Baja Total Solar Eclipse July 11, 1991

"It was the best day of my life, it was the worst day of my life."

That is how my best friend Alex remembers the 1991 total solar eclipse in Baja, Mexico. For me it certainly was among the best days I've had the good fortune to experience.

I read that the Baja eclipse was the longest duration eclipse I would ever see in my lifetime. The moon's orbit varies taking it closer and farther from the earth. The earth's orbit about the sun also varies. The moon is the perfect size to completely block out the sun most of the time it passes directly between the earth and the sun. At its farthest the sun is still visible around the edges of the moon, an annular eclipse. The theoretical maximum is 7 1/2 minutes of totality. The longest in the 21'st century (6 minutes 39 seconds) occurred on 7/20/2009 across Asia. The Baja eclipse was longer at 6 minutes 52 seconds long.

I was going to go. No matter what. Where exactly to go? The path of totality went between mainland Mexico and Hawaii. Lots of scientists went to Hawaii. Many astronomers had access to the observatory on Mauna Kea. I didn't. The weather is often cloudy there and travel to Hawaii is more expensive than Mexico. I had previously driven most of the way down Baja so had a very good understanding of the grueling nature of the drive. Baja was deeper into totality than mainland Mexico and had an excellent chance of being cloudless. Baja was the destination!

I kept talking about the eclipse. My dad let me borrow his Dolphin (a small RV built on a Toyota pickup truck). My best friend Alex had already planned a trip to southern California and, catching some of my contagious enthusiasm, extended his vacation so he could join me on the adventure. Another friend, Art the space garbage man, kept talking with me about it. We called Art the space garbage man because his job at the time was tracking orbital debris (garbage) and assessing collision risks for space missions.

Mexico wanted to make a good impression. They knew this was a once in a lifetime event. They wanted tourists but they didn't want to disappoint anybody. They were convinced everybody in Los Angeles would hop in their cars at the last minute and rush on down not knowing what they were getting into. They stationed Pemex trucks with portable gas pumps along the route to make sure there was plenty of gas available. They let people know they should carry extra water and that it would take 3 days to drive the 900+ miles down the curvy, narrow, 2 lane road. California media on the other hand was less measured saying it would be bumper to bumper traffic the entire route and people would die baking in the sun after they ran out of gas.

In the event casual LA drivers stayed home in droves. Anybody who has driven in LA will understand that no native would willingly experience 3 days of traffic jams (each way) for a vacation!

Finally the start of our adventure arrived. As I was about to take off Art called. He and a couple friends were going to pick up a buddy in Santa Barbara and head on to Baja! We arranged to meet in Ensenada. I drove the 400 high speed, highway miles to the LA basin and picked up Alex.

Alex had a bunch of welder's glass he purchased on the east coast. It is safe to look directly at the sun if you hold the proper strength of glass between you and the sun. They were sold out in San Jose, at least every place I called was out. We headed southeast. Eventually we met up with Art and made it to Santa Rosalita where we camped by the pacific ocean.

For the next few days we continued southeast. Every few hundred miles we noticed slight changes in the cactus varieties visible from the road. Art and his crew were driving in his Nissan Pathfinder. Alex and I would leisurely cruise at slow speed in the Dolphin. After all we had a fridge full of beer, a bathroom, snacks, CDs, air conditioning and all the luxuries of the road. Art's vehicle was more crowded with 4 full sized men and their gear so they needed a different strategy. Every hour or three they would come racing up behind us, pass us up, and zoom quickly to the next cantina where they would stretch and relax with a beer. By the time they got moving again we would be ahead and they would have to leapfrog us again.

Eventually we made it to La Paz on Baja's east coast. Art stuck close to us as we picked our way along the beach on a sandy, unmarked road. An old, white school bus was stuck in the sand. It was like Ken Kesey's bus Further - filled with interesting looking, hippy types who were close to our age. We kept rolling.

We were looking for the exact center line of the eclipse's path to maximize our experience. We stopped at a beautiful beach. We knew we were very close to the perfect spot. Lots of folks were camped out there. Alex sold a few welder's glass. We saw a different hippy bus, the Green Tortoise. After a while Art let us know this beach didn't feel right. There was still plenty of daylight left so we moved on.

We ended up on an even more beautiful beach, Los Frailes. It was wide and long with clean, soft sand. Just gorgeous. The local restaurant (more like a dilapidated 3 sided lean-to) had a huge beer truck parked outside. It was filled to the top with Corona and had its own generator and refrigeration system. The Mexican government told the proprietor tens of thousands of tourists would crowd the beach. Being the only retail establishment of any type anywhere near there he had visions of riches in his eyes. He was bitterly disappointed. There were lots of people, way more than normal, but the beach was so large everybody had exactly as much space as they wanted. And also as much beer as they could afford!

The people in the old white school bus, Egy, showed up. There were many nice beaches they could choose but they chose Los Frailes. We took it as a sign. Positive Karma. Art made friends with them all. Alex and I also made friends with some of them and many others of all sorts. We sold the remaining welder's glass except for the few we kept for ourselves. The excitement was building - the eclipse was the next day.

At the crack of dawn Alex, Art, an older fellow we just met and I boarded a nice, large fishing boat owned and crewed by Americans we met the previous evening. We had a fantastic morning fishing for marlin. We took our first hot showers in days. The boat made fresh water with reverse osmosis filters. I hooked a marlin and played with him for a few minutes before he escaped. Alex got nothing more than a nibble. Art caught a dolphin which are also known as dorado and mahi-mahi. They have absolutely the most fabulous colors, among the nicest in the fish world! Art vividly remembers this traumatic event. Once Art landed him the mate clubbed the dolphin on the head as is standard practice. Death started there traveling down the fish to its tail. In a few seconds dull gray relentlessly replaced vivid color in a single, disturbing wave.

We got back to the beach about 1/2 hour before totality. The air was already cooling. Birds and animals were moving around preparing for night. It seemed as bright as a normal midday but the moon was already covering part of the sun. We could see it through our welder's glass. We saw Bailey's Beads (drops of sunlight) then totality. Some people were messing around trying to get photos. Alex was able to look through someone's telescope for a few seconds. I just sat there and soaked it in. Incredible! There is no way to describe how experiencing a total eclipse changes you. So I won't try but I strongly encourage you to witness one if you possibly can. We could see stars and then Bailey's Beads again and the sun came back.

Alex and I shared a bottle of Dom Perignon we brought for the occasion. Everybody was talking excitedly about the experience and how great it was, how much it moved them. Strangers seemed like neighbors, acquaintances like friends. Later that evening Art asked the fellow running the beer truck/restaurant to cook up the mahi-mahi which was too large for him so he shared. We all bought tortillas, rice and beans. Excellent!

One of Art's companions, Greg, needed to return to Santa Barbara as soon as possible. We needed to drive home non-stop so Alex could catch his plane in LA. One of the bus people needed to catch a plane from Cabo the next noon. Alex suggested we head to Cabo San Lucas since we were so close! Even though it was in the opposite direction from home we drove the final 60 miles to Cabo with two extra passengers.

Cabo was fun. We went out to a night club and had a grand old time. The bus person and I pooped out after midnight and headed back to the camper. I was tired after a long day of fishing, eclipsing, driving and clubbing. Alex and Greg were still going strong and stayed out later for more fun.

When the next morning came along there was no sign of Alex or Greg! I wasn't worried I figured they must have met some women and were probably lounging by the pool of some luxury resort. Finally we went out for a nice big American/Mexican style brunch. The bus person had to grab a cab and headed off for the airport.

Alone I started to worry. Eventually I saw Alex briskly walking toward me and I instantly cheered up and greeted him with smiles. He wasn't smiling. He said hurry up, we need to bail all the Americans out of jail! What? I guess he and his buddy were a little too boisterous while walking home from the club. They got picked up by the police. They didn't have enough cash to pay off the cops so were thrown in jail.

We went to Cabo's jail, paid Alex and Greg's bail as well as the bail of another American. We couldn't afford to bail out the dozens of locals. Alex didn't appreciate sleeping with no blankets on the concrete bench. Somehow he got the only bench while the other dozen people in the cell ended up on the floor. They don't feed you there, you need to have your wife or friends bring food and pass it through the bars. Anyway we were free to go and go we did. We started back home.

We drove stopping only for gas. It took a bit more than 2 days but we made it in time for Alex to catch his flight. Then I took Greg to Santa Barbara. I continued home to San Jose from there. I didn't make it in one shot. I was too tired. I found a place to park and slept. Rested I then made it home. To this day Art is still friends with the bus people. A bunch of them got together and bought 200 acres in South Carolina where they have annual events and year round communal activities.

I'll never, ever forget that trip and neither will Alex or Art. Witnessing a total solar eclipse can't be fully described. This statement is supported by the fact that people who experience (not just see) one go far out of their way to experience another. I saw a live feed of the Aruba total solar eclipse February 1998 at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. It was visually exciting. Visibility was perfect. The event was live with a direct, dedicated internet feed providing a live audio/visual hookup. We talked with Academy people in Aruba live. We saw everything they recorded. However the people there were obviously energized and absolutely ecstatic. They appeared to be having a religious experience. We sympathized and were excited. However there is no way we were feeling what they were feeling.

On the other hand a surprising number of people who have witnessed a total solar eclipse go out of their way to see another. I've seen 3 or 4. Art is already arranging a trip to Easter Island: South Pacific eclipse 7/11/2010. By all means witness one if you possibly can.

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