SOUTH PACIFIC OCEAN 2005

The only place to see totality (thirty seconds of it) during this hybrid eclipse is from a ship. We book on the MV Discovery, one of three possibilities. Our trip, organised by Sky & Telescope magazine and TravelQuest International, goes from Tahiti to Easter Island. We are concerned about the cost.

The South Pacific it beckoned
The trip of a lifetime we reckoned
Leave the bank account stark
For some moments of dark
Just don't ask what it's costing per second.

First stop after Papeete, Tahiti, is nearby Moorea, which lives up to our expectations of a tropical paradise. Driving around the island is almost like driving through a seaside botanic garden, despite the number of hotels and souvenir shops. The local black pearls are heavily promoted.

Moorea's not quite as Cook found it. Now, hotels and pearl shops surround it. Some might not agree But the black pearl for me Has got a corona around it.

The ship takes more than two days to get to the next landfall, Pitcairn Island. Our main diversion is a series of talks given by astronomers and other experts. Jay Anderson explains the climate of the area and surmises that the most appropriate way to propitiate the Polynesian weather gods would be to sacrifice a meteorologist.

Jay Anderson's open and frank
Re his fears if eclipse day is dank.
When totality's near,
We'll see skies that are clear,
Or a weatherman walking the plank.

Another diversion is a nightly guided tour of the southern skies. But the southern sky at 20 degrees south is no novelty to somebody who lives at 38 degrees south, so I gaze towards the northern horizon.

At Crux and Centaurus they stare
The clouds of Magellan! Look there!
But I'm trying to sight
A more exotic delight
The Big Dipper, or the Big Bear.

Many passengers on the ship are keen to go ashore at Pitcairn Island, even if this involves climbing down a rope ladder to the island's longboat. But the seas are too rough, and the nearest we get to Bounty Bay is talking with the descendants of Fletcher Christian at their souvenir stands. We are disappointed, but we take it meekly.

You'd expect us passengers to combust
If the longboat to Pitcairn's not a must.
But at the last minute
When we couldn't get in it
Mutiny wasn't even discussed!

At our daily talks, a major topic is how to allocate our time during the thirty seconds of totality. Should we watch for the approaching or departing shadow or look at the diamond ring for an extra half a second? Should we look for shadow bands, prominences, or Baily's beads? Should we study the corona, or look for Venus (easy) or Mercury (difficult)? Should we concentrate on our cameras and video equipment, or just gape? There is much mention of the famous quotation "all eclipses are eight seconds long".

In the middle of the night, as we steam away from Pitcairn Island towards the planned viewing location near Oeno Island, the weather changes. A difficult decision (whether to wake up the captain) is made. The captain agrees to a course change, and we steam north and east of the originally planned position.

All morning, there is plenty of cloud around, high cirrus and low cumulus. We manage to avoid the thicker stuff, and we see the eclipse very clearly through thin cirrus cloud. To me the inner corona seems brighter and redder than at other eclipses, perhaps because we are near the point of the umbra and we can see more of the chromosphere than usual. And the outer corona seems fainter than usual, perhaps because of the cloud. But the eclipse is breathtaking, and seems over in a moment.

I looked for the things that I oughta
Corona, beads, shadows on water.
I think they were wrong
About that eight seconds long;
Felt more like two and a quarter.

Almost three days to reach Easter Island. After leaving the ship, we stay a couple of days before our flight back to Tahiti and Melbourne. I don't have to tell you how strange Easter Island is, how astonishing its statues or how depressing its history. 

I am surprised at how the island is carpeted with rocks of all sizes. The three volcanoes that created the island must have spent millions of years throwing them out.

The hotel cleaning staff throws out my souvenir collection of empty Chilean beer cans. But despite such setbacks, we resolve to see the total eclipse of March 2006.

I'll be working to keep up with Jones
Until old age crumbles my bones.
And I'll stop making trips
To see an eclipse
When Easter Island runs out of stones.

Some people have more advanced
viewing equipment than others.
PHOTO:  Yoshiko Kuwahara

Back to previous eclipse, Antarctica 2003

Go to next eclipse--Mediterranean 2006

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