A member of the Royal Astronomical Society admits, he’s still “on a high” following Monday’s total solar eclipse.

Past–President Garry Dymond told VOCM Open Line with Paddy Daly that his chosen viewing site was on the Bay D’Espoir Highway.

He says the experience was a memorable one.

“You’re watching the shadow of the moon coming towards you from the west at 3200 km/h, and then all of a sudden, it becomes dark, “and there’s little beams of light going through the valleys on the side of the moon.” Then you have the “diamond ring, and around the diamond ring you get your first view of the corona, and then the corona comes out, and you take off your glasses and the sun looks like a small thing, but when you took it out, and it was low on the horizon, and you could see it, it looked gigantic.”

Dymond, who viewed the phenomenon with others who gathered in the same spot, says it was also surprisingly emotional.

“Everybody went silent” says Dymond, “an eerie silence. And then the kids who bored already…suddenly realised they were under the sun, and they started to cry.” He says “everybody went ‘wow'” and calls it “the fastest 2 minutes and 53 seconds I ever had in my life.”