Hello from Royal Caribbean’s Monarch of the Seas.  We’re at sea currently on our way to Nassau with a planned arrival around noon.  Space Shuttle Mancation is in full swing with our first night at sea behind us.  My buddy Phil joined me for the Shuttle Atlantis launch and 3-night booze cruise to the Bahamas.

We arrived at Port Canaveral very early Friday morning for the launch, beating most of the traffic.  I had a decision to make as to whether to get in line to check in for the ship, and hope we got on board in time for the launch, or head for the top deck of the Port Canaveral parking garage.  We went with the conservative option and joined a LOT of other people on top of the garage.  While it probably was not as ideal as the top deck of the ship, it really did work great.

We had a direct view of launch pad 39A and Shuttle Atlantis.  Granted, it was at least 5 miles away!  đŸ˜€  Here’s a shot of the launch taken with my Canon PowerShot SD1300.  Obviously, it’s not made for taking pictures 5 miles away, but you can see that I was there!  Phil, who is an actual photographer, promises to provide a couple of his much better pictures once we return to land.  I’ll post them here.

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Shuttle Atlantis Lifts Off