Before the launch actually happened, we were looking for the launch site across the water. In the end, the actual launch site wasn’t visible from here, but I’ve included a couple of shots of things that we initially thought might be the launch site.
A drone was hovering over the bay. Not sure whether that was in any way connected to the launch itself, but I’ve shared some pics here anyway.
It was interesting to see that the pictures get more dramatic as the falcon 9 gets higher. Lower pressures outside of the nozzle and thus much greater expansion of the plume I’d guess.
Not the launch site
Definitely not the launch site
Drone watching the festivities
Someone had a drone out over the bay
Initial Launch
Starting to see a more dramatic and colorful plume.
Whoosh!
…and off into the sunset
There were a couple frames after this one, but the vehicle is so far off that they weren’t really interesting.
We went out to walk the beach and saw the fantasy coming into port. It just finished a short yard period and we’re heading out on her for a two castaway key short cruise later in the week.
When we got back to the room, Lorna mentioned that she had heard people talking about a launch from the space center at 5:30 or so. I checked and it was an Inmarsat on a falcon 5 being launched so I found my way up to the deck where people were looking on and took some shots with my new lens. I’ll post those as soon as my earlier beach expedition finishes importing…stay tuned.
We went swimming and as we were heading in to the shore the pair of pelicans that had landed thirty feet further out from us took off into the air. A short bit after that something rather large went past us. It looked dark brown with lighter brown spots and rather large (though surprise can magnify things). I only saw it for a moment looking like a curved edge like a manatee’s tail (but clearly not as they don’t move that fast. No idea what it really was…I expect it was looking for a pelican snack and after missing them it cruised past us and decided we didn’t look interesting…
Later in the day Lorna heard that there had been manatees seen around the pier down the beach. Scary when it happened, but it now looks like we had a close encounter with a manatee.