Viewing parties in and around Victoria were packed full of people as skygazers were treated to the celestial event of the decade – a near-total solar eclipse.

An event at the University of Victoria Observatory was flooded with people hoping to snag a pair of special eclipse-viewing glasses, but many were left waiting in the lobby and ended up watching the celestial event from the parking lot.

“I got here just before seven o’clock and there were people here waiting in line already,” said Dr. Karun Thanjavur, a senior lab instructor of physics and astronomy.

He said the university provided 200 pairs of eclipse shades, but they were nowhere near enough.

“There must be about six or seven times that number [of people] here. People are in the parking lot,” he said. “Luckily after some initial irritation people are more relaxed, and everybody’s sharing their glasses with their neighbours and getting to know each other.”

On the roof of the observatory, people of all ages from kids to seniors gathered to witness the two-and-a-half hour event.

Meanwhile at Mount Tolmie, hundreds of people gathered to watch the eclipse in a more rugged setting.

The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada was on site providing telescopes for hikers, while others crafted their own homemade devices to safely gaze at the sun.

“It’s astro-solar film, and then we just put it on our binoculars so we can look at the sun without burning our eyes,” said Shelby Ferguson. “I’m geeking out right now.”

During the eclipse’s peak at 10:20 a.m., the moon covered about 90 per cent of the sun while the air cooled and sunlight dimmed noticeably.

Still, some attendees were expecting to see night-like darkness – and were slightly disappointed when that didn’t materialize.

“You’ve got to think that the sun holds a million earths,” said Ken Mallory of the RASC. “It’s 99.8 per cent of all the matter in the solar system, so even 10 per cent of sunlight will still be quite a lot of sunlight from the edge of the sun around the moon.”

Out of all cities in Canada, Victoria ended up getting the best look at the eclipse, being nearest to the “path of totality” in the U.S. that saw full coverage of the sun.

There were concerns some people who couldn’t obtain special viewing glasses would stare at the sun too long, damaging their eyes, but Thanjavur said extensive coverage and social media helped spread the word on how to safely view it.

“It far exceeded my expectations I think. As far as the excitement among the public goes, that’s what I’m really, really happy about,” he said. “People are well-informed about the safety that they need to take. Nobody’s looking at the sun, I haven’t noticed anyone looking at the sun directly, so all that is really fantastic.”

The next solar eclipse in North America, which will be visible in eastern Canada, will take place in 2024.

Another one will occur in 2045 along a similar path to Monday’s eclipse.