We were up at half past seven this morning and the first thing we did was look out of our window to see what the weather was like. Today, of all days, it had to be fine. It didn’t matter if it rained for the rest of the cruise as long as it didn’t rain today. 🙂
The forecast had said to expect clouds and some rain showers, but for the moment the sky was blue and there were lots of fluffy cumulus clouds. We hoped it would stay like this, but it was not yet eight o’clock and 4.30pm local time, when the ‘event’ was due to begin, was still a long way off.
We ate our breakfast in The View self-service buffer, the afterwards went out side onto the aft deck for a walk around in the fresh air. Britain has been sweltering in a heatwave for the last couple of weeks, but here, off the west coast of Iceland, it was much cooler at around 12°C.
After breakfast, we returned to 3388 to have a look at the Daily Times programme for today. Our cabin stewardess had been in, and she had left us a pair of special solar eclipse glasses for use later on. How exciting! 🙂
We saw that there was a game of baggo on in the Ocean Bar at 9.30am, so we went along where one of the entertainment hosts, Keenan, saw us and put our names down immediately. All the usual players were there, and the competition was fierce as usual. We were knocked out in the first round, which we didn’t really mind because there was a talk on in the Neptune Lounge at ten o’clock, and we didn’t want to miss it.
The talk was called “When the Sun goes Dark”, and our on-board astrophysicist Dr Maggie Lieu spoke to us in detail, with lots of slides and photographs, about exactly what we could expect this afternoon. There was a timeline of the whole event (which would last around two hours if we stayed for the whole thing), and even our usual 6.00pm dinner sitting in the restaurant had been put back to 6.30pm – if they had left it at six o’clock they probably would have had an empty restaurant – who was going to miss this?
After the talk had finished, we went back outside again. We noticed that they had opened the fo’c’sle on the vessel to passengers, so we headed up the steep stairs on to the deck, just below the bridge. It wasn’t just to keep a check on the weather, but also because the Bolette was entering a fjord, at the end of which was a desultory waterfall trickling down the rocks. It was difficult to get a decent photo of the waterfall because the sun was facing us, rather than shining on the water. I actually found the unusual ridges on the rocky mountainside to be more interesting than the waterfall.
As you can see from these photos, the weather was still fine, and the sun felt very warm on our backs. I had my special glasses in my pocket and I put them on and looked at the sun. It was strange; the sun just looked like an orange ball in a completely black sky. We had been told that the glasses filtered out 99.99% of light; the only thing bright enough to see would be the sun. My stomach gave a little flip of excitement – we didn’t want to wish our lives away but I couldn’t wait for the eclipse this afternoon.
In 1999, which was the last time there was a total eclipse in Europe, the only place in Britain where we had totality was in Cornwall, the south-west As we are at the other end of the country in the north-east, we only saw a partial eclipse, but it was still unusual; the daylight had become dusk and the temperature had dropped. I had viewed video clips of the Cornwall eclipse on YouTube, and it had fascinated me the way broad daylight had just turned to night time in the middle of the day!
Our scenic cruising had taken us nicely up to lunchtime, and we decided to go in the Bloomsbury Restaurant for a substantial lunch, as we didn’t know if we would make it to dinner tonight. We were shown to a table for two at the window on the starboard side, and it was very fortuitous because we had only been sitting there 10 minutes, enjoying a chilled glass of fizz each, when Trevor said “What was that?” and pointed outside. I followed his finger and spotted a spout of water and a tantalising glimpse of a black fin – a whale! As I saw another spout, I shouted “WHALE!” and the people at the adjacent tables, as well as some waiters, came running over.
There appeared to be more than one whale, because we saw several spouts, one of them very close to the ship. Then we caught a glimpse of a tail fluke as one of them dived down. It wasn’t one of their deep dives as the whole fluke didn’t come out of the water but still – whales. We have seen whales and dolphins lots of times on our many cruises, in places such as Norway, the Caribbean, Alaska, Antarctica, the Galápagos and crossing the Atlantic. However, the thrill of a sighting never dims, and it can even be quite emotional at times.
After lunch we pottered around for a while before going to the pool deck and enjoying a couple of cocktails. Then we returned to 3388 for an afternoon power-nap, during which time we awoke with a start as the captain’s voice boomed out over the PA to let us know there was an iceberg sighted on the port side of the ship.
We shot out of our cabin and along to the first door we came to – this was one of the advantages to having our cabin on the promenade deck. Sure enough, there was a large iceberg floating along. We wondered where it had come from – all icebergs start off being parts of glaciers which break off and tumble into the sea. This one had been intricately carved by the action of the waves; it was white with a pale blue tint.
First a whale, then an iceberg – if we hadn’t already known we were in Iceland we would certainly have known now! People often think we’re mad going to cold places on holiday, but if you want the best scenery and wildlife and glaciers and snow and, occasionally, the Northern Lights, then cold places are the best. We actually prefer Norway in winter than in the summer.
It was now almost 4.00pm and the big event was due to start in half an hour. I plugged in my phone to charge, so I would be able to take plenty of photos. The weather was still holding, although there were certainly more clouds than there had been earlier on – we hoped there would be sufficient breaks in the cloud for us to watch Mother Nature turn all the lights off. 🙂
Around 4.15pm we dressed warmly in layers, picked up our special glasses and our phones, and made our way along the corridor and up in the lift to Deck 10, the topmost deck, right at the bow. Several people were already lying on sun loungers, staring up at the sky, and the really keen photographers were setting up tripods and attaching special lenses to their expensive cameras. As we looked around, trying to decide on the best vantage point, we spotted Susan and Steve from table #207 and they beckoned us over. Waiters were walking around with trays of hot chocolate and mulled wine; Trevor and I each selected one of the latter. 🙂
There was a sense of keen anticipation and excitement in the air as we all gazed skywards. While there were quite a lot of clouds, the thin covering over and around the sun allowed us to view it easily through our special glasses. We could already see the small ‘bite’ that the moon had taken out of the right-hand bottom of the sun. The eclipse was starting! 🙂
Here’s Steve, Susan and Trevor all in their special sun-gazing glasses. 🙂
We continued to gaze up to the heavens, absolutely mesmerised, as the previously bright weather perceptibly darkened towards dusk, and the disk of the sun became crescent-shaped as the moon moved in front of it. Total solar eclipses are a fairly rare event (there is one somewhere on earth every 18 months or so) because of the way the earth, moon and sun have to line up perfectly for it to happen.
While the earth’s orbit around the sun is elliptical, it is only slightly so, as its eccentricity is about 0.0167 (where a perfect circle would have an eccentricity of 0.00). The moon, however, has an elliptical eccentricity of 0.0549. This eccentricity causes the Moon’s distance from Earth to change from about 363,300 km at its perigee (closest point) to 405,500 km at its apogee (furthest point). At the perigee, where the moon is closest to the earth, it can appear around 11% larger than usual, leading to a ‘supermoon’.
While the sun is 400 times larger than the moon, the moon is 400 times closer to the earth than the sun. When the moon passes between the earth and the sun at perigee, it therefore appears to be the same size as the sun and blocks it out, only the corona of the sun being visible.
When the moon passes between the earth and the sun at its apogee, it is much further away from the earth and hence appears smaller, so it doesn’t cover the sun. Instead, there is a larger ring of sunlight around the moon, leading to what is known as an annular eclipse.
We watched in fascination as the crescent of the sun grew thinner and thinner, and the daylight became dimmer and dusk-like. In addition, there was a noticeable drop in the temperature. Just look at the difference in daylight here, over a 15 minute period.
Here’s my sequence of photos, right up to just before totality. This was an incredible experience, and it was almost a party atmosphere at the bow of Bolette, as we enjoyed more mulled wine and excitedly kept our eyes heavenwards.
Then someone turned down the dimmer switch in the heavens. I can’t describe it any better than that. The light perceptibly became dimmer and dimmer before it became night time. The sun had gone, and all we could see was its bright corona, partially blocked by the clouds that continued to drift across the sky. But in a way, having the clouds was better; it allowed us to take some pretty good photos with our phones; if we had had bright sunshine all that would have happened is that we’d have got a photo of the glare (that’s if it didn’t break our camera lenses altogether without a filter.).
Just look at how dark it was on deck now! 🙂
As I stared at the sun, I could even see one of the prominences, a huge cloud of burning gases in a pinky-red colour several times larger than the earth itself.
What was going through my head? I don’t know if I can find the right words to use; nothing seems adequate. I could just say “oh WOW” but that just seems slightly puerile, the word you use when you can’t think of a better one. I could say it was amazing, awesome, exhilarating, phenomenal, fearful in a way, emotional. Maybe it was none of those things, or maybe it was all of them. Maybe WOW was the word to use after all. 🙂
We had two minutes and 18 seconds of totality which was the maximum, as the ship was right in the centre of the path of totality. It seemed no time at all before the crescent of the sun appeared again, this time on the right hand side, as the moon completed its transit. Everyone was on a high; it had been fantastic, and the clouds had actually helped us rather than hinder us. We had seen what we came to see, when we booked this voyage 20 months ago, and it was now something else we could tick off the bucket list.
As it was after 6.00pm now, we wondered whether or not to go to the buffet instead of the restaurant. Steve and Susan said they were only going to have a quick wash and brush up; they said they didn’t think the staff would mind if passengers went into the restaurant tonight in casual clothes. Nevertheless, we hotfooted it back to 3388 and I got washed and changed in record time, putting on some smarter clothes, retouching my makeup and scraping my hair up into a high ponytail, to which I clipped a fake bun. We arrived at the restaurant only slightly late.
What a day it had been! We’d seen whales, icebergs and now a total eclipse of the sun! Lots of people go through their lives not seeing any of those things – we were so lucky. 🙂
Needless to say, dinner was a lively affair. We all had lots to talk about, and the good food, wine and conversation flowed. As ever, we had to be chivvied out of the restaurant again, and we made our way along to the Neptune Lounge for tonight’s entertainment. While we were waiting for the show to start, I took out my phone and looked over all my photos again. I couldn’t stop looking at them; I was very pleased with how they had turned out, especially as it is just a phone camera. My phone is two years old, it’s the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra but its camera is amazing; up to 200 megapixels and 10 x optical zoom (100 digital zoom). Everyone comments on the quality of my photos, compared to many smartphones.
The show tonight featured “Les Phillips Brothers”, a couple of Frenchmen who were comedy jugglers. They were very good too, and they involved several audience members in their very funny show. We enjoyed it a lot, and it was certainly something different.
Then it was along to the Morning Light pub for tonight’s quiz; Steve and Susan joined us and once again we didn’t win. Afterwards, as we were passing the table football game at the games end of the pub, we decided to play a “Men versus Women” game of football. Susan and I lost 8-2 as Trevor and Steve took it really seriously. 😀
Afterwards, Susan said goodnight and returned to her cabin, while Steve decided to join Trevor and me in the Observatory, where they were holding a “Music Masters” quiz. The resident band Cosmic Lemon, played introductions to popular tunes, and you had to name either the title, the year the song was out, or even sing the next line. The room was divided into two teams, with one member of the entertainments team hosting each side. It got pretty lively and noisy at times when we thought people were cheating, or if one of the hosts gave points out for tenuous answers. Our team started off well, but eventually fell behind.
Trevor and I then finished the evening off with a nightcap, and returned to 3388 to settle down for the night. As we opened the door to our cabin, we spotted a nice surprise: a certificate from Fred Olsen Cruise Lines to commemorate experiencing the Total Solar Eclipse. What a nice souvenir.
As we got washed and changed and into our jammies, ready for bed, we felt strangely anti-climactic. But our cruise was far from over. Tomorrow we would be arriving in the pretty little town of Isafjordur, a place we had last visited 20 years ago on the Funchal. No doubt it would have changed a lot since then.
We settled down and slept very well.