COOK ISLANDS 2010
We decide to watch the 2010 eclipse from
Mangaia in the
by TravelQuest International.
TravelQuest, in 2005). This time,
totality will be more than three minutes.
Once more chase the shadow, we reckoned.
The eclipse near
Is three minutes longer.
That’s much less expensive per second.
Yoko and I arrive in Rarotonga a day
before most of the group, and we take some time learning
how to get around on the island. This is not too challenging. There
are two bus routes, and you
can see what the other one is.
Our first night in
morning, and despite hotel lights around, I can see the sky far better than at
home in
I went out before sunup today.
The stars were blazing away.
As an umbraphile might,
I said “cloudy tonight”.
And then “No, that’s the old Milky Way”.
By the end of our second day, we have
sampled the island food and music extensively.
We also
sampled some noni juice, a local speciality, which is supposed to be very good
for you but tastes
foul. The pictures show a noni tree with fruit, and the bottled end
product.
Living on papaya and fish.
I’ll swim the lagoons,
Play slide guitar tunes,
And give the juice of the noni a miss.
You might watch the grass grow in the
park.
You might watch paint dry in the dark.
Last night on the balcony
With a bottle of Chardonnay,
I watched Venus move ten minutes of arc.
Venus was so close to Regulus (less than
a degree away) that two hours was enough to see a
clear change in relative position.
with a population measured in hundreds, and hardly any tourist infrastructure.
As we approach
the landing strip, we can see the whole island, but (see picture) we can’t see
any buildings. We
are driven to the island school in the
converted to dormitories for a couple of days.
Tomorrow morning our dreams would come true.
With excitement so deep,
It wasn’t easy to sleep.
The roosters were a factor here too.
Roosters abound in the school’s
vicinity, and they begin their chorus early.
This is no problem
for those catching the 4 am shuttle to the viewing area, and wanting plenty of
time to set up their
equipment, but others are less impressed.
We plan to watch the eclipse at the
airstrip, on the north coast of the island.
When we leave the
school at 6 am the sky is clear, but ten minutes later, when we arrive, the sky
to the east is cloudy.
The sun rises behind cloud. At our
position, it remains covered until third contact, behind two or
three layers of cloud, and we do not see totality at all.
I believe that totality causes a funnel of cool
air, which can condense some water vapour and open a hole in the cloud.
I have seen this happen
(in
to see totality. This time, the hole
in the cloud appears just seconds after totality and we see a tiny
arc of sun. At the other end of the
airstrip, some saw the diamond ring at third contact, and at
other places on the island some people saw enough totality to take photos
showing the corona.
After the eclipse, our group splits up
to attend church services in various parts of the island.
We
go to the church in Oneroa, close to the school.
By always expecting the worst.
If ahead we could see,
We’d have a plan B.
Next time we’ll go to church first.
the church after the service—dozens of samples of local home cooking.
In the afternoon we do some more touring
around the island, including a look at part of its
amazing system of caves. At dusk,
from the school we watch the sun set over the ocean, and
we see the elusive green flash. After dinner, eight of us hire a local
driver to look for some dark
sky. Our first stop is a deserted
back road where the sky is darker and clearer than any of us
have ever seen. We spend half an
hour gaping and taking photos, but because the road is lined
with trees we decide to go back to the airstrip for a wider view.
As we arrive, clouds appear and
gradually cover most of the sky. On
the way back to the village, the sky clears again.
Perhaps
the airstrip is cursed.
A main road on Mangaia, between the villages of Oneroa and Tamarua; and green
flash
territory--the yard of the school. Somewhat prettier than the schools most
of us attended
We leave on an early flight, with happy memories, and strong appreciation of the
efforts of the 650
or so people of Mangaia in billeting, feeding and transporting 400
tourists—particularly the school
staff and students. We hope and
trust the eclipse was a successful fund-raiser for the school, for
the churches, and for all island enterprises.
| The eclipse was a bit short of a
flyer, But we had a great time on Mangaia. The folks are a gas, We saw the green flash, And we heard that Oneroa church choir.
A final few days relaxing on |
 |
Despite our disappointment, we shadow chasers are already checking the weather
prospects for
north
We can pack up our paraphernalia,
The eclipse, alas, was a failure.
But hope springs eternal
Despite weather infernal.
We’ll try again in
Our Mangaia hard luck story
 |
 |
| Just after first contact. Some patches of clearish sky, we have some hope
|
Nineteen minutes to second contact, still bits of
blue, still we hope
|
 |
 |
| Seven minutes to second contact and there's sunlight on the ocean, heading this way | Four minutes to second contact and the light is not going to reach us in time |
Totality! But all we see is darkening of the cloud, and a reflection of
the corona on the
ocean (photo by Hiroaki Kuwahara)
 |
 |
| Just seconds after third contact, we see this small arc (photo Hiroaki Kuwahara) |
The tunnel of light has finally reached us but moments too late |