Thursday October 20th 2022

It was warmer than I anticipated this morning. The inside temperature only got down into the low sixties. Probably because some cloud cover remained overnight and the ocean water is still very warm, it didn’t get as cold in this area as some of he inland areas. The day remained cloudy with a few breaks now and then. Today’s high temperature was a little better than Wednesday peaking in the low seventies.

The big event in this area today was a Space X Falcon 9 launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. I have been lucky enough to watch launches from here before, but I didn’t think I was going to get the chance during this stay. When I booked my reservation a couple of weeks ago there were no launches scheduled this week. I guess the Starlink Internet Satellite payload and the Falcon 9 booster came together quicker than planned. Yesterday I saw the warning sign about the launch for boat traffic departing the port. A quick check on the internet and I knew that I had to be in a good observation spot for 10:50AM today.

There were a lot of people lining the banks of the channel, the fishing pier and the beach to watch the launch this morning. This is not a particularly special launch so the number of people was manageable. I have been here when a lot more people were gathered to see the launch. The weather today wasn’t the best for watching the rocket high into the sky. You had to catch it as it passed through gaps in the clouds. The sliver of fire rose from the land, passing through a lower layer of clouds before flying in the clear for a few seconds. Shortly after the sound of the engines reached my location the rocket disappeared into the clouds for good.

I enjoyed watching the launch, but it wasn’t the best I’ve seen. The best Falcon 9 launch I’ve seen was on a clear night. It was possible to watch the rocket high into the sky. The Falcon 9 Heavy launch which has three boosters strapped together was a much more spectacular ball of fire, and I got to watch two of the boosters land after the launch. Probably my most memorable launch was in the early 90s. I had the opportunity to see a Space Shuttle launch from the beach a few miles south of here. My memory, which may be exaggerated by time, recalls a much bigger sphere of fire moving quickly into the upper atmosphere.

There was only one cruise ship in port today. The Carnival Freedom was docked deep in the harbor. Carnival seems to set sail early. Shortly after 3:30PM it started sounding its horn to announce it was getting underway. It slowly made its way down the channel to the ocean. It cleared the jetty between 4 and 4:30.