Digging from old photos stored in my cloud storage, I bumped into photos during my days as Second Officer on board the M/S Paul Gauguin. But these photos are not about the ship’s regular cruises around French Polynesia or elsewhere around the South Pacific. It’s about her remarkable voyage chasing the solar eclipse that happened on the 22nd of July 2009. With totality that lasted 6 minutes and 39 seconds, it was the longest total solar eclipse during the 21st century. It was a ‘once in a lifetime’ experience for everyone on board as the next longest total solar eclipse will occur on the 16th of July 2186 and that is 177 years from that day.
Many people would travel to remote locations just to observe this natural phenomenon take place. And that was where the M/S Paul Gauguin set its course that day – to the solar eclipse point at Lat. 10°17.0″N, Long. 164°10.6″E. This point is much closer to Suwarrow Island. At these coordinates, the solar eclipse’s totality occurred at 04:17 UTC and lasted for 3 minutes and 27 seconds.
SPECIAL AND TOTAL RARITY CRUISE
Why special?
Because who we have onboard are people who will do almost anything, and travel almost anywhere, just to witness this rare astronomical occurrence. Compared to the ship’s routinary cruises, all guests are purely holidaymakers who simply would want to relax and enjoy visiting destination islands.
Why total rarity?
I mentioned total rarity because the M/S Paul Gauguin was on her one-shot cruise chasing the longest total solar eclipse. The next longest total solar eclipse won’t happen again in our lifetime.
I still have my notes on that particular phenomenal event. Here’s below:
00:53 UTC
The moon’s shadow first touched the Earth. That was sunrise in India. Then it crosses through Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, and China. After leaving mainland Asia, the path crosses Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and curves southeast through the Pacific Ocean.
02:35:19 UTC
Time of the greatest eclipse and the longest to occur in the 21st century with totality lasting 6 minutes and 39 seconds at the point of greatest eclipse located at the Pacific Ocean at Latitude 24°12′36″N, Longitude 144°06′24″E. This took place over an open ocean with no land in sight. The second half of the eclipse path crosses nothing but the ocean and few tiny islands and coral atolls among the Marshall Islands and Kiribati.
04:18 UTC
End of the total solar eclipse.
Contemplating to have experienced that overwhelming rarity, I would consider myself born under the lucky star. Have a great day!
