This, my third total eclipse, increased my experience of totality to over 15 minutes. I observed the total eclipse from the most easterly location in Europe, on a cliff-top site overlooking the Black Sea, 5km east of Shabla on the Kaliakra Peninsula, 75km NE of Varna in NE Bulgaria. Our global position was Lat. 43°, 33m 54s N; Long. 28°, 35m 24s E; Alt 25m. The site was at the seaward edge of the Dobrudzha Plain, a treeless and very flat region, the most south-westerly outlier of the Eurasian Steppes that extend way to the east across Russia. Shabla is a depressing town dominated by concrete apartment blocks offering the most basic housing under the Communist regime of the past fifty years; two bedrooms, living room, dining and kitchen area. Now under more liberal Socialist politics, these are scheduled for demolition within the next ten years.
We were about 2km S of a large lagoon, which is reported to be mildly radioactive, inhabited by thousands of Storks. The site is about 50km S of the Danube delta and this part of the Black Sea is severely threatened by chemical and radioactive pollution collected from across Europe. Certainly there were large numbers of dead fish floating in the sea north of Varna, itself a source of chemical pollution. The Black Sea is effectively a large lake, its only connection to the Aegean and thence the Mediterranean being via the narrow Bosphorus channel at Istanbul. There are no tides and the salinity is 20%, about two-thirds that of other seas.
Although there were about 30 people on the trip to Shabla, only a dozen were there to see the eclipse. Three had brought telescopes or cameras. The partial phases were observed in totally cloud-free skies from the shade of an outbuilding of the restaurant we called base. Photos of solar crescents cast by overhanging trees were taken whilst a meal of tasteless bean soup and chicken stew and chips was served by waitresses that seemed surprised at our arrival. Confronted by a courier five minutes before totality, who insisted I eat, I rebelled saying I was there for the eclipse and nothing else.
The light level dropped inexorably and the indescribable colourless gloom that is peculiar to total eclipses, descended. Nature became quiet in anticipation of something wonderful about to happen. Within a minute of totality, the curved outline of the Moon's shadow reared from the northwest and was upon us. I removed the mylar filter from the 800mm f12.7 lens and saw the thinning crescent of naked sun fragment into a line of glittering Bailey's Beads before immediately changing to the magenta glow of chromosphere and low prominences. I did not see a diamond ring at 2nd contact. To me and to my wife, Gwen, and son, Alex, this phase of the eclipse was one in which the Sun switched off, a pause, and then the corona switched on in all its glory. Gwen said that the sun had fragmented into a string of brilliant red, white and purple beads all along the left edge.
During totality, a flock of Storks wheeled past in apparent alarm. Observers within earshot expressed extremes of emotion. Some were shouting in exultation, one was crying. None except me, had seen totality before and I was shaking like a leaf and so was my son, judging by the pictures he took of the surroundings. A great red prominence was visible at the bottom of the disk and others surrounded the moon. Venus was visible to the downward-left of the sun. Mercury was not seen. The corona was typically symmetrical for solar maximum and of fairly consistent brightness out to about one solar radius before stopping abruptly. It showed complex radial structure. There was a marked temperature drop, from about the mid 90's, of about 20° F, according to one observer who had an electronic thermometer.
Suddenly a spark of light signaled the end of totality and the limb erupted into shining beads before immediately coalescing into a curved bar of white-hot fire. A brief diamond ring was seen visually but missed photographically. The moon's shadow whisked away across the Black Sea surrounded by a pinkish horizon glow. After 2min 22 sec, the last total solar eclipse of the millennium was over. A total eclipse of the sun is the most spectacular natural phenomena visible in the sky. We observe it in awe or fear. Its sighting strikes a gut feeling that can only be experienced, it cannot be described. In some parts of the world a total eclipse of the sun is a very bad omen. In Bulgaria, Storks seen during totality are a sign of good luck, but on the other side of the Black Sea, within 500km of our observing site, combined solar and lunar tidal stresses were about to unleash devastation. Within a week in excess of 14,000 people died in the most destructive earthquake to hit Turkey this century. Coincidence? No, I don't think so.
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