Solar eclipse chasers travel the world for a few minutes in the shadow of the moon

For David Makepeace, falling in love with eclipses was just pure happenstance.

It was 1991. He was 28, and in love with a young travel agent in his hometown of Toronto.

"She and I were moonstruck to begin with," he said. "We would sit and watch the moon rise and set … So the moon was already a part of … the culture of our relationship."

His girlfriend was recruited to visit La Paz, Mexico, to help with what was sure to be an influx of eclipse chasers and tourists from neighbouring California. She told him that it was supposed to be quite the show. He decided to join her a few days before the eclipse.

On the day of the eclipse, they ended up on a hilltop, with a clear sky and the expanse of the Pacific Ocean seeming to reach out forever. 

And then it happened.

The moon slowly enveloped the sun, and darkness descended. The sun's corona was all that could be seen for roughly six minutes. And it was life altering.

"I spent the next couple of days sitting on the shores of the Sea of Cortez, with pelicans flying in and out, and diving in and out of the water, just pondering my own existence and how could something have been just so fantastic, and so uplifting? It felt like there was something I had to figure out about it."

He knew he had to see another one. 

Today, Makepeace is one of the most prolific eclipse chasers in Canada. He's seen eclipses from a plane above the Norwegian Sea, from Antarctica, China, Libya and Zambia, just to name a few locations.

But it's more than a passion, it's something spiritual that's with him 24/7.

"The initial spiritual experience is really just an awakening to the fact that you are not just the things that you're thinking in your head and the two-dimensional identity that you have."

Jay Anderson is a former meteorologist with Environment and Climate Change Canada — and another well-travelled Canadian eclipse chaser, having chased the moon's shadow for 45 years.

"Travel for me is as much a marvellous part of the eclipse as the eclipse itself," he said. "Because you're sometimes forced to go to really remote places — places that have never seen a tourist from any country before."