The month of May 2003 was a month of three celestial spectacles that were all visible in Egypt. On 7 May 2003, I observed a wonderful transit of the planet Mercury across the face of the Sun. On 16 May 2003, I observed a total eclipse of the Moon in which the Moon set eclipsed in Alexandria, and on the last day of the month the Sun rose eclipsed for Egypt.

I observed the first two phenomena from the Bibliotheca Alexandrina Plaza, but I had sought to observe the annular solar eclipse of 31 May 2003 from the city of Taba which was much closer to the path of annularity of that eclipse than Alexandria.

Taba lies on the Gulf of Aqaba and is one of the most splendid tourist destinations in Egypt. I planned to take photos of the eclipsed Sun rising from the charming beaches there.

On 30 May 2003, I rode a bus from Cairo to Taba in the early morning. I took my camera, telephotos and a small telescope. When the bus neared Taba, I enjoyed one of the most spectacular views I have ever seen: elegantly sculpted (eroded), lofty Red Sea mountains. I arrived at a beautiful resort by the sea in the afternoon.

I soon began to wade in the water and I was amazed to encounter many of the charming reef fish of the Red Sea quite close to the beach. At night, I observed deep sky objects with my small telescope; there was only little light pollution in the site.

On 31 May 2003, I woke up very early, about two hours before sunrise. While I was preparing my equipment, I saw groups of crabs coming out of the sea. They were running sideways and digging little holes on the sandy beach (probably for spawning)!

Unfortunately, the weather was not very good at sunrise! Dark clouds loamed above the eastern horizon and obscured the view of sunrise; but soon a glowing garnet pierced the gray veil of clouds and grew rapidly in size to become a blazing orange-yellow crescent. It was the eclipsed Sun! That was a magnificent view. With great thrill I began photographing the eclipse. The clouds no longer blocked my view. The eclipse ended about an hour after sunrise.

This eclipse expedition was one of the greatest explorations I encountered. It was a close encounter with splendors of the Earth, sea and sky!