As the black night sky yielded to twilight over the calm Atlantic, I gasped in awe as the tippy-top of the sun’s sphere pierced the horizon.
Like the first brush stroke from a new color palette onto a watercolor painting, the whites and blues were met with bursts of warm glowing orange. Instantly, a myriad of new color combinations fused onto the sky, clouds, water, and sand. With each passing moment, the sun further revealed itself, and its light grew in intensity. It seemed to pulsate as it pushed up from the horizon, shooting beams across the entire composition.
A guest enjoys the sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean from her hotel room balcony at the Diplomat Beach Resort. (Courtesy of the Diplomat Beach Resort)
I felt a pang of guilt. Such a riveting moment should have been earned via a pre-dawn, cold hike to this perfect viewing station. But I was in my pajamas, not even inconvenienced by the crisp morning air until I chose to open the sliding glass door to the furnished balcony that awaited me from my 32nd-floor hotel room….