Umbraphile - Eclipse Chaser…Cosmic Gazer – call me what you will!

I’d have to accept all of the above titles based on my travels over the last 15 years.

On 10 August 1999 I crammed a few good mates into the back of my VW Campervan and drove across England to our destination the Lizard Peninsula in Cornwall; the line of totality for a Solar Eclipse.

The UK had been going stir-crazy in the build up for this celestial event, the first to cross its shores in 80 years - the hype was unbelievable. Road signs told of potential traffic chaos six months before the big day, television stations we’re covering the event live and every Tom, Dick and Harry were selling ‘official’ eclipse-watching glasses.

Eclipse-fever had grabbed the country and we were part of it. Caught in the media frenzy, caught in the long lines of traffic!

Pictured above: On the banks of the Zambezi River, Mozambique, preparing for the eclipse.

Pictured below: Interviewing the locals.

I’m not sure what we we’re expecting back then, it would be my first experience of such a phenomenon. Tales of total darkness in the middle of the day and dropping temperatures were the rumour. Pretty much an average summer’s day in the UK then.

The biggest issue facing the 250,000 tourists who’d flocked to the region was almost 100% cloud cover in the week leading up to the spectacle. It’s simple, you need to be able to see the sun if you’re going to witness a Solar Eclipse!



The experience itself was pretty amazing, in fact for me - life changing. The clouds did part at the right moment giving a perfect view of the moon covering the sun.

The area plunged into darkness for three minutes and I was hooked. If you needed convincing that we live in a solar system on a ball of rock orbiting around the sun with other balls of rock, then this was it.

I turned to my friend Owen and said, “Wherever the next eclipse happens in the world, we have to be there!”

November 13th in Port Douglas will be my 5th Total Solar Eclipse. I’m as excited about this one as I was my first. Knowing what to expect means I’ll hopefully take all the right equipment to film and photograph it.
 
But if it's your first then don’t even think about these things – take yourself along, a good pair of eclipse sunglasses and just absorb the entire experience. It’s only going to last a few minutes and if you blink you’ll miss it!

For Ben's full account of his eclipse experiences check out his feature in the latest Port Douglas Magazine.