Unidentified Super Bright Light Ball

Between 20:30 and 20:45 Eastern on December 8, 2013 I drove to the local grocery store. On the way there I didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary in the sky.  Upon leaving the store, approximately 5 minutes later, I immediately noticed the brightest light I have ever seen in the night sky other than the moon in the same direction as I had just traveled not noticing anything.  I watched for a moment in the parking lot as it seems to pulse between orange and gold colors with very little motion. I decided since I lived near open water that I would drive to the water’s edge and get a better look.
As I drove along the tree canopied roads it was hard to keep a good eye on but at one point it seemed that there was something that resembled a light beam from the bottom.  This made me think this was possibly a coast guard helicopter or something but continued to get the unobstructed view at the water’s edge.
To my surprise the object was no helicopter, completely silent and so bright that the light from it reflected clearly off the calm water.  I snapped the best picture I could with my phone but it is obviously not made for detail at a distance.
 Object was located WNW of Homosassa, FL, with a slight drift toward the south. Low elevation, 1000-1500 ft max would be my best guess.  If it was more then a few miles offshore it would have had to be of massive size based on the sheer amount of light being produced. Slight color changes between a golden yellow and orange happened periodically but not in a certain amount of time.  Weather was 80 degrees, wind under 5mph and variable, crystal clear skies.