-Bill and Denise Kramer

Of all the choices to view the total solar eclipse of July 2009, our selection was to be on board the Paul Gauguin; a luxury cruise ship operated by Regent Cruise Lines in the south Pacific and chartered by Travel Quest International and Wilderness Travel for a 14 day cruise to intercept the eclipse.

The Paul Gauguin cruise did not afford the longest duration. In fact, the duration was just under three and half minutes with second contact taking place only eight degrees above the horizon. What attracted us to it was the relatively high probability of success. The Paul Gauguin is a fast ship (relatively speaking) and has a very experienced and professional crew. The weather in that part of the world is normally mostly clear. Another way to say it is that there are normally some clouds in the sky. And as one looks towards the horizon the density of clouds appears to increase. No question it was a gamble, and it paid off with a beautiful eclipse. Read the eclipse day story below and click on the smaller pictures to see them in higher resolution.

	Sunrise on eclipse day. An orange sky and a green flash! Image by Denise using a 300mm lens.
	The islanders of Puka-Puka waving from the beach. It is rare to see a cruise ship in these waters. The captain said they didn't know about the eclipse to occur that afternoon and were glad to learn of it. Image by Denise.
	After a cruise past the island we steamed off towards the center line and our eclipse encounter. At this time the clouds were minimal and spirits were high. Image by Denise.
	By 2:30 in the afternoon we were in position for the eclipse. The clouds were marginal and the plan was to have the sun to the starboard side of the ship. We staked out our positions and continued to wait. Image by Denise.
	4:30 in the afternoon we were under increasing cloud cover. 1st contact was in the clouds. Overhead the clouds were broken, but the horizon was looking questionable. There was no clear direction to turn. Image by Denise.
	Six o'clock and the clouds are looking thicker as totality approaches. The ship had numerous first time eclipse chasers and they were beginning to wonder if they would remain eclipse virgins. Image by Denise.
	6:11, totality is just a few minutes away, the captain sets his course. Image by Denise.
	6:14, totality is less than a minute away! Clouds just below the sun. Image by Denise.
	2nd contact - just above the clouds, a clear view. It was spectacular. Handheld image by Denise using Canon digital with 80mm lens.
	Beads of photosphere at 2nd contact. Image by Bill Kramer using a Canon 50D and 400mm zoom on tripod. Also, check out the results of the "Bead Finder" test which attempted to predict the placement of the beads. 1.2 seconds before second contact
	The ship's photographer, Ryan Aguas and the crew captain headed off in a small rescue craft to capture an amazing image of the eclipse over the ship. The ship's lights were turned on so that you can see it better after a radio call between the vessels. Click the image to visit Ryan's web site with other great photographs his special voyage.
	The corona as photographed by Bill Kramer using a Canon 50D with a 400mm lens on a tripod. Composite created by Andrew Hinds using Photoshop. This closely matches what was seen through binoculars. Note cloud near bottom right - yikes!
	Third contact as captured by Gary Bengier using a Canon 20Da with Canon ET-83c 100-400 zoom lens.
	Map of the eclipse and ship track showing duration details, eclipse facts, pictures, and islands. Map produced by master map maker - Michael Zeiler. 1200x800 (360k), 10800x7200 (6mb)

Our official location was provided as 9 degrees, 53.9 seconds South and 164 degrees, 43.9 minutes West. The time of this position reading was 18 hours, 14 minutes, 52 seconds local - just 12 seconds earlier than the predicted start of totality for that same location at 18:15:04.

Note: It is not uncommon to indicate the beginning of the eclipse when the diamond ring appears. The actual time of start is when it disappears - suddenly leaving the ruby red chromosphere in its place.

Actual Calculated Contact Times (with limb corrections) for given position:

Total duration is 3 minutes and 25 seconds.		Alt.
1st contact:	5:17:50 PM	21
2nd contact:	6:15:04 PM	8
Mid eclipse:	6:16:47 PM	8
3rd contact:	6:18:29 PM	8
4th contact:	7:10:20 PM	NV

Cool report from Travel Quest (pdf)