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Bahia De Los Angeles, Baja California, Mexico
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In 1994, sky charts indicated an annular eclipse would be crossing the southern portion of the North American continent. There was only one thing to be done about this situation…FOLLOW IT and CATCH IT! Chase, a very astute amateur astronomer and organizer of the trip, calculated the most accessible spot that would provide excellent viewing for the eclipse. He not only achieved this, but he also found some of the very best new moon night skies in the world.
After weeks of preparation, our caravan headed south toward Baja California in the very early morning hours. We successfully made it through the complimentary cavity search / passport checks on the US / Mexico border and then headed 500 miles southeast to the Sea of Cortez. Wow, what a country drive! Trucks and buses shared a two-lane highway with autos when there was really only room for one or the other. All along the 500 miles, markers with dead flowers, crosses and ribbons dotted the roadside as humble memorials to those who didn't go wide enough when some 18 wheeler or cattle truck straddled the road. About 300 miles into our trip, the leader of this expedition decided he would challenge a Baja big-rig for road supremacy and found himself escaping into a field of cattle to keep from becoming road kill. For the rest of the trip Chase was known as "Dances with Cows."
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After fourteen long hour we arrived at our destination. I was dark and we set up camp as best we could for the night. Our priorities were to make a place to collapse and pop open some cold ones to celebrate our safe arrival. The next day we realized that we virtually had the bay to ourselves as we were properly setting up camp and the scopes. Tomorrow morning was the big event and we were going to be ready. We strapped an eight-inch Dobsonian onto a thirteen-inch Dobsonian. This way we had an effective finder scope for our photo equipment. "OVERKILL," we chanted. "Anything worth doing was worth doing BIG!" When that was done, we cast out our fishing lines into the bay and BAM! ..we had a fish fry. When we were sick of camp food, there was a café right on the water that served the most amazing fish tacos and the coldest Negro Modelo beer.
That night we sat back and waited to see what the night skies would bring. As it got dark we noticed foreboding clouds in the sky. NO! This could not be happening! We drove all this way and now cloud cover!? As the clouds never came any closer, but continued to rise in the sky, we realized these were no ordinary clouds. They were the galactic clouds known as the Milky Way. This vision was beyond amazing! The detail was astonishing! In addition, the lack of air and light pollution provided so much star light that we didn't need flashlights to walk around in the dark. The women danced around the fire and we all celebrated with more cold ones.
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Zain checks the scopes at sunrise
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It was the morning of the big event and time to get ready. Zain was down checking out the scope and Denver Bill was fishing…again! As it was getting close to countdown, everyone assembled, and all eyes were on the eastern skies. We put "Dark Side of the Moon," by Pink Floyd in the CD player and the event was underway. "Run rabbit run, dig that hole, forget the sun. And when at last the work is done, Don't sit down it's time to start another one..." went the song. Considering there's a great rabbit shadow on the moon we though the timing of the song was quite interesting.
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Closer and closer the moon came toward the sun. Before us were the most ancient of deities dancing one on one. Dimmer and dimmer the skies became, until the dark side of the moon covered the sun. "There...there it is," cried Raven as a huge celestial ring had formed in the heavens. At that moment the music was at crescendo. The cameras were clicking and Pink Floyd sang out, "And if the band you're in starts playing a different tune, I'll see you on the dark side of the moon." We were so moved that we danced around and broke out the cerveza. Why? Because that's what astronomers do.
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