I left my decision to travel to Chile for the 2019 total solar eclipse to only a couple of months out. I felt very fortunate to be able to book myself onto an organised Intrepid Tour with renowned eclipse chaser Dr John Mason and felt confident that his expertise in picking a viewing site would guarantee success.
I flew out of Sydney to Santiago about a week out from the eclipse and this gave me the chance to experience a day in Santiago before joining up with the rest of the tour group. We were convenient split across a number of buses for the journey up to La Serena where we enjoyed day trip up to the Elqui Valley to experience the local food, wine and finishing the evening off at under the stars at one of the local observatories high in the Chilean mountainsWe then had one final day to prepare and relax in back in La Serena and I made the most of this by walking around the town and enjoying the atmosphere that was building.
The next morning we all boarded the bus for the journey up to the planned observing site. It turned out to be a local football pitch and part of the payment to the local team was that they would each receive a jersey of their favourite team, Manchester United.
We were then kept well fed with deliveries from local suppliers and it was a great chance to chat with people from across the globe. Then around mid-afternoon people started taking up their positions prior to the main event. Everything went perfectly to plan, not a cloud in the sky and even though it was winter in Chile, it was very mild. I captured some amazing pictures and can’t wait to do it all again.
And here are some photos from the main event. Click the image to load a larger version.
