April 8, 2024

On April 6, 2024 I went with friends to Wheatley, Ontario to see the much anticipated total eclipse of the sun.  The trip had been planned and a house on the Lake Erie rented months before.  From the lakefront yard of our rental house, I could look south down the shore and see Point Pelee.  We spent Sunday, the 7th, walking in Wheatley Provincial Park in the morning and then later went to Point Pelee.  The Pelee staff were gearing up for the eclipse.  While the tram was not yet running officially, it was brought out of storage for the anticipated eclipse viewing crowd.  A full house was anticipated.  (As a result of this event, I learned that Point Pelee has 700 parking spaces.)      

On Monday, the 8th, the day was perfect - cold but sunny.  This is the view from our cottage doorwall window.  The weather held for us; the sky did become hazy, but the haziness could not obscure the bright sun.  Apparently, many of the places people traveled to did not cooperate weather-wise.

It became colder and colder as the dusk descended on us.

As the eclipse started, around 2:00 pm, I tried to get a photo of the pac-man appearance of the sun and moon as the moon progressed over the sun.  No luck at all.  I did not have any special filters for my camera and just took random shots hoping.  The sun was just too bright - as above. 

Around 3:00 pm, or so, as the thin sliver of sun grew smaller and smaller until just a tiny orange dot remained, suddenly the corona burst through.  Still way too bright for the photos to turn out.  Above and below, I offer these as my best efforts.  

Below is a photo of what the corona really looked like!

This photo is from a friend of my friend; that is, someone who knew what they were doing.   

It became very cold and windy as the dusk turned to near darkness.  The birds stopped vocalizing.  

The lights in the cottage lit up.

A couple of minutes went by, I think it was predicted to last around three minutes - it seemed slightly less to me - and then the sun began to peak out from the moon again.  The lake developed this eerie (no pun intended) appearance.

And before long things returned to normal.  

It still took another hour, or so, for the moon to move away completely and the warmth of the late afternoon returned.  

This was the first total eclipse of the sun I've ever seen and it was definitely spectacular.  When the sun's corona burst out around the moon cheers went up along the lake shore all the way from the gigantic crowd at Point Pelee.  Of course, we joined the cheering.  Many thanks to my friend, who arranged all the details of the rental and chose the ideal location.