Sunrise over Cape Town just before the eclipse
Day 4; January 26, 2009; Cape Town, South Africa
Dawn seemed to arrive too quickly, and while I was excited for the morning’s events, I awoke somewhat reluctantly to meet the day.
Today was the New Moon, and also an Annular Eclipse of the Sun, which was partially visible from Cape Town. I had brought film with me to document this eclipse for a Light Recording installation I want to create. Having never recorded a solar eclipse before, I was eager to stand witness as the moon traversed in front of the sun, which it would do just after it had risen above the horizon.
Thomas had arranged for me to spend the morning at Bobby and Lorna’s house, which has a great view of the morning sun being up the mountain a bit, in order to record the event. Their idyllic garden, terraced with succulents and rocks, was the perfect studio for the morning’s work.
It is such a stunning event to watch an eclipse. A wonderful reminder of the fact that humanity stands upon an incredible planet, and exists amidst a brilliant system of other celestial phenomena. We are so lucky to be on Earth—what a rare and spectacular view of the Universe we have!
After I completed the recordings, Thomas and I went to pick up Alfons, who had spent the morning writing at his hotel, and we darted off to our Flight Briefing with ALCI (Antarctic Logistics Centre International), the company that would be flying us to Antarctica tomorrow. However, upon arrival, we learned that our flight was in fact delayed.
Originally, we were supposed to leave on the 27th, but then they changed it to leave a day early on 26th, which forced us to change our outbound flights to Cape Town. The day before I left for Cape Town, ALCI switched it back again to the 27th. So, hearing of the now 3rd change, we were all a bit frustrated, but when we learned why they had, we became intrigued.
Apparently there have been huge blizzards and really bad weather in Antarctica, and everyone we spoke with, at ALCI and at SANAP said the same thing: it has been the worst weather they’ve seen in Antarctica for 8 years!
So, patiently we must wait for a window of clear weather to land—they told us today that they would try to fly out on the evening of the 28th, but that it was tentative, and that we might not end up leaving until the 30th. They must be completely sure they can land the airplane; otherwise they risk having to turn around mid-flight and fly us back to Cape Town. The plan was to call in to their office at 9pm tomorrow night, and confirm the schedule.
We spent the rest of the afternoon joking about whether we were actually going to get to the Antarctic continent or not, whilst finishing up the shopping for the remaining items needed for our expedition.
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