It's one of the spectacles of life. And you don't have to stay on Cocoa Beach; the hotels of Orlando are about an hour's drive away, and the traffic/parking is not a problem. Everyone just parks on the grass.
My preferred place is in Titusville (in front of the K-Mart which is slightly elevated), about 7 miles away and in clear view of the pads. Haven't seen one go up for a few years now (last was STS-92). That was delayed twice, third time lucky.
From there it's no noise for about 10-15 seconds, then you hear it all very nice. No it is not deafening. In fact you don't really realise it is lifting off at first. It's neat if it passes through a cloud, which all lights up orange.
A straightforward 70mm zoom on my camera has given great shots for about 5 minutes. You see naked-eye the separation and the boosters falling away. This always looks real slow motion, the two points of light from the boosters gradually moving away from the shuttle.
I don't really think it's 17,000 miles away at separation as the boosters are recovered from about 100 miles offshore !