2016 INDONESIA
“Record distance traveled for me Boulder to Ternate is 8087 miles! Oy what a trip too — Denver, Tokyo, Jakarta, Ternate, speedboat, car with driver in one travel day. Arrived night before, met German & Austrian, forged ad hoc Eclipse Team 2015 and crashed in my sparse room dreaming of clear skies tomorrow.
An incredible week arranged by my couchsurfer host Indra Gunadijaya!!!!!
”
Maba, halamahera island
Mission: Lots of logistics! Getting to Ternate Island on time!
Posse: Michael Aisner, host Indra Gunadijaya, Wolfgang Schweitzer, Markus Bütikofer, awesome Driver Iwan Dort Molluccas
Contact: March 9, 2016
Path: Ocean to Indo
Eclipse Base: Mountainside near Maba, East Halamahera Island, Indonesia
Weather: Totality thru thin overcast
yikes! awoke to a shelf of eastern clouds -- abandon beach -- plan b - head west. Iwan drove us up this mountain road -- oh no - DEAD-ENDED at gaping WASHOUT.
iwan, WOLFGANG, Markus and I Hiked up -- staked out ECLIPSE base with an island to ocean vista & bloppy eastern clouds to track the passing moon shadow cone...never seen that before! (time-lapse below)
PERFECT DAY What a CREW!
There were only a few options for landfall on this eclipse. You study weather and access and just make a choice! I found the perfect couchsurder host, so TERNATE was my destination.
Landed on the little volcanic island of Ternate on left and then speedboated (pink line) to a car and driver (orange) Indra arranged, to drive for HOURS on a twisty, pothole dirt road to Maba in the east for a quick sleep -- eclipse was tomorrow!!!! PHEW!!!!
luckily, Every prior eclipse has been mostly clear skies. Having some clouds this time was a huge bonus, so I time-lapsed the changing cloud light as the 1000mph shadow swept in and out over us!
WATCH!
Photo Credits: Wolfgang Schweitzer, Markus Bütikofer and Michael Aisner