IFAS Solar Eclipse Trip to Turkey

This forum is really just for the boards regulars to discus the trip. There are many people going who are not on here. The email list itself is at groups.yahoo.com/group/IFAS_Turkey2006/ which you are already on Paul.

Cheers,
~Al

Ok.

When I tried to log in, I got

IFAS_Turkey2006
Sorry, this group is available to members ONLY.
You are not allowed to access this group.

so I thought I was missing out on the site. Obviously I'm std. email only, which is fine, now that I know .

If any of my Irish friends are still considering where to go for the eclipse, I would like to remind them that we also have 3 minutes and 10 seconds of totality on the Greek isle of Kastelorizo.

My plans at the moment are to be there a week early and I would be more than happy to assist anyone who may be considering Greece as an alternative.

Anthony.

Hi all,

Apologies if this goes to some of you who are no longer going on the trip: I haven't had time to fully update my address list.

This email contains all the relevant information about the trip, the hotel, the eclipse, and the viewing locations we have identified which I have gleaned, mainly from my recce trip there last November. I suggest that you print it out and bring it with you.

As you all know, you have to make your own way to and from Amsterdam Schipol airport, so I'll start there.

1. You will collect your tickets from the OAD desk at the airport. Directions to find that desk will follow later. I strongly suggest that you do that when you arrive in Amsterdam the day before departure (or earlier in some cases). Details of that procedure will follow when we have agreed them with OAD.

2. The airport is huge: allow plenty of time to make your way to the check-in desk. The number of the check-in desk will appear on your ticket pack from OAD.

3. The airline, ONUR AIR, is the Turkish equivalent af Ryanair or Easyjet.

4. The plane I flew on was a modern large wide-bodied Airbus - A300, 315 seater, I think. There was loads of room in the overhead lockers, and I was amazed at the size of some of the bags and cases that went up there! Far bigger than you are allowed on Easyjet, BMiBaby, Ryanair, Aer Lingus etc. So you might be able to do the flight to Turkey without checked-in baggage, which means less chance of it going astray. I can't guarantee that the same will apply on our flight in March, but I see no reason why it would not.

5. The flight is OK, with a meal served on board each way. They had no objection to me walking up & down the aisles for exercise on a regular basis.

6. On approach to Antalya airport you'll probably fly over the city, out to sea, then back in over the coast - a fantastic view, with the snow-covered mountains on the West (left) side! Don't worry if you see a few military jets nearby, don't worry, they won't be buzzing us: they use part of the airport too (just like Aldergrove); But I wouldn't take any photos just to be on the safe side!

7. VISAS: when you enter the terminal building, collect your baggage, if any, then go straight to the VISA desks, NOT to the queue for passport control! They are located on the right as you approach the back end of the queues for Passport Control. There are several desks for EU citizens, and a separate one for US citizens. You pay in Euro and dollars respectively. Or in Turkish Lira, I suppose, but you might want to save those. It was €15 per person in November.

8. Then queue to go through passport control. Slowish, but painless. The security scanner is very sensitive, so you'll need to remove all metal items, including belt buckles etc.

9. Once through there, we'll look for the OAD reps, either in the terminal building, or outside by the coaches: details of that later.

10. We travel by coach to the Hillside Su Hotel, which is on the far side of the city from the airport - probably about 30 minutes or so. OAD will be arranging the transport to the hotel, and their courier(s) will explain the usual arrangements.

11. THE HOTEL: The vehicle & pedestrian entrance is on DUMLUPINAR BULVARI. (Bulvari = Boulevard, I presume). It doesn't look remarkable from the outside, but inside it's a different story! At night it's lit up in a sequence of changing colours, so don't be fooled. It might be pink as you go out for a walk, but be blue by the time you return! However, it changes fairly quickly, so you would soon see the next colour!
Security: The entrance is protected by large stell rise & fall posts, that would stop anything except a tank! They even checked under the car with mirrors! Very reassuring.
The entrance and reception are actually on the second floor. The reception staff all speak fairly good English. Other staff speak varying amounts of English, but probabaly more than your Turkish! We'll all check-in, & get rooms allocated.
The lifts are at the far end of the huge atrium-like foyer: they are quick & trouble-free. One is on the outside of the building, overlooking the back garden and pool.
You will have an electronic key-card: you press the button in the centre of the electronic pad, then swipe the cardt through the slot outide the door to unlock it. The diagrams on the door are quite clear. Once inside, insert it into a slot on the wall just inside the door to activate the lights in the room. TAKE IT WITH YOU WHEN YOU EXIT, and DON'T LOSE THAT CARD! I presume that a couple or a group sharing a room will get a card each.
Hotel Shop: very limited stock. Floor 1.

TIP 1. If you are desperate to use a toilet, and you're out of your room without your keycard, there are toilets which seem to be part of the recreation/fitness/conference suite on the first floor, just beside the lift which leads to the back of the hotel and the pool.

TIP 2. If you are using that 'outside' lift at night, restrain yourself when you get in: I saw a couple engaging in quite a passionate clinch when the doors closed, not realising that it was lit up and they could be seen from outside!

12. The rooms: I'm not sure if mine was typical, but all I can say is 'sybaritic luxury'! I hope you like big mirrors for a start! There are three huge ones, in front, behind, and to the side of the bed - but none above it, you'll be glad (or sorry?) to learn! There's also a goldfish in a bowl, which the chambermaid feeds: you can ask to have it removed if you wish. And there's a lava lamp, for relaxation, or very minimal lighting.
There are lots of lighting options, from the excessive to the romantic to the exotic!
Door to the balcony: pull down the handle halfway to tilt, or full down to open, then swing the door to the right to open. Don't close it from the outside!
The room is stocked with everything you could possibly need, in both the toilet/bathroom, the mini-bar, the snack-bar, and other things like films etc. BUT - they are very expensive! Use them at your peril!
The phone is basically a special 'mobile', which sits in its own charger, so you can take it out to the balcony etc. And there's even a separate wall-mounted phone beside you in the toilet! If you can't work out how to use the mobile, use the conventional one in the toilet. But external calls via the hotel phones are expensive, just like everywhere.
TV (free, except for 2 pay per view channels - don't know how much) has 48 channels, including CNN and BBC World in English. Other channels are Turkish plus 1 or 2 in French & German. You can watch films, and programmes like Friends (don't know which series!) in English, ignoring the Turkish subtitles.
TOILET: press the large flat steel panel to flush. The lever beside the toilet is for bidet/douche!
Basin: pull lever forward for on, left for cold, right for hot.
SHOWER: Lever on the left: press this up for overhead shower, or down for the flexible 'hose' shower. Lever on the right: Press up for on/volume, Back for hot, and forward for cold.
Bath: it's only a shallow 'lie-down' bath - basically it's just formed by the edge of the whole shower enclosure: it's long enough to lie down in, but only about 8 inches deep.
The BALCONY: It's quite big, and has a thick 'glass wall', but there's a 3" gap at the bottom, so things could roll or slide through, and fall to the ground, which could be a long way below! Those with children: watch out for any small toys disappearing into thin air! There's a double 'daybed' almost big enough to sleep on on the balcony.

13. BREAKFAST. This is served down at the bottom floor, in the restaurant, "KIRMIZI", on the level which leads out to the pool at the back.
Read this carefully..... Don't start helping yourself until you have walked the whole length of the breakfast bar, to see what they have. And try not to let your mouth drop open too far, or dribble. When you think you have got to the end, go on round the corner to find almost as much again of the same! Then go back, get a tray, and start loading up! In the middle section, on the bend, the chefs will cook hot food for you as you wait, exactly as you like it. The food is of exceptional quality, fresh, beautifully presented, and delicious. Enjoy!

14. Dinner is served there too, (we are 'half board') but as I didn't get a chance to sample it when I was there (my local Turkish contacts fed me so well elsewhere that I never had a chance!), I can't describe it. However I assume that the quality is similar.

15. The Pool: A simple rectangular pool, clean, with loungers, parasols & a typical nice clean poolside bar.

16. Fitness suite, spa, indoor pool, balneotherapy etc, on Floor 0: I didn't have time to sample these, but feel free to do so!

17. THE BEACH: This is accessed by a special private path from the back of the hotel, past the pool, across the promenade (called AKDENIZ BULVARI), and down to the hotel's own beach-side bar. The gate is locked to prevent access by non-residents, so you use your room card to open the gate to get out & get back in to the hotel grounds. (If you forget it, you have to walk round to the main front entrance.) The beach is coarse sand and small round pebbles, OK for bare feet. It shelves quite steeply into the water, so be careful with small children.
To find the entrance to the hotel from the beach, look for the 'Mini-pier', on stilts, at water's edge obviously. Behind that is the all-white Hillside Su Beach Bar. Go through the path beside that, then straight across the roadway to the gate, which opens with your keycard.

18. ANTALYA: It's a big modern city, bigger than Dublin in population, but with rather uninspiring modern architecture. However, the old city, with its 'Roman' remains, are much more interesting. See the Emperor Hadrian's Gate, for a start.

19. TRANSPORT: The hotel is at the West end of the city, and it would be a good long walk to get to the city centre. Cheapest and easiest transport is provide by the little 'Dolmus' buses, which are like large glorified minibus taxis. They move off when full, and will drop you off anywhere on their route. There's also a tram system, but the nearest stop is about 1/2 km away. The hotel reception will give you more details - I never got time to try either. Or you can order an ordinary taxi.

20. CAR HIRE: Probably you'll get the best deal by checking the internet for best deals & booking before you go. make sure you take out CDW! It could cost you a lot if you have an accident if you don't, even if it's not your fault. And you should take photos of the outside of the car before you return it to show that it was undamaged, just in case. Observe the speed limits - there are frequent radar checks. Fuel ststions are not as frequent as here, but if you fill up in Antalya, you should be OK.

21. EATING OUT: There are plenty of places, but the ones on the sea-front promenade may not all be open at that time of year: we'll just have to wait and see. There are of course many others throughout the city. But if you eat the breakfasts I did, you'll not want much until the evening!

22. THE ECLIPSE: REHEARSAL: For the benefit of eclipse tyros we will try to run a brief rehersal of what will happen, probably the evening before, somewhere in the hotel grounds.

23. ECLIPSE DAY: Based on the weather forecast we will decide the previous evening, with a last-minute check on the morning, which site to go to. Coaches will call at the hotel early on Wednesday morning, and there will be an English-speaking guide, (Yildirim Ozden, or one of his colleagues) on board each.

24. ECLIPSE TOILETS: Depending on which site we are going to (see below), there will either be good clean toilets at the site, or else we will make a stop along the way just before the only site which does not have adequate toilet facilities. It may be possible to have a toilet on board at least one of the coaches.

25. THE ECLIPSE: This starts at about 11.36 local time (First Contact), with Totality starting at about 12.56, local time. Duration at all the sites we have chosen is between 3 mts 38 secs and 3 mts 49 secs ( the maximum possible in Turkey). We will aim to arrrive at the site about 30 minutes before First Contact, to allow you time to set up equipment before the first 'notch' appears. The eclipse will be total even in Antalya, but the duration will be only 3 mts 12 secs. You could choose to stay at the hotel, but you would lose some duration, and the option of getting to the site with the best weather chances, and if you appeared as any sort of an 'expert' you would probably be bothered with people asking you lots of questions in Turkish or broken English!

26. TRANSPORT: Yildirim Ozden of Tolerance Travel will provide good modern coaches & drivers to take us to our chosen site. He or one of his collegaues will travel as a local courier and interpreter on each coach. There will be a modest extra charge for that - probably around €15 per head, with discount for children.
Yildirim has said that he is giving us an extra cheap price for that because he, and his colleagues, will want to take the opportunity to promote to us the other aspect of their business there, which is selling property in that region of Turkey to Irish people. The price of property there is unbelievably cheap, and you may well want to consider it, or at least recommend it to a friend. He says that if he gets even one sale out of our group, that will cover the subsidised costs of the coaches he is providing!
Don't worry - it won't be like a TimeShare selling session! It won't even be the major feature of the coach journeys. But as he, and his colleagues, have been so helpful to us already, the least we can do is listen!

27. YOUR OWN SPOT: there will be plenty of room at each of the two most likely sites that we have chosen. So spread out, and set up your equipment far enough away from each other so that you won't bump into tripods etc!
First choice site is practically on the centre line, near Manavgat. It's a huge area in the grounds of a nice restaurant, with a gentle slope down to the sea. Tons of room, good toilets, food & drink!
Second choice, if weather prospects are better to the South of Antalya, is another huge flat area just beside the beach, W of Cape Gelidonya. Loads of room for everyone. The surface is a sort of compacted very coarse grit. There's a seaside bar here, which could serve cold drinks, but no food. It has a rather primitive blockhouse outside 'squat' toilet, so that's only if you're stuck. If we're going there we'll stop for a toilet break in the last village before that site. Or, I hope, at least one of the coaches will have a toilet.
The third-choice site is more restricted in area, although there should be enough room for everyone. But if we do go there, behave responsibly, and don't disturb others near you. It has a fair-sized patio area at the back, a large carpark area by the roadside at the front, and two rooftop areas. It's a restaurant, with good toilets, so no worries on that score.

28. Duration of totality will be almost 3 minutes 50 seconds, a lot longer than in Bulgaria (2 mts 20 secs), but even so, the time will fly if you are trying to do too much. If it's your first eclipse, I suggest that you don't try to be too ambitious, with very elaborate equipment; just set up something simple, and concentrate on enjoying the event.

29. Time will move quite slowly from First Contact up to about 80% eclipse. If you need a toilet break, take it before 60% eclipse. Do your last equipment checks.

30. NEARLY THERE: Then from about 85% you'll feel the tension. It will get darker, and colder. The light will take on a weird flat colour, and shadows will sharpen. Birds may start to sing, or animals lie down. From 95% on, if it's your first eclipse, your life is about to change. Somebody will be shouting out a Countdown. Suddenly it will get quite dark. The hair on the back of your neck will stand up. The crescent of Sun will get thinner, and thinner, and thinner.
Anyone who wants to look for Shadow Bands can do so now: if you're doing that, you know what to expect.
You can look out into the distance to the SW, to see the Moon's shadow racing towards you at about 1000 km/hour

31. Suddenly the very thin crescent will break up into two or more bright hair-thin sections.
Somebody will shout "Bailie's Beads", or "Diamond Ring" - that's when you take off your filters. AND DO TAKE THEM OFF! Then you will soon see the most amazing sight of your life.
Bailie's Beads are the last few tiny segments of the Sun's brilliant surface shining through valleys on the edge of the Moon. They last only for a second or two.
The 'Diamond Ring' is the effect of the last one of these bright beads, together with the inner bright corona which is now appearing around the whole of the Moon's disc, looking like a ring with a bright diamond at one side. This varies a lot from one eclipse to another, for reasons which I needn't go into.

32. TOTALITY! Then the last arcsecond of photosphere disappears, and the whole glorious corona leaps into view. You'll hear whoops, and yells, and cries of joy and amazement. With any luck there will be some bright red solar prominences along the edge of the black moon; but with the solar cycle bring near minimum, this can't be predicted. However, anyone with a Coronado or Solarscope will probably be able to see any bright ones before the eclipse, and let us know what to expect.
As your eyes adapt to the darkness, you'll see more and more of the brilliant pearly corona, with streamers and jets, typically emanating from the Sun's poles. It's unreal. It's magnificent. It's slightly scary, even when you know what's happening. You know now why ancient peoples were so terrified.
If you want to take photos, do so, but remember to look as well!

33. PLANETS: You can look for Venus, and other bright planets nearby, but do take in the whole eclipse spectacle itself. Venus (mag -4.3) will be lowish towards the SW horizon; Mercury, mag 0.9, will be halfway between the Sun and Venus. Mars, mag 1.2, may be too faint to be seen, well on the other side of the Sun.

34: NEARING THE END: Then you'll notice that the inner corona is starting to get asymmetrical, as the moon moves towards the other side of the Sun's disc. Prominences will have largely disappeared from in front of the leading edge of the Moon, new ones may have come into view as the Moon's trailing edge gets closer to the Sun's edge.

35. END OF TOTALITY: Suddenly a bright spot will appear, grow larger and brighter: The Diamond Ring in reverse. You may get the best view of the DR at this stage, as your eyes have been fairly dark adapted. Then Bailie's Beads again, then it's all over! Stop looking with your unprotected eyes. Put filters back on your equipment. End your exposures, unless you have planned to continue with filters. Then relive it all in your mind.

36. THREE SIMPLE RULES:
(1.) DURING THE PARTIAL PHASE, OBSERVE/IMAGE/FILM ONLY WITH FILTERS! - Either on your telescope, or binoculars, or with your eclipse glasses, or whatever
(2.) AS SOON AS TOTALITY BEGINS TAKE OFF THE FILTERS, FROM YOUR TELESCOPE AND/OR BINOCULARS, AND TAKE OFF YOUR ECLIPSE GLASSES, AND ENJOY!
(3.) As soon as totality is over, PUT ON ALL YOUR FILTERS / ECLIPSE GLASSES AGAIN!

(More detailed safety instructions will be given while we're there)

37. ENDING PARTIAL PHASES: Most people are too overcome with the experience of totality to bother too much with the ending partial phases, but if you want a complete eclipse photo record, continue as before.

38. VIEWING PROSPECTS: Fred Espenak gives a figure of 60% probability for Antalya. BUT, as noted above, that's based on the average weather statistics for the whole of March: in late March the prospects are a bit better - maybe 65%. AND, as we have the option of travelling either East to Manavgat, or South to near Cape Gelidonya, depending on the local forecast, I estimate that our chances of a clear sky are about 70%. That of course, as anyone can see, means that there's also a chance of cloud - but clear skies were never guaranteed in the deal!

39. EATING AFTER THE ECLIPSE: Two of the three top sites are actually at nice restaurants, and the arrangements are that we will eat lunch there (pay for what you eat) after observing the eclipse. The third site, at Cape Gelidonya, has no eating facilities, but we would pass one of the other sites on the way back, and stop and eat there. If you don't want to eat, or only want a snack, that's OK, but the schedule will be planned around that anyway.

40. WEATHER, GENERAL: The temperatures are likely to be in the low twenties, but the sea will be at its coldest for the year; probably still slightly warmer than at home in summer. It's possible that there will be some showers during the week, but overall it should be much drier than here. (If you read Fred Espenak's NASA Eclipse Bulletin, note that the weather statistics given are an average for the whole of March. The eclipse is on the 29th, so in fact we'll be about halfway between the average weather for March and for April, with the latter being a lot better. Fred has just quoted the basic March figures.)

41. SWIMMING: the sea looked clean to me, but the main beach is just on the edge of the city: say like Sandymount Strand in Dublin. I can't guarantee that it's really bacteria-free (I don't suppose any beach is!), but the locals and all the summer visitors seem to enjoy it without problems.

42. MONEY: You won't be a millionaire if you go to Turkey now: the old Lira was devalued by a factor of 1 million, and is now called New Turkish Lira, or "YTL" in Turkish. Obviously the exchange rate varies with time, but it's approx 80% of a Euro. Most sizeable establishments take credit cards, but you'll need some cash too obviously. If you hace two or more credit cards, leave at least one in the safe in your oom, in case you lose the other one.

43. NIGHT OBSERVING - MESSIER MARATHON? John Flannery is quite keen to attemp a Full Messier Marathon, i.e. to observe all 109 Messier objects in one night. March is a good time to do it, and the more southerly latitude of Antalya helps too. But you will need to get at least 10 miles away from the city to get really dark skies, although 5 might be enough for the M/M. I've already given some tips on that to John, and I'll leave the rest up to him. You'll need to hire cars, and I suggest you get a good map, and check out some sites beforehand in daytime.

44. MAPS: The best I've been able to locate anywhere is "Turkish Riviera / Antalya", scale 1:150,000, by Freytag & Berndt, www.freytagberndt.com . ISBN: 3-7079-0330-3. I was able to get it through Amazon.com. It covers the Antalya region, East a bit beyond Manavgat, South to Cape Gelidonya, and West to Kas, with detailed maps of Antalya, and the local major historical/ archaelogical sites of Side, Perge and Termessos. It shows all driveable roads, tourist information, etc, and has an index. But it only extends about a dozen miles North of Antalya, so if you wanted to travel into that region, next best is the -
"Insight Travel Map: TURKEY WEST", ISBN: 981-4120-29-4. www.insightguides.com . The scale is 1:800,000, and it covers all of Turkey west of Ankara. But it doesn't show the minor roads. (It also shows all of Turkey on the reverse side, at a much smaller scale.) I was able to get it in Waterstones, price £5.99.

45. EXCURSIONS & TRIPS: Our excellent local contact, Yildirim Ozden, will be laying on optional coach trips to some amazing and beautiful local sites of interest. I'll circulate details of those very soon. They will of course cost extra, just as on any trip, but I'm assured that they will be at very competetive prices. Yildirim and his colleagues will be acting as couriers on those trips, and they all speak good English, and are delightful characters!

46. MOBILE PHONES: Mine didn't work while I was there. (It did work in Amsterdam, however.) I'm on Vodafone Pay As You Talk, and apparently I should have de-activated the foreign roaming bar before I left. I tried to do it from there, without success. So check that before you go.

47. DAVID BELL: Some of you may know that unfortunately David Bell won't be able to go on the trip, for various personal reasons! But he is continuing to do Trojan work on all the booking arrangements, for which we are eternally grateful, and for which we will reward him in some way! So please continue to deal with him as far as anything relating to your bookings or paynments is concerned.

48. PASSPORTS: You will of course need passports covering every member of your party, and they should be valid for at least 6 months after your last day in Turkey (1 April). It's useful to have a photocopy of the relevant pages and keep it separately, e.g. back in the safe in your hotel room.

49. INSURANCE: As already pointed out many times, you MUST have your own insurance for the whole trip, i.e. UK/Ireland & back to UK/Ireland again, covering every member of your party, and covering any activities which you may indulge in. If you haven't, don't bother coming!

50. AVIAN FLU. I'm sure you're all aware that this has occurred in Turkey. But it has not become an epidemic! It might be useful to remember the following:
Turkey is a HUGE country! It's more than twice the size of Germany. It's more than 11 times bigger than Ireland! From East to West, the distance is the same as from the North of Scotland to the South of France! And from North to South its extent is 1.5 times more than the length of Ireland! Its population is bigger than that of any European country, including Germany & UK. The places where the bird flu have been detected, are all well to the North or near the Eastern border. The distance from Van, the first infection locality, to Antalya is 1,120km. That's 3.2 times the distance from Belfast to Cork! If there was bird flu on a farm in Skibbereen in Cork or Tralee in Kerry, that wouldn't stop you eating out in a hotel in Belfast, would it?
And the ones that have contracted the bird flu were working with poultry on their farm.
And the hotel is a 5-star hotel, with exceptional standards of cleanliness! So I really wouldn't worry at all. Just take normal sensible hygiene precautions, and if you're after birds, restrict yourself to the non-feathered variety!

51. EARTHQUAKES: These do occur in Turkey, but not in the Antalya region. The Plate boundaries all lie well to the North or West of Antalaya. I did a search on the National Geophysical Data Centre site for all recorded earthquakes since 2000 BC above magnitude 5 (those below mag 5 are insuignificant), and found none near Antalya. A search of the USGS site produced similar results.

52. TIME: The clocks here go forward 1 hour when we're in Turkey. I'm not sure if the same applies there (I don't think so), but we'll need to check to be sure for both the eclipse, and the return flight times, especially when we get back to Amsderdam!

53. FINALLY: WHEN WE'RE THERE - DON'T ASK ME! I'll be there to enjoy myself too, and I'm not an OAD Courier, nor a represenattaqive of the Hillside Su, nor am I getting paid as an Eclipse Trip Leader, like e.g. John Mason. I'm not even getting a free, or discounted, trip! So, if you've any queries about the flights, or the hotel, or the food, or local facilities etc, ask either OAD at Schipol, or at the hotel, or the OAD rep!
Once we're there, my only responsibility will be to ensure that the coaches arrive on time to get us to the best viewing site on the day! Once I've done that, I'm finished. I'll be relaxing like everyone else. So please don't keep calling on me, or ringing me, or bothering me in any way!
I'll do my best to answer any further queries by email before we leave, but then that's me finished, except for eclipse viewing arrangements, on the day.

(I'll circulate details of the places of interest & optional trips separately later - this is long enough already!

Best Wishes, and Good Luck to all.

Terry Moseley

Hi all,

FURTHER INFORMATION: I have incorporated some more information into this expanded & updated E/M, and got rid of most of the typos. I'll update it again if required before we leave. (Thanks to Valerie Canty, Arnold Stewart, Al White & others for offering some useful info & advice).
Ignore the previous version.....

"This email contains all the relevant information about the trip, the hotel, the eclipse, and the viewing locations we have identified which I have gleaned, mainly from my recce trip there last November. I suggest that you print it out and bring it with you.

N. B. PLEASE SEND A COPY OF THIS TO ANYONE FOR WHOM YOU ARE THE EMAIL CONTACT:

As you all know, you have to make your own way to and from Amsterdam Schipol airport, so I'll start there.

1. Collect your tickets from the OAD desk at the airport. I strongly suggest that you do so as soon as you arrive in Amsterdam. The OAD desk is easy to find. Follow signs for "Departures 1 & 2", which are beside each other (there are 3 Departure zones altogether). You will find the OAD desk just opposite Check-in Desk 9, which is in Departure 1.
The following link is very good, with detailed and interactive maps of the airport. www.schiphol.nl/_plattegronden/Plattegronden_overzicht.jsp . Click on "Departures" and you'll see Departures 1 and 2 in the bottom centre. 'In front' of them are check-in desks 3 to 16. The OAD desk is just opposite desk 9, i.e. just to the right of the "2" of the label "Departure 2" on that map.
The tickets will be available for collection from 3 days before departure.

2. Note that the hotel in Amsterdam where we have a special booking rate for this trip has been changed by OAD from the Novotel Dorint to the Airport Ibis.

3. The airport is huge: allow plenty of time to make your way to the check-in desk. Check the TV screens when you arrive at the airport on Saturday morning. Remember to look specifically for "ONUR Air", and the exact departure time and flight number as shown on your ticket. When you check-in, you will get your boarding pass and be told which departure gate to go to.

4. The airline, ONUR AIR, is the Turkish equivalent of Ryanair or Easyjet, and the staff at check-in speak adequate English.

5. The plane I flew on was a modern large wide-bodied Airbus - A300, 315 seater, I think. There was loads of room in the overhead lockers, and I was amazed at the size of some of the bags and cases that went up there! Far bigger than you are allowed on Easyjet, BMiBaby, Ryanair, Aer Lingus etc. So you might be able to do the flight to Turkey without checked-in baggage, which means less chance of it going astray. I can't guarantee that the same will apply on our flight in March, but I see no reason why it would not.
The official limits are: cabin baggage: one piece, max 5kg. Hold baggage (checked-in): 1 case per person, max 20kg.

6. DUTY FREE: I would think that your best prices for drink etc would be at Schipol airport on the outward journey, but I didn't check it myself. There is also a duty-free shop at Antalya airport for any prezzies you still have to buy on the return trip. I'm also told that drink can be bought cheaply in Turkey if you shop around, but remember that it's a largely Muslim country (although secular), so there won't be so many outlets.

7. The flight is OK, with a meal served on board each way. They had no objection to me walking up & down the aisles for exercise on a regular basis.

8. On approach to Antalya airport you'll probably fly over the city, out to sea, then back in over the coast - a fantastic view, with the snow-covered mountains on the West (left) side! Don't worry if you see a few military jets nearby, they won't be buzzing us: they use part of the airport too (just like Aldergrove). But I wouldn't take any photos just to be on the safe side!

9. VISAS: when you enter the terminal building, collect your baggage, if any, then go straight to the VISA desks, NOT to the queue for passport control! They are located on the right as you approach the queues for Passport Control. There are several desks for EU citizens, and a separate one for US citizens. You pay in Euro and dollars respectively. Or in Turkish Lira, I suppose. It was €15 per person in November.

10. Then queue to go through passport control. Slowish, but painless. The security scanner is very sensitive, so you'll need to remove all metal items, including belt buckles etc.

11. CUSTOMS: I had no problems, either way, but I was travelling light. If you are bringing new, or expensive, equipment with you, I would advise bringing your receipts, or copies thereof, in case of any questions.

12. Once through 'arrivals', we'll look for the OAD reps, either in the terminal building, or outside by the coaches: details of that later.

13. We then travel by coach to the Hillside Su Hotel, which is on the far side of the city from the airport - probably about 30 minutes or so. OAD will be arranging the transport to the hotel, and their courier(s) will explain the usual arrangements.

14. THE HOTEL: The Hillside Su Telephone No is +90 242 249 07 00, Fax: +90 242 249 0707; web: www.hillsidesu.com .
The vehicle & pedestrian entrance is on DUMLUPINAR BULVARI. (Bulvari = Boulevard). It doesn't look remarkable from the outside, but inside it's a different story! At night it's lit up in a sequence of changing colours, so don't be fooled. It might be pink as you go out for a walk, but be blue by the time you return! However, it changes fairly quickly, so you would soon see the next colour!
Security: The entrance is protected by large steel rise & fall posts, that would stop anything except a tank! They even checked under the car with mirrors! Very reassuring.
The entrance and reception are actually on the second floor. The reception staff all speak fairly good English. Other staff speak varying amounts of English, but probably more than your Turkish! We'll all check-in, & get rooms allocated.
The bars are located on either side of the huge foyer. I don't know what prices are like, but as it's a 5* hotel, probably not cheap.
The lifts are at the far end of the huge atrium-like foyer: they are quick & trouble-free. One is on the outside of the building, overlooking the back garden and pool.
You will have an electronic key-card: you press the button in the centre of the electronic pad, then swipe the card through the slot outside the door to unlock it. The diagrams on the door are quite clear. Once inside, insert it into a slot on the wall just inside the door to activate the lights in the room. TAKE IT WITH YOU WHEN YOU EXIT, and DON'T LOSE THAT CARD! I presume that a couple or a group sharing a room will get a card each.
There is internet access with a series of terminals on one of the lower floors (floor 1, I think)
HOTEL SHOP. On floor 1: rather limited stock.

TIP 1. If you are desperate to use a toilet, and you're out of your room without your keycard, there are toilets which seem to be part of the recreation/fitness/conference suite on the first floor, just beside the lift which leads to the back of the hotel and the pool.

TIP 2. If you are using that 'outside' lift at night, restrain yourself when you get in: I saw a couple engaging in quite a passionate clinch when the doors closed, not realising that it was lit up and they could be seen from outside!

15. THE ROOMS: I'm not sure if mine was typical, but all I can say is 'sybaritic luxury'! I hope you like big mirrors for a start! There are three huge ones, in front, behind, and to the side of the bed - but none above it, you'll be glad (or sorry?) to learn! There's also a goldfish in a bowl, which the chambermaid feeds: you can ask to have it removed if you wish. And there's a lava lamp, for relaxation, or very minimal lighting.
There are lots of lighting options, from the excessive to the romantic to the exotic!
Door to the balcony: pull down the handle halfway to tilt, or full down to open, then swing the door to the right to open. Don't close it from the outside!
The room is stocked with everything you could possibly need, in both the toilet/bathroom, the mini-bar, the snack-bar, and other things like films etc. BUT - they are very expensive! Use them at your peril!
The phone is basically a special 'mobile', which sits in its own charger, so you can take it out to the balcony etc. And there's even a separate wall-mounted phone beside you in the toilet! If you can't work out how to use the mobile, use the conventional one in the toilet. But external calls via the hotel phones are expensive, just like everywhere.
TV (free, except for 2 pay per view channels - don't know how much) has 48 channels, including CNN and BBC World in English. Other channels are Turkish plus 1 or 2 in French & German. You can watch films, and programmes like Friends (don't know which series!) in English, ignoring the Turkish subtitles.
TOILET: press the large flat steel panel on top to flush. The lever beside the toilet is for bidet/douche!
BASIN: pull lever forward for on, left for cold, right for hot.
SHOWER: Lever on the left: press this up for overhead fixed shower, or down for the flexible 'hose' 'tap' shower. Lever on the right: Press up for on/volume, Back for hot, and forward for cold.
BATH: it's only a very shallow 'lie-down' bath - basically it's just formed by the edge of the whole shower enclosure: it's long enough to lie down in, but only about 8 inches deep.
The BALCONY: It's quite big, and has a thick 'glass wall', but there's a 3" gap at the bottom, so things could roll or slide through, and fall to the ground, which could be a long way below! Those with children: watch out for any small toys disappearing into thin air! There's a double 'daybed' almost big enough to sleep on on the balcony.
There is 24hr room service, and an internet terminal in each room.

16. BREAKFAST. This is served down at the bottom floor, in the restaurant, "KIRMIZI", on the level which leads out to the pool at the back.
Don't start helping yourself until you have walked the whole length of the breakfast bar, to see what they have. And try not to let your mouth drop open too far, or dribble. When you think you have got to the end, go on round the corner to find almost as much again of the same! Then go back, get a tray, and start loading up! In the middle section, on the bend, the chefs will cook hot food for you as you wait, exactly as you like it. The food is of exceptional quality, fresh, beautifully presented, and delicious. Enjoy!

17. DINNER is served there too, (we are 'half board') but as I didn't get a chance to sample it when I was there (my local Turkish contacts fed me so well elsewhere that I never had a chance!), I can't describe it. However I assume that the quality is similar.

18. The Pool: A simple rectangular pool, clean, with loungers, parasols & a typical nice clean poolside bar.

19. Fitness suite, spa, indoor pool, balneotherapy etc, on Floor 0: I didn't have time to sample these, but feel free to do so!

20. THE BEACH: This is accessed by a special private path from the back of the hotel, past the pool, down steps, through a gate, across the promenade (called AKDENIZ BULVARI, or Akdeniz Caddesi), and down to the hotel's own beach-side bar. Use your room card to open the gate to get out & get back in to the hotel grounds. (If you forget it, you have to walk round to the main front entrance.) The beach is coarse sand and small round pebbles, OK for bare feet. It shelves quite steeply into the water, so be careful with small children.
To find the entrance to the hotel from the beach, look for the 'Mini-pier', on stilts, at water's edge obviously. Behind that is the all-white Hillside Su Beach Bar. Go through the path beside that, then straight across the roadway to the gate, which opens with your keycard.

21. ANTALYA: It's a big modern city, similar to Dublin in population, but with rather uninspiring modern architecture. However, the old city, with its 'Roman' remains, is much more interesting. Valerie Canty provided the following details:

Antalya City, the centre of the Antalya province, is a recent settlement compared to the surrounding region, which has been inhabited for nearly 50,000 years. The city was founded in the second century BC by Attalos II, King of Pergamon who named it Atteleia.

Some ancient cities in the region date back as far as 1000B.C. Now an important centre of art and culture in Turkey. An excellent base from which to explore the many important historic sites in the region.

The modern city of Antalya is situated on cliffs at the extreme western end of the Gulf of Antalya. Backed in the distance by the Taurus Mountains and pine forests, it has all the attractions offered by any major European city including, restaurants, bars, nightclubs and shops, museums and art galleries. It has a palm-lined boulevard, marina and castle with traditional architecture.

22. IRISH BAR: You may, or may not, be glad to learn that there's a "Murphy's Dance Bar / Beach Bistro / Mediterranean Kitchen", at 'Beach Park No 28', just East along the promenade road from the hotel. No, I didn't try it!

23. PUBLIC TRANSPORT: The hotel is at the West end of the city, and it would be a good long walk to get to the city centre. Cheapest and easiest transport is provided by the little 'Dolmus' buses, which are like large glorified minibus taxis. They move off when full, and will drop you off anywhere on their route. There's also a tram system, but the nearest stop is about 3 km away. The hotel reception will give you more details - I never got time to try either. Or you can order an ordinary taxi.

24. CAR HIRE: Probably you'll get the best deal by checking the internet & booking before you go. Make sure you take out CDW! It could cost you a lot if you have an accident if you don't, even if it's not your fault. And you should take photos of the outside of the car before you return it to show that it was undamaged, just in case. Observe the speed limits - there are frequent radar checks. You only need an Irish or British Driving License to hire one.
Cheapest car hire, according to Arnold Stewart, is via the link on his website (honestly!) ie HolidayAutos (they quote fully inclusive prices so there's no extra CDW to pay). The same offer applies for those IAA folk that book via the link on www.perpignanflightsandcarhire.com (ie he will refund half the commission to the IAA coffers; which should be around £3 per booking. Thanks Arnold!)

25. EATING OUT: There are plenty of places, but the ones on the sea-front promenade may not all be open at that time of year: we'll just have to wait and see. There are of course many others throughout the city. But if you eat the breakfasts I did, you'll not want much until the evening! And remember: we're 'half board' so dinner in the hotel is included.

26. THE ECLIPSE: REHEARSAL: For the benefit of eclipse tyros we will try to run a brief rehearsal of what will happen, probably the evening before, somewhere in the hotel grounds.

27. ECLIPSE DAY: Based on the weather forecast we will decide the previous evening, with a last-minute check on the morning, which site to go to. Coaches will call at the hotel early on Wednesday morning, and there will be an English-speaking guide, (Yildirim Ozden, or one of his colleagues) on board each. Have a check-list of everything you want to bring - we won't be going back just to get your camera!

28. SITES: The eclipse sites are 'reserved' for us, except that for two of them there's public access from the beach, so in theory someone else could walk in from there. But don't worry - in each of those cases the beaches are quite remote, and in any case there's room for thousands of people, so it shouldn't be a problem!
First choice site is practically on the centre line, near Manavgat. It's a huge area of short grass, well-drained, in the grounds of a nice restaurant, with a gentle slope down to the sea. Loads of room, good toilets, food & drink!
Second choice, if weather prospects are better to the South of Antalya, is another huge flat area just beside the beach, W of Cape Gelidonya. Loads of room for everyone. The surface is a sort of compacted very coarse gritty sand. You could bring a towel to set things on, if you wish. There's a seaside bar here, which could serve drinks, but no food. It has a rather primitive blockhouse outside 'squat' toilet, so that's only if you're stuck. If we're going there we'll stop for a toilet break in the last village before that site. Or, I hope, at least one of the coaches will have a toilet.
If we go to the South site (nr Cape Gelidonya), we won't be vale to go to the restaurant until we are on the return journey; maybe around 3 or 3.30 p.m, so bring a snack lunch with you.
The third-choice site is more restricted in area, although there should be enough room for everyone. But if we do go there, behave responsibly, and don't disturb others near you. It has a fair-sized patio area at the back, a large carpark area by the roadside at the front, and two rooftop areas. It's a restaurant, with good toilets, so no worries on that score.

29. TRANSPORT TO SITE: Yildirim Ozden of Tolerance Travel will provide good modern coaches & drivers to take us to our chosen site. He or one of his colleagues will travel as a local courier and interpreter on each coach. There will be a modest extra charge for that - probably around €15 per head, with discount for children. The coaches will probably depart about 09.00 - update on that later.
Yildirim has said that he is giving us an extra cheap price for that because he, and his colleagues, will want to take the opportunity to promote to us the other aspect of their business there, which is selling property in that region of Turkey to Irish people. The price of property there is unbelievably cheap, and you may well want to consider it, or at least recommend it to a friend. He says that if he gets even one sale out of our group, that will cover the subsidised costs of the coaches he is providing!
Don't worry - it won't be like a TimeShare selling session! It won't even be the major feature of the coach journeys, as they will also give a history of the area, and a running commentary on the district as we pass. But as he, and his colleagues, have been so helpful to us already, the least we can do is listen!

30. THE ECLIPSE: This starts at about 11.36 local time (First Contact), with Totality starting at about 12.53, local time. The exact times are:
SITE 1 (MANAVGAT): starts 11h 38m 21s, p.a. 227 deg; Totality begins 12h 54m 57s; Mid eclipse 12h 56m 51s; Totality ends 12h 58m 48s; eclipse ends 14h 13m 33s.
SITE 2: (SOUTH): starts 11h 36m 01s, p.a. 227 deg; totality starts 12h 52m 49s; mid eclipse 12h 54m 42s; totality ends 12h 53m 35s; eclipse ends 14h 11m 30s.
SITE 3: (NE of Kumluca) almost the same as site 2.
Duration at all the sites we have chosen is between 3 mts 38 secs and 3 mts 49 secs (the maximum possible in Turkey). We will aim to arrive at the site at least 40 minutes before First Contact, to allow you time to set up equipment before the first 'notch' appears. The eclipse will be total even in Antalya, but the duration will be only 3 mts 12 secs. You could choose to stay at the hotel, but you would lose some duration, and symmetry, and the option of getting to the site with the best weather chances, and if you appeared as any sort of an 'expert' you would probably be plagued with people asking you lots of questions in Turkish or broken English!

31. YOUR OWN SPOT: there will be plenty of room at each of the two most likely sites that we have chosen. So spread out, and set up your equipment far enough away from each other so that you won't bump into tripods etc! Bring a couple of white (not clear) plastic bags to protect optical equipment when not actually in use.

32. ALIGNMENT OF EQUATORIAL MOUNTS: Here are azimuth & compass bearings for prominent landmarks at each site: from these you can work out where North is.

SITE 1 (Manavgat): From site to Cape Gelidonya = 224 degrees (SW).
SITE 2 ('SOUTH', Arpabeleni, near Cape Gelidonya): From site to S tip of islands off Cape Gelidonya = 157 deg (SSE)
SITE 3 (NE of Kumluca) - use Sun azimuths as for 'South' Site, as below.

AZIMUTH OF SUN: The local azimuths of the Sun, at the following local times, may also be useful for alignment:
MANAVGAT SITE: 150 deg at 10.49; 160 deg at 11.14; 170 deg at 11.36; 180 deg at 11.59; 190 deg at 12.21.
SOUTH SITE: 150 deg at 10.54; 160 deg at 11.19; 170 deg at 11.41; 180 deg at 12.03; 190 deg at 12.26.

33. SETTING UP A GoTo TELESCOPE: If you are bringing a GoTo, email me and I'll send you information about setting it up in daylight.

34. ALTITUDE OF SUN: Before you leave, i.e. now, you should check that your equipment will work on your tripod freely at this angle of elevation. At the most southerly site to which we might go, the Sun's altitude will be 56.5 deg at start of partial eclipse, 57.8 deg at its highest (i.e. at transit), 55.2 deg at start of totality, and 54.9 deg at end of totality. That max is about the same as the midsummer Sun at local noon in mid-Ireland. At the other sites it would be very slightly less than that. To check it 'in real life', before you go, albeit at night, that's about the altitude at transit of the S edge of the Pleiades, or 1 Geminorum (mag 4.2: the last of three stars in a little line at Castor's feet), or Zeta or Epsilon Leonis (mags 3.4 and 3; the 4th and the 6th stars respectively in the 'Sickle of Leo', counting up from Regulus as 1); or Mars from about 6 to 10 March.
If your tripod becomes a bit unstable with a heavy camera + telephoto at that altitude, just bring a strong plastic bag & some strong string with you; at the site fill it with stones, sand or a bottle of water, and hang it from under the middle of the tripod. That will both stabilise it and reduce vibrations. If it won't tilt up that far at all, set it up with one leg pointing North, then shorten that leg a bit. That will definitely make it a bit unstable, so you will have to hang a heavy weight underneath it, as described above.

35. SAFETY: Whatever method you use, never look directly at the Sun, even for a moment!

All solar filter material should be placed over the front of the telescope or binocular, NEVER at the eyepiece end!

TAPE IT ON! Unless the filter screws into the front of the tube, tape the filter-holder onto the tube for safety: it must not come off while observing!

BINOCULARS: use either two filters taped on, or one filter and the other lens capped, both taped on.

CAP THE FINDER! If your telescope has an optical finder, tape a cap (or else a proper solar filter) onto the front of it too: even a finder can blind or burn you!

CE MARK: any safe solar filter material will carry this mark

ECLIPSE GLASSES/VIEWERS: These are OK if there are no scratches or pinholes. Cover any small holes with a tiny dab of black paint or a tiny circle of black tape.

DON’T USE: Eyepiece Filters; Photographic Filters (except for photography); polarised filters; smoked glass; exposed colour negative or slide film, or monochrome negative film except totally blackened silver-based emulsion such as Tri-X or HP5; CDs; CD-ROMs; DVDs; inner bags from wineboxes; stacked sunglasses; pinholes (except for projection) or anything else not specially designed for solar observing.

AVOID PROLONGED STARING at the Sun even though a proper filter; several shorter sessions are preferable.

DON’T GET SKIN OR CLOTHES into the path of unfiltered sunlight coming though a telescope.

DON’T LEAVE the telescope unattended even for a moment if anyone else, especially children, could get at it.

DON’T LOOK FOR the Sun when in cloud through an unfiltered telescope: it can suddenly re-appear without warning!

PARENTS - Beware of children’s curiosity! Don't let them roam where they could sneak a peek through someone else's equipment!

IF IN DOUBT: Don’t!

36. DURATION of totality will be almost 3 minutes 50 seconds, a lot longer than in Bulgaria (2 mts 20 secs), but even so, the time will fly if you are trying to do too much. If it's your first eclipse, I suggest that you don't try to be too ambitious, with very elaborate equipment; just set up something simple, and concentrate on enjoying the event.

37. Time will move quite slowly from First Contact up to about 80% eclipse. If you need a toilet break, take it before 60% eclipse. Do your last equipment checks. Switch your mobiles off, or to silent - you don't want any interruptions just now!

38. NEARLY THERE: From about 85% you'll feel the tension. It will get darker, and colder. The light will take on a weird flat colour, and shadows will sharpen. Birds may start to sing, or animals lie down. From 95% on, if it's your first eclipse, your life is about to change. Somebody will be shouting out a Countdown. Suddenly it will get quite dark. The hair on the back of your neck will stand up. The crescent of Sun will get thinner, and thinner, and thinner.
Anyone who wants to look for Shadow Bands can prepare to do so now: if you're doing that, you know what to expect.
You can look out into the distance to the SW, to see the Moon's shadow racing towards you at about 1000 km/hour

39. Suddenly the very thin crescent will break up into two or more bright hair-thin sections.
Somebody will shout "Bailie's Beads", or "Diamond Ring" - that's when you take off your filters. AND DO TAKE THEM OFF! You will soon see some of the most amazing sights of your life.
Bailie's Beads are the last few tiny segments of the Sun's brilliant surface shining through valleys on the edge of the Moon. They last only for a second or two.
The 'Diamond Ring' is the effect of the last one of these bright beads, together with the inner bright corona which is now appearing around the whole of the Moon's disc, looking like a ring with a bright diamond at one side. This varies a lot from one eclipse to another, for reasons which I needn't go into.

40. TOTALITY! Then the last arcsecond of photosphere disappears, and the whole glorious corona leaps into view. You'll hear whoops, and yells, and cries of joy and amazement. With any luck there will be some bright red solar prominences along the edge of the black moon; but with the solar cycle being near minimum, this can't be predicted. However, anyone with a Coronado or Solarscope will probably be able to see any bright ones before the eclipse, and let us know what to expect.
As your eyes adapt to the darkness, you'll see more and more of the brilliant pearly corona, with streamers and jets, typically emanating from the Sun's poles. It's unreal. It's magnificent. It's slightly scary, even when you know what's happening. You will now know why ancient peoples were so terrified.
If you want to take photos, do so, but remember to look as well!

41. PLANETS: You can look for Venus, and other bright planets nearby, but do take in the whole eclipse spectacle itself. Venus (mag -4.3) will be lowish towards the SW horizon; Mercury, mag 0.9, will be halfway between the Sun and Venus. Mars, mag 1.2, may be too faint to be seen, well on the other side of the Sun.

42: NEARING THE END: Then you'll notice that the inner corona is starting to get asymmetrical, as the Moon moves towards the other side of the Sun's disc. Prominences will have largely disappeared from in front of the leading edge of the Moon, new ones may have come into view as the Moon's trailing edge gets closer to the Sun's edge.

43. END OF TOTALITY: Suddenly a bright spot will appear, and grow larger and brighter: The Diamond Ring in reverse. You may get the best view of the DR at this stage, as your eyes have been fairly dark adapted. Then Bailie's Beads again, then it's all over! Stop looking with your unprotected eyes. Put filters back on your equipment. End your exposures, unless you have planned to continue with filters. Then open a bottle, and relive it all in your mind!

44. SLR PHOTOGRAPHY: You need a very long telephoto or zoom to get acceptable results. For a 35mm SLR, 200mm FL is the absolute minimum, and 300 to 400 is a preferable minimum. 1000mm gets a nice big image, but is rather impractical unless you have a really big heavy-duty tripod: for a start it's very hard to point it accurately enough!
Film: 100 to 200 ISO, either slide or print, will give good results; Fuji and Kodak have consistently good quality. But if you have a 'slow' lens, i.e. about F4 or F 5.6 or less, or if you are using a very long effective focal length, then you might be better with 400 or even 800 ISO film, to be able to give shorter exposures, thus avoiding camera shake. Make sure that your lens, or lens+converter combination, is focussed on infinity! Don't rely on using the infinity marking on the lens - it may not be accurate. Take some practice shots of the half moon, or bright stars, as soon as possible, if you don't already know the correct infinity setting.
If you have only a 150mm or 200mm lens a 2x converter will double that to a better magnification. You will also need a good tripod and a cable release. You can get your images digitised onto a CD for about £3 extra (e.g. in Boots) at the time of processing.

45. DIGITAL CAMERAS. Most digital cameras don't have the equivalent of 300mm in max zoom range, unless you use both maximum optical zoom and maximum digital zoom together, and of course that makes the image rather pixellated. Ideally you want a minimum optical zoom equivalent to 6x above standard on an SLR (= 300mm on SLR). But digital camera zooms go from W-A to Tele, so even a 6:1 zoom ratio is probably only about 4x above the 'standard' view! Some of the top range digitals now have 10x or even 12x optical zoom, but they are quite expensive. Of course, if it's a very high megapixel camera, the pixellation will be that much less. Try some shots of the half moon before you go to test; it's almost the same size as the Sun, believe it or not.
You'll need to make a solar filter for your lens, no matter which type of camera you use. It's easy to do, using photo grade 'mylar' aluminised film, such as Baader astrosolar, available from Andy McCrea (andrew@mccreaa.freeserve.co.uk, or Andy.McCrea@actionrenewables.co.uk) for about £12 for an A4 sheet; and cardboard & sellotape!
BUT if you only want to photograph the totality stages, you don't need filters at all. BUT BE WARNED - if you do accidentally take one of the Sun itself, with even the tiniest bit of the Sun still uncovered, you will probably ruin your CCD chip!
For ALL cameras: install new batteries, and test them, before you leave, and bring spares just in case. If you're using digital, bring spare storage cards or sticks!
But if it's your first eclipse, don't miss out on the spectacle by concentrating too hard on the photography!

46. THREE SIMPLE RULES:
(1.) DURING THE PARTIAL PHASE, OBSERVE/IMAGE/FILM ONLY WITH FILTERS! - Either on your telescope, or binoculars, or with your eclipse glasses, or whatever
(2.) AS SOON AS TOTALITY BEGINS TAKE OFF THE FILTERS, FROM YOUR TELESCOPE AND/OR BINOCULARS, AND TAKE OFF YOUR ECLIPSE GLASSES, AND ENJOY!
(3.) As soon as totality is over, PUT ON ALL YOUR FILTERS / ECLIPSE GLASSES AGAIN!

47. ENDING PARTIAL PHASES: Most people are too overcome with the experience of totality to bother too much with the ending partial phases, so most will start to pack up after swapping stories, sentiments and experiences just after totality ends. If you will want to stay to the end of the reverse partial phases, let me know by return email so that we can plan lunch times, return coach times, etc.

48. VIEWING PROSPECTS: Fred Espenak gives a figure of 60% probability for Antalya. BUT, as noted below, that's based on the average weather statistics for the whole of March: in late March the prospects are a bit better - maybe 65%. AND, as we have the option of travelling either East to Manavgat, or South to near Cape Gelidonya, depending on the local forecast, I estimate that our chances of a clear sky are about 70%. That of course, as anyone can see, means that there's also a chance of cloud - but clear skies were never guaranteed in the deal!
One website gives some information on 'scattered clouds' for Antalya at that time of year. But these are convection clouds, which tend to appear slowly at first, in the early afternoon, and are likely to be suppressed by the cooling effect of the eclipse. Also, they tend to appear over land, where the convection currents arise, whereas our two prime sites are on the shore, and we'll be looking out to sea.

49. EATING AFTER THE ECLIPSE: Two of the three top sites are actually at nice restaurants, and the arrangements are that we will eat lunch there (pay for what you eat) after observing the eclipse. The third site, at Cape Gelidonya, has no eating facilities, but we would pass one of the other sites on the way back, and stop and eat there. If you don't want to eat, or only want a snack, that's OK, but the schedule will be planned around that anyway.

50. WEATHER, GENERAL: The temperatures are likely to be in the low twenties, but the sea will be at its coldest for the year; probably still slightly warmer than at home in summer. It's possible that there will be some showers during the week, but overall it should be much drier than here. (If you read Fred Espenak's NASA Eclipse Bulletin, note that the weather statistics given are an average for the whole of March. The eclipse is on the 29th, so in fact we'll be almost halfway between the average weather for March and for April, with the latter being a lot better. Fred has just quoted the basic average March figures.)
It could be quite cool in the morning (up to around 11am), and quite hot after that to around 4pm and cool after that again with cold nights. So bring a selection of clothing.

51. SWIMMING: the sea looked clean to me, but the main beach is just on the edge of the city: say like Sandymount Strand in Dublin. I can't guarantee that it's really bacteria-free (I don't suppose any beach is!), but the locals and all the summer visitors seem to enjoy it without problems.

52. MONEY: The old Lira has been devalued by a factor of 1 million, and is now called New Turkish Lira, or "YTL" in Turkish. Obviously the exchange rate varies with time, but it's approx 80% of a Euro.
CASH. The Nationwide Building Society Flexaccount has zero charge for withdrawals; there would be time enough for you to open an account if you did it now. And you can get Euro & YTL cash with zero commission at main post offices in N.I. Just order what you want about a week in advance. And they will buy back any unused notes afterwards, also with zero commission. Obviously there's no such thing as a 'free lunch', so there will be a slight charge built in to the exchange rate, but probably less than a bank would charge, not counting their commission!

53. CREDIT CARDS: best to take a Visa card and a Mastercard - not all places may take both cards. Most sizeable establishments take credit cards, but you'll need some cash too obviously. If you have two or more credit cards, leave at least one in the safe in your room, in case you lose the other one.
The "Garanti Paramatik" ATMs in Turkey take Visa, Visa Electron, Mastercard, Maestro, Cirrus, and Plus cards.

54. NIGHT OBSERVING - MESSIER MARATHON? John Flannery is quite keen to attempt a Full Messier Marathon, i.e. to observe all 109 Messier objects in one night. March is a good time to do it, and the more southerly latitude of Antalya helps too. But you will need to get at least 10 miles away from the city to get really dark skies, although 5 might be enough for the M/M. I've already given some tips on that to John, and I'll leave the rest up to him. You'll need to hire cars, and I suggest you get a good map, and check out some sites beforehand in daytime.

55. MAPS: The best I've been able to locate anywhere is "Turkish Riviera / Antalya", scale 1:150,000, by Freytag & Berndt, www.freytagberndt.com . ISBN: 3-7079-0330-3. I was able to get it through Amazon.com. It covers the Antalya region, East a bit beyond Manavgat, South to Cape Gelidonya, and West to Kas, with detailed maps of Antalya, and the local major historical/ archaeological sites of Side, Perge and Termessos. It shows all driveable roads, tourist information, etc, and has an index. But it only extends about 8 miles North of Antalya, so if you wanted to travel beyond that region, next best is the -
"Insight Travel Map: TURKEY WEST", ISBN: 981-4120-29-4. www.insightguides.com . The scale is 1:800,000, and it covers all of Turkey west of Ankara. But it doesn't show the minor roads. (It also shows all of Turkey on the reverse side, at a much smaller scale.) I was able to get it in Waterstones, price £5.99.

56. LOCAL CITY MAPS/GUIDES: A good one is "infocitymap" (Shopping) ANTALYA: (orange top). If you've time grab one at the airport, as I imagine that the ones in the hotel will soon be gone when our group arrives! The hotel is in square J5 of the main map (map 2). There's also a 'Nightlife' edition of the same map (blue top). Since the Hillside Su Hotel is new, it may not be shown on the early edition of that map. If that's still the only one available, the hotel is located on the same square, J5, beside DolphinLand / Aqualand.

57. EXCURSIONS & TRIPS: Our excellent local contact, Yildirim Ozden, will be laying on optional coach trips to some amazing and beautiful local sites of interest. They will of course cost extra, just as on any trip, but I'm assured that they will be at very competitive prices. Yildirim and his colleagues will be acting as couriers on those trips, and they all speak good English, and are delightful characters! I'll circulate details of those very soon.

58. MOBILE PHONES: Mine didn't work while I was there. (It did work in Amsterdam, however.) I'm on Vodafone Pay As You Talk, and apparently I should have de-activated the foreign roaming bar before I left. I tried to do it from there, without success. So check that before you go. You may need to call your network and activate "international roaming", about a week before you leave. I'm told that this can't always be done on prepaid phones.

59. PASSPORTS: You will of course need passports covering every member of your party, and they should be valid for at least 6 months after your last day in Turkey (1 April). It's useful to have a photocopy of the relevant pages and keep it separately, e.g. back in the safe in your hotel room.

60. INSURANCE: As already pointed out many times, you MUST have your own insurance for the whole trip, i.e. UK/Ireland & back to UK/Ireland again, covering every member of your party, and covering any activities which you may indulge in. If you haven't, don't bother coming!

61. AVIAN FLU. I'm sure you're all aware that this has occurred in Turkey. But it has not become an epidemic! It might be useful to remember the following:
Turkey is a HUGE country! It's more than twice the size of Germany. It's more than 11 times bigger than Ireland! From East to West, the distance is the same as from the North of Scotland to the South of France! And from North to South its extent is 1.5 times more than the length of Ireland! Its population is bigger than that of any European country, including Germany & UK. The places where the bird flu have been detected, are all well to the North or near the Eastern border. The distance from Van, the first infection locality, to Antalya is 1,120km. That's 3.2 times the distance from Belfast to Cork! If there was bird flu on a farm in Skibbereen in Cork, that wouldn't stop you eating out in a hotel in Belfast, would it?
All the people that have contracted the bird flu were working with poultry on their farms. And the hotel is a 5-star hotel, with exceptional standards of cleanliness! So I really wouldn't worry at all. Just take normal sensible hygiene precautions.

62. EARTHQUAKES: These do occur in Turkey, but not in the Antalya region. The tectonic plate boundaries all lie well to the North, NE or NW of Antalya. I did a search on the National Geophysical Data Centre site for all recorded earthquakes since 2000 BC above magnitude 5 (those below mag 5 are insignificant), and found none near Antalya. A search of the USGS site produced similar results.

63. TIME: The clocks here go forward 1 hour when we're in Turkey. I'm not sure if the same applies there (I don't think so), but we'll need to check to be sure for both the eclipse, and the return flight times, especially when we get back to Amsterdam!

64. SHOPS: I didn't have time to do any shopping when I was there! But there is a big shopping centre, the MIGROS, about 1200m from the hotel, on Ataturk Bulvari (Boulevard), NNW of the hotel. It has 104 stores, and is open 10.00 to 23.00 according to the advert on the map. There may be other shops closer than that, but I didn't get a chance to find out. There are the typical small tourist shops, bars, cafes etc along the promenade, but I don't know if they will all be open at that time of year. Some of them seem to open only in the afternoon & evening. But the MIGROS should have all you need.
The 'City Centre' is 4-5 km from the hotel. Easiest way to get there would be by Dolmus. Or it's almost 3km walk along the seafront to Konyalti St (Konyalti Bulvari), which is the nearest point of the tram line, which runs all the way to the 'Old City' and on through to the suburbs on the other side, and close to the local British Embassy office, BTW.

65. INOCULATIONS, Vaccinations: There have been various opinions on what's needed, if anything, and I'm just going to say "make up your own mind". I didn't get anything before my trip in November. But you should certainly get a tetanus booster if you haven't had one in the last 9 years.

66. RETURN FLIGHTS: As you know, this is entirely your own responsibility, but it would be useful to know what return flights we have all booked from Amsterdam back to Ireland (apart from those of you from elsewhere of course).
That means that if for some reason our return flight from Antalya to Amsterdam was going to be delayed a bit, we could ask OAD to ask Aer Lingus / Ryanair / Easyjet to hold their respective flights for a while for us; or at least to let them know that we would be checking in late. If there were about 40 of us on each flight, they might just do that, whereas acting as individuals we would have no chance.
So if you would all let me know what flights you have booked, including the number of seats, on the return leg to Ireland, we'll let OAD know before we leave, and ask them to try to do that for us, if the incoming flight from Antalya is delayed by more than an hour or so.

67: PROPERTY: For advance enquiries about property in the Mediterranean region of Turkey (the 'Turkish Riviera'), visit www.tolerancerealty.com , or email Yildirim Ozden at mail@tolerancerealty.com - mention my name.....

68. DAVID BELL: Some of you may know that unfortunately David Bell won't be able to go on the trip, for various personal reasons! But he is continuing to do Trojan work on all the booking arrangements, for which we are eternally grateful, and for which we will reward him in some way! So please continue to deal with him as far as anything relating to your bookings or payments is concerned.

69. FINALLY: WHEN WE'RE THERE - DON'T ASK ME! I'll be there to enjoy myself too, and I'm not an OAD Courier, nor a representative of the Hillside Su, nor am I getting paid as an Eclipse Trip Leader, like e.g. John Mason. I'm not even getting a free, or discounted, trip! So, if you've any queries about the flights, or the hotel, or the food, or local facilities etc, ask either OAD at Schipol, or at the hotel, or the OAD rep!
Once we're there, my only responsibility will be to ensure that the coaches arrive on time to get us to the best viewing site on the day! Once I've done that, I'm finished. I'll be relaxing like everyone else. So please don't keep calling on me, or ringing me, or bothering me in any way!
I'll do my best to answer any further queries by email before we leave, but then that's me finished, except for eclipse viewing arrangements, on the day.


(I'll circulate details of the places of interest & optional trips separately later - this is long enough already!

Terry Moseley

Folks - after a bit of help here...

I'm about to book the Amsterdam flights - I've no had a chance 'til now

Aer Lingus started a sale today

The question is, in one of Terry's mails, the departure arrival times are local times and we'll have a clock change around about the date of the outbound flights to Turkey.

So I don't mess up on the bookings , can anyone give me the time we'll arrive back into Amsterdam after the eclipse. (we'll be flying to into Amsterdam on the Firday night before our connecting flight to Turkey on the Saturday)

Or if anyone can guide me on what times Aer Lingus uses when posting flight details...

And if I've missed this detail in any of the mails or posts, I apologise :oops:

Cheers

Dave