Continuing the discussion from Total Solar Eclipse Aug 12 2026:
The last dozen-ish posts in that thread about the now-recent eclipse have been about planning for the next one.
So I figured we ought to have a fresh dedicated thread.
That next one, Aug 2 2027, is going to be the best for the next ~90 years. If you see one eclipse in your life, that should be the one.
My shipboard eclipse just now was great. So I’ve booked a similar cruise for that one. We’ll be bobbing around somewhere east of Gibraltar.
But for that, a trip to Egypt would be on The List for sure.
I envy your eclipse-chasing lifestyle! The only total eclipse I’ve seen in my life was the Great North American eclipse of April 8, 2024.
That was a good news / bad news scenario. I drove to a friend’s house that was some distance south of me that was closer to the center of the path of totality. The day was overcast, as early April often is around here, but almost miraculously, the skies cleared just in time for the beginning of the eclipse and through the period of totality, then began clouding up again. I still marvel at this phenomenal change in sky cover. The timing was so perfect that I wonder if the eclipse itself had something to do with it.
The bad news is that we elected not to go anywhere and observe it from his back yard. It was certainly a comfortable way to see it, without crowds or traffic and access to drinks and snacks, but I think it would have been even more impressive if observed from a wide-open space with the whole sky visible.
For sure. Being in a place where you have long vistas across a varying landscape is ideal. A tree-lined suburban backyard isn’t that.
Being in the shadow and seeing brighter daylight on the land all around in the distance is boggling. I stumbled on that in Mazatlán in 2024. The beach sea, city, and inland mountains all lit differently simultaneously.
At sea is a tradeoff. You can see forever across the half circle on your side of the ship. But the sea is featureless and doesn’t show off the varying lighting much at all.
Right-o. When the sun is low, there is enough atmosphere between the moon and you to refract some light around and it won’t get pitch dark on the ground. The sun just disappers with the last glimpse of direct light and the horizon looks like it had set.
Instead, you’ll see the mantle of the cone over your head. Nightly darkness fanning out from a few degrees above the sun’s position, with a quite sharp gradient towards a mostly normal evening sky. That is the “black triangle” I’d read about but couldn’t really imagine. Very impressive and nothing you’re going to see elsewhere.
Also, with the sun near the horizon you have the best chance to view partial coverage with the naked eye and without having to obscure the rest of the world. Everyone interested has probably seen many photos of the crescent sun about to set into the Mediterranean already, but since you asked, I’ll share mine as well:
Doing the same thing again sounds boring - cxl the bob & see it in Luxor with me!
Egypt should be a good location to view the eclipse, but there’s no way that I would go there. It’s consistently rated as the worst tourist experience in the world. I would consider going to the very south of Spain, though.
Several cities in southern Spain will see totality, including tourist/expat centers Marbella and Malaga, as well as Cadiz. Tarifa and Gibraltar will be dark for over 4 minutes.
Here’s a list of totality times by city: 2027 Total Solar Eclipse City Data for Spain, North Africa, and Egypt
In Africa, Egypt isn’t the only possibility. Morocco and Tunisia both rank as more safe on this site, Africa travel risk: country-by-country safety guide — Travel Risk Calculator
Egypt’s risk is calculated as 48/100 as opposed to 37/100 for the other two countries (lower is better)
GF gets a vote too. And she (and I) really like fancy-pants cruising. The destinations are all places we haven’t been, and the 5 minutes of totality are a teeny fraction of the 14-18 days we’ll be gone.
A critically important 5 minutes, but just part of the overall travel thing.
The missus and I have booked a five day tour in Egypt that will have us in Luxor at the Karnak Temple for the eclipse. Pricey and we don’t love heat, but hopefully six plus minutes of totality in an epic location will be trip of our lives.