Today was a special day on our itinerary. A total solar eclipse was to happen on this day, visible (from land) in only two parts of the world, these being West Iceland and Spain.
Our itinerary had us seeing the eclipse at sea, off the cost of Iceland, with our location then preparing us for the next day sailing to Reykjavik.
Holland America had provided special glasses to view the esclipe without damaging our eyes.
Unfortunately the weather forecast was for cloud, and Iceland was likely to miss out on seeing the eclipse. There was a small amount of blue sky forecast further northwest of Iceland out at sea. Our captain decided to aim for the blue sky. He turned the ship, put the hammer down, and went as fast as our ship could go. As we approached the time of the eclipse, there was no blue sky to be seen, and our ship was zig-zagging as the captain tried his best, to pinpoint the location, no doubt relaying on weather data.
Only a couple of minutes before the eclipse was due to begin, suddenly a hole in the clouds opened and we had blue sky and a view of the run! The ship slowed right down and the captain posititioned the ship side-on to the sun. Luckily for us, our cabin balcony happened to be on the viewing side of the ship, so we stayed there.
We got to see the full transition from the moment the moon started crossing the sun, and the entire total eclipse.
What surprised me was that the minute or so of the total eclipse, no protective sunglasses were necessary, in fact were too dark. We just viewed the total eclipse with naked eyes.
The partial eclipse looked tiny throught the glasses, but the total eclipse looked much larger.
Although it went very dark, we still had reflection from surrounding clouds and sea, it was not pitch black as I had expected.
No sooner did the total eclipse end, and the clouds started to close in. Our blue sky was gone. We could not believe our luck, and are amazed at the captain's tenacity to making it a success for us.
Funny, the next total eclipse is in Dunedin New Zealand in 2028. So close to home while this was could not have been further away!
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