One other thing I will add, PtP, is that I hope you don't fall into the gray area like we did in 2019. The gray area is a hold or a delay in the countdown.
How long will the hold last? (dunno)
Do I have time to go to the bathroom? (dunno)
What's going on? (dunno)
Will they scrub the launch and try to reschedule? (dunno)
Will the restaurant still be open when we get there for dinner? (dunno)
Our first launch was a night launch from Jetty Park back in March 2019 (a ULA rocket). Lots of locals drove over and paid the day admission to the beach area and brought their folding chairs to sit on the south side of the cruise ship channel. So being a rookie, we grabbed our chairs from the campsite and walked through the campground fence gate and joined them.
It was originally scheduled to be an afternoon launch but there was a delay. The sun went down during the approx 90 minute wait IIRC but nobody around me had left. We waited along with the rest of them. The countdown finally resumed and the launch at night started. First the light/glow and the rocket starts its ascent - in silence. It took the sound something like 30 seconds to reach us.
This trip in March even if there isn't a launch while I am there, I am going to ask around if there is a tv station or radio station that carries the mission control dialogue and countdown. We did have a ULA web video stream initially but with so many people trying to access it locally I guess, it was unreliable. I would be satisfied with just the audio.
I will report back.
Bama Ed
PS - I did see a daytime launch from Cocoa Beach this time last year which was maybe 10-15 miles further south along the coast. No sound, just a flame under a little white stick curving up over the Atlantic (SpaceX). It was not as impressive as being at Port Canaveral/Jetty Park. No delay that time - countdown went like clockwork.
).
