One of the major marketing aspects of this particular cruise was the fact that we would be in or around Iceland for the total solar eclipse. In fact, the name of the cruise is: Voyage of the Vikings: Solar Eclipse.
We left Grundarfjordur early in the afternoon on August 12 to be sure of being at sea in the best location possible to view the total solar eclipse which was scheduled to begin sometime between 4:30 and 5:30 p.m. (in the time zone we were in).
The day had started out with relatively clear skies, but the clouds moved in by early afternoon. The captain announced that the ship would make every effort to find a spot with the least amount of cloud cover so that we could view the total eclipse from beginning to end. He really worked hard to find that unclouded spot. Unfortunately, the clouds were always a few steps ahead of us.
From my balcony, I was able to photograph the very beginning of the eclipse in a break in the clouds. But then the clouds covered completely and the remainder of the eclipse was witnessed only by the fact that it rapidly grew dark outside…and then slowly grew light again.
The good news is that while most passengers were slightly bummed about missing the big show, no one was completely heart broken and we all went on to enjoy a nice evening, as usual. However, that may not have applied to the astronomer who was onboard as a guest speaker/eclipse expert. He gave a talk the next day entitled: The Eclipse: What did we Just See? He started his talk by saying “Not much.” He went on the talk about solar eclipses in general but still made a few jabs about being jealous of the colleagues who were in areas where the entire eclipse was visible. I almost felt sorry for him, until I remembered that he probably got a free cruise and was begin paid to boot. The bottom line…it was fun being in a location where it was possible to view the eclipse and we were happy just to see the first part of it. I am thankful to have been here at all!