I for one probably underestimated the impact that the eclipse has had on Mallorca. It was something I had been aware of for about a year, but it didn’t really float my boat, if I’m honest. I remember reading reports earlier in the year that Sóller was already 80% sold out for that week, but still, it didn’t fully register.

In actual fact, I only really started thinking about it properly when our Talking Balearics podcast talked about it three weeks ago. Also, through what I was doing as part of my concierge business, I was suddenly dealing with a whole load of different nationalities, but the country that had the most visitors was, without doubt, the USA. When I was speaking to them, some had made their reservations 18 months ago!

Eclipse hunters are also called umbraphiles. They are dedicated travellers who journey across the globe to witness total solar eclipses.

Shadow Lovers: The word umbraphile means “shadow lover.”

Obsessive Planners: They track paths of totality years in advance.

Global Travellers: They visit remote islands, big cities and rural villages just for minutes of darkness.

I listened to their stories of where they had been and how many eclipses they had seen. These were people from all walks of life, both young and old, and they all had one thing in common.

Working in Palma in July and August with the heat isn’t easy, but there was such a change in the city in the days leading up to the eclipse. Obviously, it was busy, but there was a buzz building as everyone was deciding where they were going to watch it.

Interestingly, though, on the day itself, Palma was eerily quiet. Not quite a ghost town, but in normal Palma terms, it wasn’t far off.

We were lucky as, where we live near Port Adriano, we could walk out onto the rocks near Malgrats and watch it. I have to admit, I was blown away by the experience, particularly when totality happened.

Social media was flooded with videos and pictures. My wife was very happy that she won a prize in the Majorca Daily Bulletin photo competition and became even happier when she realised she had beaten the Beckhams!

The next total solar eclipse will take place on August 2nd, 2027. The path of totality, as it’s called, will be seen in the following places:

• Europe: Southern Spain and Gibraltar.
• North & East Africa: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt (including Luxor and the Giza Pyramids), Sudan and Somalia.
• Middle East: Saudi Arabia (including Mecca) and Yemen.

Totality will last up to an incredible 6 minutes and 22 seconds near Luxor, Egypt, making it one of the longest land-based total solar eclipses of the 21st century.

Some of the people I spoke to had already booked to go to there and, whether you like it or not, the eclipse mixed with the pyramids is going to be pretty spectacular.

In fact, some of them were even thinking about the one after that, which will happen on Saturday, July 22nd, 2028, in Australia and New Zealand.

I checked online and there are travel companies that dedicate themselves to this form of travel, including many cruise companies that offer specific cruises too.

On the day of the eclipse, there were six ships moored in Palma despite the three-ship daily limit. These, however, were more VIP vessels that hold fewer passengers and therefore remained below the passenger capacity set by the Balearic Government.

It’s a great way to travel the world when you think about it. Although, now I’ve seen one, I’m not sure if I would go to another country specifically to see another. Each to their own, though, and without doubt, it has given a huge boost to the economy here in Mallorca.

Just a pity it didn’t happen in the low season, but you can’t have everything!