Ocean Resorts is located about 100 miles south of Cape Canaveral. Shuttle launches are clearly visible, especially looking over the ocean. 
The pictures look like the shuttle was launched in the dark, but actually, it was dusk.
On Wednesday night, 3/18/09, we stopped our weekly bridge game (6 tables of bridge) to run out onto the deck of the pool, which overlooks the ocean, to watch the shuttle launch.
It was about 7:40 pm, so the sun was almost down. The launch was spectacular. We could see a large ball of fire which left a long smoke trail. As the sun was going down, the smoke trail became full with the colors of the rainbow. The pictures don't do the event justice.
