My enchantment with this beach continues. Today, as I was walking towards a fisherman, someone next to me said:” looks like he caught a shark”. At that point all I could see was a fin sticking out of the water close to where the fishing line was going in. But sure enough when he pulled his catch out of the water, it was a small hammer shark! With beady blue eyes on either side of a strangely wide and flat head. Its skin felt like sand paper, even if it looked like rubber…I never knew there were sharks in these waters! I was obviously wrong.
But the highlight of this stay was without a doubt the launching of a GPS satellite. I got to watch it from the beach, from underneath the Cocoa beach pier actually. The launch pad was right in front of us, clearly visible. We could see the rocket and the tower holding it. Blast off was right on time at 14:50. We saw fire first, then clouds of white smoke and then we saw the rocket lift off…it took several seconds before we felt a vibration and then heard the roar of the engines…it was very impressive, shaking me inside. The rocket went straight up at first and then seemed to adopt a more circular trajectory…but I suspect it was an optical illusion…once it had disappeard from view it left a ribbon of white smoke that made me think of an umbilical cord…
I wonder if it only me but, looking at the photos, I find the whole thing very phallic… In any case this is something I will never forget..
And this on the day that the Saints got to play their first game in the Super Dome since Katrina…and they won!!!