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We sailed 850 miles upwind from Tahiti to watch the July 11, 2010 total solar eclipse on the Tuamotus island of Hao in French Polynesia. It turns out that the two co-founders of Google (Larry Page and Sergey Brin) also came to that island to watch the eclipse. This photo was taken next to the yacht "Tia Moana" which was rented by the Googlers for the event. You can see them setting up with lots of telescopes to watch the event. Larry Page can just barely be seen near the center of the crowd - he is wearing a pair of white rimmed sunglasses. Another notable former Googler is Scott Hassan in the center with his back facing the camera.
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Thousands of kilometres from anywhere, French Polynesia is the place to indulge yourself. Tahiti evokes images of tropical fruit dripping from strange trees... of translucent, shimmering aqua lagoons... of sun-drenched, sandy beaches, and psychedelic coral. A visit to Tahiti and her islands is akin to stumbling upon a parallel universe where fantasy is just another form of reality and hedonistic daydreams come to life. French Polynesia has captivated the world's imagination since 19th-century European explorers first set foot upon her steamy shores."