Yes, and some of the best places for totality on 2 August 2027 are at sea. In the Strait of Gibraltar it lasts 4 min 47 s, and in the middle of the Alboran Sea, 4 min 54 s, according to our calculation: that is the stretch the ferries cross between the coast of Andalusia and Melilla, the Spanish city on the North African coast. Depending on the point at sea, totality falls between 10:44 and 10:53 mainland Spanish time (CEST, UTC+2).
How long it lasts at sea
The central line of the shadow crosses the Strait and continues over the Alboran Sea, closer to the African coast than to the Spanish one. That’s why the open sea beats almost the whole coast. These are our engine’s durations at points out at sea, in mainland Spanish time:
| Totality | Where | Starts | Ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 min 57 s | next to Alboran Island | 10:48:05 | 10:53:02 |
| 4 min 54 s | halfway along the Almería-Melilla crossing | 10:48:33 | 10:53:27 |
| 4 min 54 s | halfway along the Motril-Melilla crossing | 10:47:55 | 10:52:49 |
| 4 min 54 s | halfway along the Málaga-Melilla crossing | 10:47:17 | 10:52:11 |
| 4 min 47 s | in the Strait, between Tarifa and Tangier | 10:45:03 | 10:49:50 |
| 4 min 44 s | in the Strait, halfway between Algeciras and Ceuta | 10:45:22 | 10:50:05 |
| 4 min 33 s | in the Bay of Algeciras | 10:45:28 | 10:50:01 |
| 4 min 18 s | in the Atlantic, 50 km west of Barbate | 10:44:14 | 10:48:32 |
| 4 min 03 s | 20 km off the coast of Marbella | 10:46:24 | 10:50:27 |
| 3 min 18 s | 20 km off the coast of Málaga | 10:47:26 | 10:50:44 |
| 3 min 04 s | 15 km off Cabo de Gata | 10:50:31 | 10:53:35 |
| 3 min 00 s | in the Gulf of Cádiz, 30 km west of the city | 10:44:58 | 10:47:58 |
On land, the longest totality in Spain is the 4 min 48 s that the IGN (Spain’s National Geographic Institute) gives Ceuta, and Melilla gets 4 min 34 s. The extra seconds at sea come from being closer to the central line. Alboran Island, the longest in the table, has no permanent population and is a marine reserve and protected natural area.
The routes that cross the path
Leaving aside shipping companies and timetables, which change, these are the regular routes that pass through the zone of totality:
- The port of Melilla has passenger routes to Málaga, Almería and Motril. All three crossings run across the Alboran Sea from north to south and cut across the central line.
- The port of Tarifa is the main departure point for Tangier, right in the Strait.
- From Algeciras, ferries sail to Ceuta and to Tanger Med, the port 45 km from Tangier and 20 km from Ceuta.
Whether your crossing coincides with totality depends on that day’s departure time, and only the shipping company knows that. If you are going to Melilla or Ceuta to see the eclipse, the safe option is to be on land by then; you can also see it from the boat if the timetable works out. The land routes to the ports are in getting there, and what the other shore offers is in watch the eclipse in Tangier.
Does it help if the boat moves?
No. A boat doing 20 knots travels at about 37 km/h. The Moon’s shadow crosses the Strait at about 4,600 km/h (1.3 km/s) and the Alboran Sea at about 4,400 km/h. Even if the boat sailed exactly in the direction of the shadow, it would gain less than 1% of totality: a couple of seconds. Why the shadow moves so fast is explained in how fast does the eclipse shadow travel.
Tripods don’t work, and other things about the sea
A boat moves even when the sea looks calm, and a tripod standing on deck moves with it: long exposures come out blurred. At sea you shoot handheld with short exposures. For totality, the best thing is to watch it.
The weather plays differently too. According to Jay Anderson of Eclipsophile, the waters of the Alboran Sea and the Strait are the cloudiest in the western part of the path. Cold water coming in from the Atlantic creates a layer of stable air over the sea, and underneath it fog, low cloud and haze often form, thickest in the morning. They usually clear with the morning sun, but a scheduled ferry keeps to its route and can’t go looking for a gap in the cloud. And the levante, the easterly wind that in summer can blow for days or weeks, makes the sea rough.
Your eyes, same as on land: an EN ISO 12312-2 filter throughout the partial phase and no filter only during totality, from the last flash to the first. No binoculars without a filter in front. To check a pair of glasses, see our guide to certified eclipse glasses.
Sources: durations and times at sea: eclipseando engine (skyfield + DE440s); durations for Ceuta and Melilla: IGN — eclipses.ign.es (in Spanish); speed of the shadow: calculated by eclipseando from the NASA central line (F. Espenak), in 2-minute stretches; Puerto de Melilla — Wikipedia (in Spanish: passenger destinations); Puerto de Tarifa — Wikipedia (in Spanish); Tánger Med — Wikipedia (in Spanish); Línea Bobadilla-Algeciras — Wikipedia (in Spanish: ferries from Algeciras to Ceuta and Tangier); Isla de Alborán — Wikipedia (in Spanish: no permanent population, marine reserve, protected natural area); Total Solar Eclipse 2027 — Eclipsophile (cloud over the Alboran Sea and the Strait, the levante).
If you would like something to keep from the eclipse, the shop prints T-shirts, mugs and posters with the name of your town, the time of its maximum and its seconds of totality. See the merchandise →
Remember: never look at the Sun without proper eye protection (filters made to EN ISO 12312-2). The official reference for safe viewing in Spain is the IGN (in Spanish): eclipses.ign.es.