Undeterred by the lack of success during the 2002 trip (and wanting to improve our dismal 33% success record!) we began to investigate possibilities for 2006 soon after returning. The eclipse track was again across Africa but north Africa this time so conditions would be considerably different. The Libyan desert would enjoy the maximum duration (4mins 7secs) and almost guaranteed clear skies but would be hard to get to so the best compromise seemed to be a tour of the coast, taking in the famous Roman sites at the same time. A booking foul-up almost scuppered our plans but amazingly, at the very last minute, we were able to take up two cancellations on precisely the tour we had chosen initially - miracles do happen! All was thus set fair for a great holiday.
The weather in Tripoli was somewhat mixed, with rather too much cloud for comfort, but things began to improve as we went east to Bengazi. The two days before "E-Day" were increasingly sunny so hopes were definitely rising. We had known in advance that we would have to travel quite some distance to our chosen site but plans changed due to the anticipated influx of over 1000 tourists on a cruise ship. We didn't want to get caught up in their coach convoy so eventually set out at 3am! - yawn!! This turned out to be a good decision when we were turned back by the Libyan police near Tobruk and told we must take another road. With no idea what was going on we had to follow a police car for about an hour, mostly in thick fog! However, all ended well as they were actually taking us to a superbly organised "tented village" in the middle of the desert, slap bang on the centre line - it would have been nice to know this in advance though!
When we left the fog behind, the sky was perfectly clear - not a whisp of cloud anywhere. Just perfect, in fact! The camp consisted of a number of marquees plus a large version of a beach shelter (with roof and matting floor) and stacks of plastic chairs. Some "portaloos" were also provided but the queues got very long very quickly! There were several thousand people there and the atmosphere was electric with anticipation. By chance, we were the nearest group to the Libya TV outside broadcast van so several of the party were interviewed live-on-air: we later found that Al-Jazeera were there as well!
The eclipse itself was just fabulous - this amazing "black hole" in the sky surrounded by pearly feathers of the corona. Prominences were visible just after the beginning of totality and again at the end, when a huge arc of pink greeted the returning light. The cheering of those around us actually added to the experience, all captured on Sandra's digital camera in video mode! Possibly even better than 2001, this really was "The Perfect Eclipse".
Pictures of the eclipse Maps and Figures Animation Video Technical Info Back |
Except where stated, all images (c) S.P.Holmes and S.J.Holmes 2006 Reproduction by permission only |