Meticulous photographers however will find shipboard observing to be frustrating. The rolling deck is a difficult place to obtain long exposure photographs, or even hold a telescope on the Sun for more than a brief period. Unfortunately the steady trade winds across the Caribbean and the long fetch from the Leeward Islands to the Gulf of Venezuela combine to bring wave heights which average nearly 1.5 meters ( 2). Seas surrounding the Galápagos Islands are a little lower - about 1 meter on average, though expedition boats are likely to be smaller and thus more affected by the prevailing seas.
Calmer seas can be found in the lee of islands and in bays, particularly in the Gulf of Venezuela opposite Puerto Fijo. Other locations, perhaps west of Curaçao or behind the Leeward Islands, come at the expense of eclipse duration, since they would not be on the center line. These choices will likely be dictated by the itinerary of the cruise boat or yacht, and the flexibility of the schedule. There are numerous locations where a cruising expedition could drop off land parties and then head off for a more central position to extract the maximum duration from the path.