After the first day out we sail into smoother seas and warmer weather. We throw aside our wraps and put on lighter clothing. We also don broad shade-hats to protect our eyes from the glare of the light upon the water.
A favorable wind bears us southward to the tropical sea, which many people consider among the most beautiful things in the world.
The water of the Bahama sea is wonderful because of its clearness and its deep purple color. A cloud shadow changes the purple into emerald.
Looking down into the clear depths, we see the dolphins as distinctly as the birds overhead. Shoals of flying fish dart out of the water, their fins serving as sails for an instant; then they drop back again.
Many other new and interesting objects and scenes add to the pleasure of our voyage from the great northern metropolis to the capital of the island in the southern seas. These we can not tell about now.
* * * * *
SAN JUAN.
While we are learning of the plant and animal life about and beneath us, the good ship bears us swiftly on, and all too soon we are at our journey's end.
We seem hardly to have left the shadow of Liberty's towering torch in New York harbor, before the gray walls of Morro Castle appear above the horizon. Far out at sea, this massive stone fort with its beacon light attracts our attention.
Across the harbor entrance the white-capped waves rush furiously over each other in a mad race toward the shore. Passing through this narrow channel, the ship glides into the harbor under the guns of the two picturesque old forts which guard it, and we get our first glimpse of San Juan.