The distance between the tree and the coconut on the ground is about 4 feet (1.2 m).
About 30 seconds before I took this photo, I was walking between them, toward the current position of the camera, when I heard
a loud THUD just a bit behind and to the left. I froze in my tracks, looked to my left and about 6" (15 cm) behind, and there was the
cause of the thud--the coconut. It must have missed by head by about 18" (45 cm) and my left shoulder by about 6".
It took awhile before my heart slowed to a normal beat. A few days earlier, my wife and I had been lounging on chaises near the pool, but under a thatched roof.
In a row ahead of us was a family in the sunshine. There was quite a bit of wind.
At one point the six-year-old boy said something about the palm leaves looking like they were about to blow off.
Less than a minute later, a frond did indeed fall off, along with the coconut that struck the boy's aunt on her head.
It gave her quite a bump. [See it here.]
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