IFAS Solar Eclipse Trip to Turkey

Cut and Pasting from Wally's post in another forum.

To all

From Terry Moseley and David Bell

TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE, TURKEY, 29 March 2006

Terry and I are posting this to as many IFAS club-members as we have email addresses for, and we would ask you all to disseminate it as widely and as quickly as you can within your clubs, and publicize it in whatever way you can to those who don't have email access (See below for our reasons in wanting to conduct these arrangements by email only)

It is by way of being an alert to all those who might be interested in going to Turkey in 2006, under the aegis of the Irish Federation of Astronomical Societies, to see the total eclipse.


We are at last making progress in putting in place the arrangements for such a party, due almost entirely to the Terry's efforts, with some helpful input from Valerie Canty of the Cork club. Terry has put in a great deal of research, and the results look very encouraging so far.


As Terry says, if you have never seen a total solar eclipse, you haven't lived! It cannot be described, only experienced!

This eclipse will be the last total solar eclipse visible from anywhere not either incredibly remote, expensive, cloudy or dangerous, until 2017, when there's one visible in the USA. So if you want to see a total eclipse at a reasonable cost in even the medium-term future, this is your LAST CHANCE! The eclipse track starts in the S Atlantic, runs diagonally across N Africa, and exits that continent in Libya. It then crosses the Mediterranean without touching land until it reaches the S coast of Turkey, east of Antalya. It then crosses Turkey diagonally, crosses the Black Sea, & ends in an inaccessible part of S Asia.

So the only practical observation sites are Turkey & Libya. We decided against Libya on grounds of extra cost, possible political complications, & extra travel difficulties.

The weather prospects in that part of Turkey at that time of year are about 70%, SO THERE IS NO GUARANTEE OF SUCCESS! But the prospects for the IAA trip to Bulgaria in August 1999 were also only about 70%, and it was a total success.

We have chosen Antalya for several reasons:
1. Although not on the central track, even in Antalya the duration is 3m 10s, which is almost a minute more than we got in Bulgaria. So we would get a good view even from the hotel.
2. Being based in Antalya gives us the option to travel either East or South to get to, or very nearly to, the central line, to maximise the viewing time - 3m 49s in both cases. See also 4 below.
3. Since it's not the main tourist season, it would be better to be in a fairly big city where there will be many more facilities open, and more to see & do, than in some of the smaller resorts such as Manavgat, which are much closer to the centre line.
4. At Manavgat, for example, it would be a much longer journey to get to the more SE location to view the eclipse, if the weather prospects looked better there on the day.
5. There is a much better choice of hotels in Antalya.

The eclipse will take place on Wednesday 29th of March, and the bottom line is that at this stage it looks as if a week in a 4-star hotel in Antalya at that time in Turkey, Saturday to Saturday or Sunday to Sunday will cost about £400 sterling, 600 euros or a bit more for a 5-star hotel, B&B or half-board, per person sharing, including flights from London, transfers etc, but excluding insurance, which is mandatory. There would of course be a supplement for single occupancy, & reductions for children. The tour operator chosen will be fully ATOL and ABTA bonded, so the total package will be secure from that angle. We haven't quite settled on this yet, so I would caution you all that closer examination might force a re-appraisal to a slightly more expensive package.

There are no package operators in Ireland, North or South, who offer flights at this time as it is outside the tourist season, so the flight will be from London, probably Stansted. (If anyone knows different to this, could I ask you to get in touch with me as soon as possible?) This means that we will have to add the cost of a return flight from Dublin/Belfast/Shannon/Cork/Galway to London, and given the real possibility of a delay, and the admittedly remote possibility of a SERIOUS delay, I feel that this should be booked for the day before, thus necessitating the expense of an overnight stay in London, thereby adding about £50-60 sterling, 80-90 euros to the cost. Another option being considered would NOT involve an overnight stay in London, but that option is not confirmed yet.

We will NOT be making arrangements for your journey to London for the flight to Turkey, nor return to Ireland afterwards. That will be ENTIRELY your own responsibility. We simply could not enter into arrangements for all the possible flight options from Belfast, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Shannon, let alone smaller airports such as Derry, Kerry, Knock, Sligo, Waterford, etc!" Cheap flights are available to London if you book early

Another slight downside is that since the event falls outside the tourist season (who arranges these things anyway?... I reckon somebody should have a word...) there might not be the usual tourist trips and activities, and this is one of the reasons we have settled on one week rather than two. However through the good offices of Valerie down in Ballincollig, we are in touch with a Turkish tour operator who we hope will be able to lay some things on for us. Such activities would be optional, and at additional cost.

We should have firm figures soon, hopefully in no more than 2 or 3 weeks, and this is where I come into the picture...

Terry has done all the work so far, but it will be down to me as Chair of IFAS to collate a list of participants, arrange for deposits, and ultimately the balance, to be paid to the IFAS Treasurer. Here is the present and future likely program.

As I mentioned above, I want to conduct this entire venture by email. Apart from the sheer convenience of it, the main reason is that I can easily put together a database which can be sequentially updated from the initial interested parties, through those who actually confirm their interest by paying a deposit, to the ultimate fully paid-up list. For security, and in case I should fall under the wheels of the proverbial bus, I can then share this list with other individuals who could, in such an event, take over the reins. I know that far from all club members have email access, but I feel that it is perfectly feasible for the individual clubs to arrange for someone who has such access to act for those who haven't. I would also suggest that each club keeps a record of its own members who have registered, and henceforth occasionally double-check that no-one has slipped through the floorboards. In fact it might be a good idea for all applications to be channeled through one person, but I will leave that up to the individual clubs. It would not be an onerous task.

So the first thing I want to do is put together an initial list of those who are SERIOUSLY interested. Now I realize that not everyone can commit themselves this early in the proceedings, and due allowance will be made for this. But since we will be using the numbers as a negotiating factor with the tour operators, the last thing we need is outright tyre-kickers. Send me your name and Club affiliation and any other details you feel are relevant. If you know someone else who doesn't have email, but would like to go, arrange to have a SEPARATE mail sent on their behalf. (NOTE; in the event of numbers exceeding capacity, IFAS club-members will take precedence over those who are not) Since your computers might, on extremely rare occasions, break down or act up, you will find my phone number below, so you will be able to check on your application's progress that way.

This list needs to be put together as soon as possible, because as I mentioned above, it looks as if we will be getting down to brass tacks with the tour operators in 2 or 3 weeks. The reasons for the urgency are obvious. First of all, the operators and hotels will soon realize that they will be able to charge a premium at the time of this eclipse, and secondly all the reasonably priced accommodation will soon fill up. We expect at least 70-100 to go on this trip.

As well as actual numbers, we need to know whether you will require single or double occupancy, or whether you would be prepared to share with another member of the same sex, to save costs, and the ages of any children who would be going, as at 25 March 2006.

We envisage asking for a deposit of about £100, or 150 euro, per person, as soon as the price & flight & hotel details are confirmed. This will be non-refundable (unless the whole deal falls through from the travel operator's end). The full balance will become payable 10 weeks before departure.

To sum up, I'll need:
Full names of all intending participants, with postal and or email addresses,
Ages of any children (under 16) at 25 March 2006,
Whether you want a double/twin/single or family room,
If going as a single, whether you would be prepared to share,
If there is a choice, whether you would prefer the 4-star or 5-star hotel, the latter at a slightly/moderately higher cost.

DAVID: NOTES:

1. Your hotel prices for an overnight in London were far too high: you can get rooms for £40-50 per person in a 3-star hotel, or even £50-60 for a room with 2, 3 or even 4 people, which is OK for a simple overnight stay. I've suggested £50-60 per person to be safe.

2. I now hope to get a good offer on the luxury 5-star (that's OUR 5-star standards!) SHERATON Hotel, but I don't know the actual price yet - I expect to know by the end of Monday.

3. If we get a very large response, we might be allocated to two hotels anyway, in which case we might be able to offer the 4-star (UK/Irish standards) package at the original cost, or the 5-star (UK/Irish standards) at a higher cost.

4. With your approval, after a week or so, I will forward your email to all on my list, just to make sure that it reaches as many as possible. But as you have said, IFAS members will take precedence.

5. If you were to go under the wheels of the proverbial bus, it could then be too late to share the database (!), so I suggest that you share it on a simultaneously updated basis with someone else fully trustworthy & competent - perhaps Bart, or Al White?

6. Will everyone know what a 'tyre-kicker' is???

Well done so far!

Terry

Hi,

Just to clarify/update.

Those interested should email David Bell at sdbell at gofree.indigo.ie rather than reply to this thread.

Cheers

Cut and Pasting from Wally's post in another forum.

N Africa, and exits that continent in Libya. It then crosses the Mediterranean without touching land until it reaches the S coast of Turkey, east of Antalya. It then crosses Turkey diagonally, crosses the Black Sea, & ends in an inaccessible part of S Asia.

I would like to correct a GLARING mistake with the above. It does go through the Greek isle of Kastellorizo with TOTALITY lasting 2.5 minutes.

I will certainly be there for the event and would love to see some of you there for this event.

Anthony.

David sent me an email asking to make the following addition:

Two items...

First, apologies for leaving on some of Terry's notes tacked to the end of the message, but no harm, it will give you a bit of insight into what is going on behind the scenes.

Second, I omitted to include my phone number, which is 061 392786.

But let me appeal to you only to use the phone rather than email as a last resort. Phone messages about this place tend to get written on the back of sweetie papers, and by the time I remember them a week later, either the mice have made off with them or they are in the council tip...

I exaggerate, but you get the idea.

David

From Terry.


I'm just back from a very successful trip to make arrangements for viewing the eclipse. All is looking very good!

After uneventful Easyjet flight to Amsterdam, I picked up my tickets for Antalya, supplied by OAD-Reizen. The flight there, by Onur Air, was in a new Airbus 300 wide-body jet. The flight is 3h 45m, with an in-flight meal. Onur Air is a major Turkish airline, roughly equivalent to Easyjet or Ryanair. Schipol is a huge airport, so allow plenty of time for finding your departure gate!

At Antalya, I was met by Vildan Erdin, the local rep of OAD, and driven to the Hillside Su Hotel. Wow! Look at the hotel website, and see my further comments below. One reassuring aspect: there is a security barrier at the main road consisting of rise-and-fall steel posts that would stop even a big lorry, and even though the staff there know Vildan, they still checked in her car, and underneath it with the under-car mirror, just like the good old days in Belfast!

That evening, I met a local Turkish tour operator, Yildirim Ozden, whom Valerie Canty had put us in touch with several years ago. David & I have been emailing him for quite some time about the eclipse trip. Yildirim & his partners (see below) looked after me, in every way, for the rest of my trip. I had already emailed Yildirim in the Spring with our requirements in terms of site location, size, aspects, facilities, etc, and he did a lot of research in advance of my visit. He is not only a tour operator, but also deals in real estate, so he already knew the area quite well.
As already explained, I had said that we wanted at least one site near the centre line near Side/Manavgat, and another to the South of Antalya, near Cape Gelidonya, in case the weather prospects look better there. Although it's not quite on the centre line, the duration is only a few seconds less than at Side.

SOUTHERN OPTIONS:
They picked me up from the hotel on Saturday morning, and we drove South along the coast road, past Kemer, towards Kumluca. We inspected 4 sites on this trip.

1. First was a good hotel with its own grounds, and beach area, about 12 km South of Kemer. Duration there will be about 3m 37s. We could use the hotel facilities, and have lunch there after. But it only scored about 6/10, for the following reasons: the grass area was not really big enough for all of us, and the beach was very soft sand. Also there was no view to the SW, to see the approaching shadow. And it was quite close to the mountains, which can 'attract' orographic cloud.

2. Next was large area beside a little cafe just off the main road about 15 km further to the SSW. Duration about 3m 38s. They would have roped off a large area for us. This scored about 5/10: it was even closer to the mountains, the cafe toilet facilities were basic (but MUCH better than at the site in Bulgaria!), and the cafe would have struggled to cope with such a large number: it could not have provided a full lunch for so many people.

3. Next was a much better site on the main road a few km further on, NE of Kumluca. Duration about 3m 38s. There is a good view over the sea & the valley to the SW to see the approaching shadow. Toilets & eating available nearby. Score 7/10 or 8/10.

4. Last option in this general location is near the sea, near Kumluca. Duration about 3m 46s. There is a huge area of hard ground with sparse grass cover here. There would be loads of room for everyone, and a clear view to the SW over the sea. And it's not too close to the mountains. Toilet & eating arrangements are available. I score it 8/10 or 9/10.


EASTERN OPTIONS:

On Monday we went along the main coast road to the East, towards Manavgat. We looked at several sites along the way, but the last one is so much better than all the rest that I won't describe the others.
It's near Side, only a few km from the centre line. Duration about 3m 49s (the same as the maximum in Turkey, which is at Side itself). There's a large dry flat hard grassy area, with a clear view to the SW. And it's well away from the mountains, and any possible orographic cloud. Good eating and toilet facilities are available nearby. Score 10/10. This is definitely the place to go, unless the weather forecast indicates that the Southern area would be better.

We would need to decide the day before the eclipse whether we would go South or East, so that we could let the restaurant owners know.

Yildirim has really done a magnificent job for us, and his friendliness, helpfulness, and professionalism, and those of his partners, were a joy to experience.

He has of course also agreed to lay on various optional tours for our group to places of interest in the locality, and I'll be corresponding with him a bit more on that shortly. Then when we agree on what he will offer, he will prepare a complete individual information pack for everyone on the trip (we just let him know the names in advance). And he will provide an English-speaking guide - himself or one of his partners; see below - on each of the coaches, both on the eclipse trip itself, and on the other optional excursions.

Yildirim operates both 'Tolerance Travel' (the tour operating), and 'Tolerance Realty', which is the ever-growing real estate business. Yildirim's partners are Ali Igde, Zeki Apali, and Efdal Korkmaz, and they are all fully qualified tour guides, and speak good English. And they are a delightful bunch of guys! If you want to buy property in S Turkey, which is unbelievably cheap, they are the guys to contact!

THE HOTEL: It's just superb! Maybe I got a better class of room than the standard, but I would think that all the rooms are excellent. There's even a phone in the bathroom, beside the loo! The service is first class, and the food is just unbelievable! Unfortunately I never got to eat dinner there, as Yildirim & his pals fed me so well each day that I couldn't eat any more! But judging by the breakfast, we have a treat in store. The breakfast buffet bar is about 60 metres long! And it has EVERY kind of food you could imagine. And then about twice as many more! All of superb quality, and beautifully presented. And if you want something cooked hot, the chef will do it to your exact desires as you watch! The staff are all friendly & helpful & all speak at least some English.
It's just up from the beach, with its own private direct access route, and there's a beach-side bar operated by the hotel. It was brilliant! (The only disadvantage is that it's not near the city centre, so you need to take the tram or a 'Dolmus' (small bus) to get to the main shopping area and the old Roman etc city.)

WEATHER: I hope it's as good on 29 March! It was mainly sunny when I arrived on Saturday afternoon, and there was practically no cloud to be seen at all on Sunday, Monday, and up until I left at 16.30 local time on Tuesday afterrnoon. And the sky was exceptionally clear & transparent: it was blue right down to the horizon. And even on 8 November, the temperature in Antalya was 24 degrees!

I'll post some more local information closer to the departure time.

Terry

Well done Terry,

I am gladyou liked it!

Regards
Jouke