On the eve of the eclipse, stars were actually seen for the first time in a week! An auspicious omen. At 5am on eclipse day we approaching Albemarle and the sky looked great. There were wispy cirrus and thin cumulous clouds in the distance but the area for the eclipse looked great. There were large banks of heavy cumulous at least 20 miles to the north. Venus was extremely bright in the early morning sky. It was obvious though that even though the sea seemed quite calm, there was a very deep and long swell that would build up to large surf on the coast.
Scott Henderson reported that the day before had been awful in the west with heavy rain and clouds. We arrived at the anchorage at Punta Albemarle with about 14 other boats already there. Scout boats were already going over to the landing site and the reports had been that a landing was impossible. We stayed at the anchorage for half an hour to judge the surf for ourselves and we all decided to head north to the centerline. I kept the laptop running with a real-time image of the moon approaching the sun. All of our watches had been synchronized and first contact was seen right on time. The partial phases were observed with most having mylar on their binoculars and cameras. The favorite group view though was with a large kitchen colander from the galley. It projected wonderfully bright and sharp images of the crescent sun.
I had given the captain the coordinates for the centerline through the islands and he had put them in the GPS as waypoints. We headed for my planned spot and arrived at the precise point planned 45 minutes before totality. We continued on a course paralleling the centerline. The conditions were perfect. There was the long swell but the sea itself was almost glassy. I practiced trying to adjust for the swell with camera. We debated if moving was more stable but in the end decide to be stationary for totality with no engine noise or vibration. As totality approached, some were on the sundeck and some (myself included ) on the bow hoping for less movement. The shadow itself was not seen but an obvious rapid darkening in the west as it approached. There were high cumulous clouds on all of the horizon but none at all in the direction of the sun. At four minutes before totality my change film alarm went off and I changed to 1000 ASA film. Baily's beads were very rapid and a few second diamond ring. The camera was hand held and it was very difficult to time it right with the swell (even though it was a very even slow one).
I was impressed that the eclipse was not a very dark one. The area stayed fairly light although it was almost impossible to see the numbers on the Nikon to tell which exposure I was using. The coronal streamers were very long and filled the entire 400 mm camera view. I believe that I saw prominences at the 10 o'clock and 3 o'clock positions. Venus was very bright very early (appx 18 minutes before) and Jupiter and Mercury came out shortly before totality. I could get a full frame of corona, sun, and Jupiter in (I hope!!) I never did see Saturn. Most were impressed with the beauty of the 360 degree sunset. The clouds were just perfectly scattered around us like we were on a big stage with the clear view of the sun above.
Venus was visible until at least 11:18. The diamond ring seemed longer coming out than going in but I would like to get a copy of the tape made by the captain to see. Shortly after totality, all were treated to Pisco Sours and a spin around Roca Redonda. After a near perfect eclipse, we anchored at Punta Vicente Roca where it rained lightly most of the afternoon! It was great timing and gave us a rainbow all afternoon.