly apparent. A long eclipse means the moon’s apparent size is large, and I don’t see any red colour with my naked eyes. Photos do show prominences at second and third contact.  This picture was taken with my Canon PowerShot A520 digital camera, on the default settings.

We watch the eclipse towards the bow of the ship, on the highest deck. 

	My belt makes an excellent multiple pinhole camera (photo by Herman Heyn)

The big crowd shouts and cheers and the captain signals the end of totality with three mighty blasts on what seems to be the world’s largest hooter.

Some people might need to be warned:
Stop looking when the diamond ring’s formed.
But you certainly knew
Third contact was through
If you were standing beside the ship’s horn.

Photos from a longer sequence taken by Hiroaki Kuwahara on the Costa Fortuna, showing a ring with two diamonds (or two major Baily's Beads)

Day six we spend at sea and nothing much happens. There is considerable discussion of the eclipse. But talking about an eclipse doesn’t compare with watching one.

In my battle today to produce,
The best I can hope for’s a truce.
To describe totality
With any reality,
Words aren’t a whole lot of use.

Day seven we spend in Lybia. Highlights are a visit to the ruins of the Roman city of Sabbratha and a look around the museum at Tripoli. The many Americans on the ship are not allowed ashore by the Libyan authorities.

I’d give the museum a good wrap,
And Sabbratha will stay on my map.
Strange with no sound
Of US accents around.
At least our guide wore a New York Yankees cap.

By day eight we are thinking about the next total eclipse, almost two and a half years away—North Pole, Siberia, west Mongolia.

There won’t be a total eclipse visible from Carolina until 2017, but that doesn’t stop me pinching a good line.

Now we must be patient and wait
For a very very far distant date.
Because nothing could be finer
Than to be in north-west China
In a morning in August 08. 

Back to previous eclipse, South Pacific 2005                    Next eclipse, China 2008