After my eclipse post several people asked where we were when we took the pictures.  I gave a general answer but yesterday the chief navigation officer came up to the “Crow’s Nest” and marked on a paper chart exactly where we had been.

The first map shows the path of the eclipse that he marked out in a pencil.  The bottom red arrow shows where the line of totality and the center point the top arrow shows where we actually sat on station to watch the eclipse.  The second shot gets you a little closer and includes some information on the eclipse.  We were in totality about 20 seconds longer than I had thought.

The navigation officer watched the weather, fog. cloud cover, sea state and wind to figure where was the best place to put the ship on station for the eclipse.  Once the team decided on a spot they used the azipods (pods that hang below the ship with electric engines and propellers that can swing 360 degrees) and the bow thrusters, all controlled by auto pilot, to keep the ship aligned with stern to the sun so the most people on deck could see the eclipse.  If the sea state changed, they could use the joystick to keep the ship on station.

Since we were close to Mazatlan, and the seas were calm, the Captain held the ship in place for a while longer than the eclipse to time our arrival in Mazatlan with time appointed to meet the pilot.

Suzi took a pic of me taking a pic during totality.

These two shots were close to the beginning of totality.  I had not posted them before. You can see some of the Solar Prominences on the left because the moon has not covered them yet.