Observer Report
Tom, our Saturday Volleyball Coordinator, has nineteen or twenty condos in... Mazatlan, MX (and as we found out (apparently) several safe houses and multiple cars stashed around the city).
My wife, Leigh, and I secured an invitation after several months of trying-to-appear-subtle lobbying. Though I have shown little evidence of being any value in the past, I assured Tom that I would be "of value" during an eclipse. We'd be hosted by Tom and joined by fellow volleyball friends, Paul and Maria - all three first-time totalitarians.
"Yeah, I have a condo there and we can watch the eclipse from the roof."
Excellent!
Sounds perfect. I didn't think much about it. I pictured a finshed ready-for-guests rooftop like you'd expect of a condo overlooking the ocean at a tourist destination.
Here's the condo from the Sea:
Three condos there. Which one are we?
The short one in the middle. Which is fine unless the twin towers under construction are to the south. They're to the South!
I had always assumed that Leigh and I were the peak of Tom's social circle (I assume that of everybody). I was proved wrong (as I always am) when we met our fellow Eclipse Chasers the night before at the Tijuana Airport.
Rajeev and Tammy (wearing a sun-moon shirt) and Ken and Tricia (packing a huge camera lens). All, like Leigh and I, are veterans from the 2017 Great Eclispe - separate locations in Oregon. Got to get to know them for the five-hour wait in the airport.
Upon seeing the condo Friday night I noted the towers overhead to the south. Skysafari indicated that there might be a bit of interference... I made a note to reconnoiter the towers at 11:00am-ish the next day from the roof to confirm whether we need an alternative observing site.
A nice panoramic view, but... those under-construction towers are directly south - potentially eclipsing the eclipse
But the sun clears the towers. We're good.
But it's not a finished roof and access is a steel ladder bolted to the wall. And we're really not supposed to be up there; so we'll assemble up there late.
And due to pickleball and volleyball, we're not going to do equipment check dry runs. What could go less than perfectly?
The biggest concern (across the entire path of the eclipse) is cloud cover. Forecasts over the past week have been cause change-of-location? panic. The day before is cloudy, the forecast for eclipse day is "meh".
Morning of, there are a bunch of high cirrus. There's going to be partial cloud cover.
As the eclipse progresses, the termperature drops and the clouds thicken. We're going to see corona, but not stars...
Panorama: approaching totality
Panorama: Totality! 
The beach post eclipse:
Here's my video of totality. In a hurry, I focused crisply on the cloud layer - it's perfectly in focus. The sun, however, not.
I remember two things vividly about this eclipse:
- How the corona suddenly instantly turned on at totality
- The electric-pink prominences that were naked eye visible throughout totality (they were not visible in the 2017 eclipse)
I observed visually and through binoculars. The prominences were stunning. I did not get over to the telescope, I should have...
Venus and Jupiter were visible, but the clouds masked everything else, including the outer reaches of the corona.
The crowd roar at begin and end of totality is fun.
Tricia got some great photos. I'll try to steal them. :)
So: great!
On to Egypt! Chaseables: Eclipses Future and Past