Here is the accounting of my adventures into the Moon’s shadow over the last 20 years.  You get the date, the place, the eclipse type and duration observed. Available Trip Reports are linked in blue.

11 Jul 1991 - La Paz, Mexico - Total - 6:50

04 Jan 1992 - Catalina Island, USA - Annular - not seen

10 May 1994 - Stratford, Canada - Annular - 5:39

03 Nov 1994 - Iguazu Falls, Brazil - Total - 3:39

24 Oct 1995 - Fatehpur Sikri, India - Total -  0:59

26 Feb 1998 - Baby Beach, Aruba - Total -  3:34

11 Aug 1999 - Hasankeyf, Turkey - Total - 2:09

31 Jul 2000 - Pond Inlet, Canada - Partial

25 Dec 2000 - Toronto, Canada - Partial

21 Jun 2001 - Lusaka, Zambia - Total - 3:35

10 Jun 2002 - Puerta Vallarta, Mexico - Annular - barely seen

04 Dec 2002 - Outback, Australia - Total - 0:24

23 Nov 2003 - Antarctica - Total - 1:14

29 Mar 2006 - Jalu, Libya - Total - 4:04

01 Aug 2008 - Yiwu, China - Total - 1:55

22 Jul 2009 - Moganshan, China - Total - 2:15

11 Jul 2010 - Calafate, Argentina - Total - 2:40

With such short durations, it is hard to imagine that in my life I have stood in the Moon’s shadow for over 30 minutes!

On to Australia for 2012…

My 17th Solar Eclipse Expedition

My 12th successfully-observed Total Eclipse in a Row

On the way to Patagonia, I spent two weeks in Peru.  The classic Machu Picchu shot!

I don’t think anyone would argue with me if I said that eclipse chasers really want to see the eclipse. But can we anthropomorphize the eclipse and say, it really wants to be seen?

The TSE of 11 July 2010 was visible from Tahiti and the surrounding islands – across Easter Island through the south Pacific – ending on the very tip of South America - in Patagonia. Eighteen months before the eclipse, I was booked on a small clipper ship out of Tahiti – we were going to sail the remote Tuamotu Islands of French Polynesia for a week – then see the eclipse in the ocean off Tahiti’s south coast. The perfect plan. I was totally pumped. The idea of sailing around these islands en route to totality was a life dream come true. I love trains. And I love sail boats.

But no sail ever happened! They cancelled it months in advance. Apparently, the ship operator decided to redeploy the vessel to other, richer waters and dumped 75 chasers from the manifest. Nice.

I was then without an eclipse plan. And I let it slide. For months. Pretty soon, all the other Tahiti cruises were sold out. I checked into the tours and the music festival happening on Easter Island – loved the sound of it – but too expensive. (The greed of the tour operators and the airlines early in the selling turned away many people, and in the final few weeks before the eclipse they couldn’t give away their seats. The throngs of people that were supposed to show up on Rapa Nui for this eclipse never materialized). So I booked the next best option – a reasonably priced eclipse flight – a private charter into the path of the eclipse at 35,000 ft. A guaranteed cloudless eclipse! We couldn’t miss! So I booked passage to El Calafate – a sleepy cottage town in Patagonia – where the flight would take off on 11 July 2010.

But two days before the eclipse – they cancelled the flight. Problems with the aircraft, we were told. I was halfway around the world already and feared I would miss my first Total Eclipse in 20 years.

But against all odds, the eclipse was seen in a pristine sky above the Andes Mountains. This was the eclipse that wouldn’t take no for an answer.

]]> http://www.eclipseguy.com/tripreport/south-america-%e2%80%93-11-july-2010/feed http://www.eclipseguy.com/news/machu-picchu http://www.eclipseguy.com/news/machu-picchu#comments Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:10:11 +0000 eclipseguy http://www.eclipseguy.com/?p=1817 En route to the eclipse in Southern Argentina this year, I hiked the famous Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Amazing! Read the trip report here.

Full trip report, pix and produced video on the way.

We were so lucky.  With the 11th hour cancellation of my eclipse flight to see totality at 35,000 I thought I was going to miss my first total eclipse in 19 years.  But no.  From the Andes Mountains around El Calafate in southern Patagonia - overlooking Lago Argentino - I witnessed a truly inspiring sight:  the eclipse - hovering like a cosmic jewel over snow-capped peaks.  Read the complete trip report here.

See the Raw Video here.

On 11 July 2010, a Total Solar Eclipse will be visible from a long corridor that spans the southern Pacific Ocean.  Tahiti will be teeming with eclipse seekers and adventurers taking to the sea in cruise liners and boarding flights to remote Tuamotu Islands.  Easter Island will also be packed to its shores with human eyes looking skyward.

Animation of the Total Solar Eclipse of 11 July 2010

But at the end of the eclipse day, the Moon’s shadow crosses extreme southern Chile/Argentina where an organization called Eclipse-City will operate a private charter to fly into the path of the eclipse in mid air and intercept the shadow at  35,000 feet.  This is where I will be!  It’s my first observation from an aircraft!  Miles above the clouds, we are guaranteed a perfect view!  From this unique vantage point, we will see approximately 3:50 of Totality.

In the weeks prior to the eclipse, I will be visiting Peru for the first time.  I land in Lima - visit Puno - Lake Titicaca - then take the train through the Andes to Cuzco where I will embark on the famous Inca Trail hike up to Machu Picchu.  This spectacular trek takes three days and is one of the most intense hikes of my eclipse chasing career!  Amazing!  Then it’s back to Lima before making my way through Buenos Aires and on to El Calafate where our eclipse flight takes off on July 11.  This is the last total eclipse until the end of 2012 so it had better be a good one!

Come back later in the summer to see all the new eclipse video and expedition photography.

For more on this eclipse, visit Fred Espenak’s dedicated NASA web page here.

You must see a Total Eclipse of the Sun from the air before you die!