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February 26, 1998, was the day of the last Total Solar Eclipse to be seen this century in the Americas. In Dallas, where I live, the eclipse was partial, about 12 percent, but those of us fortunate enough, or crazy enough, and now poor enough, to travel to Venezuela, we were able to see the full totality of the eclipse.
The path of the eclipse ran in a line passing from the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean, through Columbia and southern Panama in South America, then through Maracaibo and the Paraguana Peninsula in Venezuela, over the islands of Aruba and Curacao, and on out into the Atlantic Ocean.
I traveled with TAS member Van Robinson and AAAA President John Wagoner to Venezuela for the viewing. We went with a tour arranged by Joel Harris of Twilight Tours in LA. There were a total of 80 people on the trip.
Totality occurred about 2:08 PM local Venezuelan time, or about 12:08 Dallas time. Venezuela is two time zones to the east of Dallas, on Atlantic Standard time.
The actual times of the eclipse are as follows:
1st contact: 12:36:56
2nd contact: 2:08:06 (beginning of totality)
3rd contact: 2:11:50 (end of totality)
4th contact: 3:34:52
The main feature of this eclipse was the dramatic and unusual position of the planets during totality. From our position, Mercury was very bright just above the Sun, while Jupiter was below. Venus was seen closer to the horizon. It was especially interesting that Mercury was so bright, an unexpected bonus. We seldom see the inner Solar System so dramatically displayed. And there was plenty of time to experience this beautiful arrangement of the planets during the 3 minutes and 24 seconds of totality.
The park and beach at Playa El Pico on the Peninsula de Paraguana was a fine place to set up, except for one thing: the constant 20 mph winds blowing from the east. These winds made observing difficult. We set up near an artificial sand dune left over from some road scraping, which was called "Camp Latrine" by my observing companions, due to some rather obvious biological artifacts near by. But the dune had the advantage of being a good wind break, which made observing more pleasant, and the artifacts were far enough away from my position not to be a problem.
We arrived at the beach way too early, about 8:30 am, almost 6 hours before totality, but this was done to avoid any traffic problems on the access road to the park. We may have avoided the traffic, but eight hours under the sun, with only three and one half minutes of "shade," were enough to give me a real sun burn.
The nearby beaches were packed with people, but in fact, the area we were using was more restricted, with access only by prearranged pass, and crowding was not a problem. Later, during the morning, the Governor of the local Falcon State of Venezuela arrived in his helicopter, and the Venezuelan TV News helicopter flew around from time to time.
There were several local Venezuelans who came by to chat. One group of about 5 guys were students at the Universidad Politechnica "Antonio Jose de Sucre" in Venezuela. Another young man was a fourth year medical student in Caracas, who brought his C-8 telescope with him. TV news reporters were everywhere, looking for people to talk to. At one point, my companions and I were interviewed for Maracaibo TV, but who knows if it actually made the air. I guess they thought my Spanish was better than it actually is.
I thought the beach was a good idea, and for viewing purposes, I guess it was. But John and Van elected to stay back at the hotel, and view in front of the local Catholic Church. They lost a few seconds of totality by doing this, and I was afraid the crowds of local people would make photographing too difficult. But John said that the church acted as a natural wind break, which I needed badly during my photographic run, and neither John or Van had to stand for hours in the sun getting dehydrated and burned. He also said that the local people were very considerate of the equipment, and very enthusiastic and friendly during the whole event. If I had it to do again, I, too, would have stayed in town.
There is a neat Venezuelan TV web site that has a RealAudio video clip of the eclipse. Check it out. http://www.eclipse98.web.ve
You can also send e-mail to my new friends in Venezuela: Jose Antonio Carbonell's e-mail address is ccarbone@caracas.c-com.net. You may reach Humberto Romero at hromero@reacciun.ve
A Visit to Angel Falls and After the nain part of the trip was over, and most participants returned to the States, 18 of us went on a four-day excursion to Angel Falls, in Southern Venezuela. After a one hour commuter flight from Caracas to Cuidad Guiana, we took a second flight on Aero Tuy, a local tourist airline, and flew past Angel Falls on the way to Arekuna Camp on the Rio Coroní. It was rustic, yet with enough amenities of civilization to make it comfortable.
From the camp,.we took hikes through the jungle, made a tour of a local Indian village, and took a short boat trip down the river to view the local water falls. In the evening, after dinner, I was able to do plenty of southern sky observing with my binoculars, and was able to log enough objects to earn the Astronomical League's Southern Skies Binocular Certificate. We also observed Comet Hale-Bopp near the Small Magellanic Cloud, on its way out of the Solar System.
After three days in the jungle, while on the way home, we stopped at Canaima Resort for the afternoon, viewed the famous waterfalls there, and flew back to Ciudad Guiana, with a second pass of Angel Falls on the way. From there, it was another hour to Caracas, and the next day back to Dallas.
It takes a great trip to clear the mind. On my return, my boss said, "welcome back to reality," but I am not sure if he was right. There is nothing as far from nowhere as being in the middle of the jungle for three days, knowing that you cannot get out unless the plane remembers to come back and get you. That, too, is reality.
