It was visible for barely two minutes, but enthusiastic umbraphiles were happy to pay almost 9,000 dollars to catch a glimpse of that rarest of solar wonders — a total eclipse above the South Pole.

One young woman ran nearly two miles across frozen sea ice while some of her colleagues skied for the best view of a phenomenon that left only the penguins unimpressed.

A shipload of tourists watched from the armchair comfort of a chartered ice-breaker off Russia's Antarctic base of Mirny.

A group of 300 stargazers, umbraphiles (eclipse chasers, or more literally lovers of shadows) and scientists in a Qantas 747 specially chartered for the round-trip from Melbourne enjoyed a spectacular view in their seats above the clouds at precisely 5:40 p.m. EST on Sunday.

They came from as far afield as Houston, Texas, and paid 8,700 dollars for the best seats at the windows.

A Lan Chile Airbus 340 from Punta Arenas was among the other expeditions aircraft chartered to fly over the South Pole.

Scientist Bob Jones, station leader at Australia's Davis Antarctic Base, traveled by snow-car with nine colleagues across the sea ice to catch a better view from an island two miles closer than the base.

"Some people skied across, and one young woman actually ran across to this island because of course at the moment it's surrounded by ice," Jones told AFP.

"There was some high level cloud, but the view was good and we could see it clearly in the east.

"From the beginning of the eclipse it was about six degrees above the horizon and it was above the Antarctic plateau here. It rose to about 10 degrees, so it was higher in the sky than I would have thought.

"That's quite high because the sun's diameter is about half a degree, so it was actually a lot higher in the sky than I would have thought.

"At the full eclipse, or the fullest it reached here of 98.5 percent it went darker although everything here is white — the plateau is white, the icebergs are white and the ice is white. But it did appear to go noticeably darker.

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I've been lucky enough to see two total eclipses. One of the oddest things is hearing all the wild life falling silent, as they believe it is night

I had a chance to see a total solar eclipse on the beach. It was amazing - the sea became purple and all the birds ans insects fell silent. It was like being on another planet, so quiet...

i SAW ONE BACK IN 1993 IF iM NOT MISTAKEN.

If the year was 1993, then you did not see a TOTAL solar eclipse.

I attempted to see the 1999 August 11 total solar eclipse from south-western Devon. Totality was calculated at 1 minute 11 seconds from this location, but unfortunately it was cloudy, so I didn't get to see the eclipsed Sun itself. However, I can still recommend the experience, since the other effects are awesome. The rapidly approaching darkness is utterly amazing, considering that the fading light can be appreciated in REAL TIME for the last few minutes before totality itself. The strange, hazy, orange glow on the horizon (whatever direction I looked) was very impressive, and I clearly remember seeing numerous camera flashes further down the coast (taken by naive photographers who had absolutely NO CHANCE of lighting the entire sky ! )

When the eclipse ended, I saw the edge of the Moon's shadow moving quickly across the clouds. This is easier to see AFTER totality, because your eyes have adjusted to the darkness. It seems brighter just after totality than just before, for exactly the same reason.

I also remember the strange, silvery light that seemed to be present from when the eclipse was about two-thirds partial until totality. I had read about this in books, but I had just assumed that it was caused by the eye's inability to see colour at low light levels. However, it was NOT the same.

By the way, I have camcorder footage of the event throughout the duration of totality, but the darkness cannot really be fully appreciated. The camcorder was rather too good at compensating for the decreasing light levels ! Still, it was a fantastic experience, and I would love to see another one......including the jet black disc of the eclipsed Sun itself, the diamond ring, prominences etc.

The next good chance to see one will be March 2006......

I'll have to post some of my eclipse photos then

Here are the pictures of the eclipse.