Sitmar to view eclipse
Sitmar Cruises is making final arrangements for a spectacular cruise that will take in a total eclipse of the sun over the South Pacific later this year. Passengers on board the cruise liner Fairstar will have a box seat of the eclipse. Fairstar is scheduled to intercept the shadow of the eclipse on November 23, three days after sailing from Sydney on a 14-night cruise which has been titled, appropriately, the “Eclipse Cruise.”
Fairstar will be about 240 km south of Noumea when the moon begins its long -trek across the skies towards the sun. Astronomers have calculated that the eclipse will last for a total of three hours with the sun completely hidden from view for 2% minutes. Preparations are being made for the issue of special safety glasses for passengers to'wear while watching the eclipse. In addition the ship’s engines will be stopped to cut down
vibration to assist amateur and professional photographers. Sitmar Cruises is no newcomer to eclipse cruises, having deployed Fairsea and Fairwind into a similar shadow off the coast of California in 1977.
The eclipse scheduled for this year is the only total eclipse that will be visible anywhere near Australia or New Zealand until December 4, 2002, at sunset over part of South Australia. A later eclipse will be visible at sunrise in Arnhem Land and in the early morning across Cape York in November, 2012.
After taking in the eclipse Fairstar will continue on its scheduled cruise plan to Lautoka, Dravuni Island, Suva, Vila and Noumea. The cruise will also take in the still active Tana Island volcano in the Vanuatu group of islands.
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Press, 6 March 1984, Page 31
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276Sitmar to view eclipse Press, 6 March 1984, Page 31
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