Well I spend most weekends on the water and fish in or around Boca Grande Pass. When I leave Burnt Store Marina I see the mouth of the pass and head straight for it. I'm say 14 feet above the water or so. And the objects on the islands are trees and 2-3 story condos on stilts (about 20-30 feet or so) I can't say I can make out any of the items on the land or boats in the pass with detail. But I sure can see the pass as a depression on the horizon. If the sunsets just to the north of the pass (in summer) I would say it set over Gasparilla Isand. In winter it would be Cayo Costa. I just measured it it is 12 miles. Today when we made the turn coming home at the green number five in Charlotte Harbor we saw the green of Punta Gorda about 9-10 miles up. It depends on how high up you are, of course and how much haze there is. Ironically that is place is called Cape Haze and it rarely ever hazy. I'd say unless you are up in a tower and the land is pretty flat 12 miles is decent estimate to the horizon. I will admit if you are laying on a beach or out in the water up to your nose the horizon is closer. That said. You are making it a real stretch to think you are watching sunsets over the water in Galveston and it should be clear to you that you cannot watch sunset over the water from a land mass that is an island and nothing more. Looking at Padre Island the distance from the land varies westerly. Looks like about six/eight miles or so from South Padre to Laguna Vista. Other places on South Padre it looks like the land is considerable more than 12 miles.
http://mappoint.msn.com/(4tj0itnexxqwbq453xeh2t55)/map.aspx?L=USA&C=29.29533%2c-94.80787&A=43.00000&P=|2DB6|&TI=Galveston%2c+Texas%2c+United+States
I'll do some math on this tomorrow. Simple geometry. jeffers probably does this in his head.
Try this.
http://www.boatsafe.com/tools/horizon.htm?height=14&units=feet&nautical=5.227926931394509&statute=6.019494995429435
I think 'over the water' and 'on the water' are similar, but not exactly the same. You are saying 'over the water' when you seem to mean 'on the water.'
To me, over the water means I see a reflection in the water of the sun as it sets even though there might be a land mass on the horizon. While on the water means reflection of the sunset in the water with no land mass on the horizon. If you quoted Geraldo correctly, then he got it right, IMO.
It seems a petty quibble you have with Geraldo on this one when I'm sure there are better things to quibble with Geraldo about. It's so petty that I'll make this my last post on the matter.
Take care, fellow FReeper!