Eclipsed!

The forecast went from "mostly sunny" to "partly sunny" to "overcast". When we awoke and looked out the window, there were blue patches here and there but mostly gray. So we were not optimistic.

Undeterred, we headed for a park on the Ashley River across the bridge from our hotel. The Uber driver was nice enough to stop at the marina gas station and let us pick up some sandwiches, a six pack, and a bottle of wine. At the park there were families sharing picnics, photo buffs with telescopes, and people just hanging out. Everyone was happy and unfazed by the seemingly poor viewing.

All of a sudden the sky brightened and people began cheering. We whipped on our official eclipse glasses and looked up. Lo and behold, we could clearly see the moon's disc obscuring about half the sun. Cool!

As it progressed, we could see the moon steadily advancing. It started to get darker. With about 5 minutes to go the sun was just a sliver in the sky but it was still farily light. Then, at 2:46, boom, the sun was gone and the lights went out. We could just barely get a glimpse of the corona peeking through the thin clouds. We all sat in reverent silence.

Then, about 90 seconds later, a spark. Then a bright flash. And then, just like that, it was light again. It was like a giant dimmer being turned up, compressing an hour of morning dawn into about 15 seconds. For me, that re-emergence was one of the most impressive and powerful moments.

All in all we got lucky to see any of it. About 15 minutes later a big cloud moved in and obscured everything.

We played with trying to get some pictures. But this is something that really needs to be experenced in person.