Evening star., 1937-06-02
BY AMELIA EARHART,
'y Radio to The Star.

SAN JUAN, P. P-The 1893 miles,
mostly over-ocean flying, which is the
first leg Of the eastward journey from
Miami, is now behind us.
At about l;30 pm Eastern standard
time C2:30 pm. New York time) we
landed here at San Juan. Early today,
If all goes well, We will continue
south. I had hoped to attempt nom
stop fight directly from here TO Para
marlbo, Dutch Guiana. However, the
condition Of the flying field is such
that it probably would not be the
part Of wisdom to attempt to take
off with sufficient gasoline for that
flight.
So as matters stand instead We
Will make the short jump to Carapito,
in Venezuela. Then, tomorrow or next
Gay we will keep on to Paramaribo,
and eventually Natal. beyond which
lies the much-foWn South Atlantic.
NR-l6020 left Miami Municipal Air
port at 5:56 am, Eastern standard
time. yesterday. For 13 minutes We
climbed slowly, swinging southerly on
our course toward Puerto Rico. Beau
tlful in the early morning light was
the curving line made, when the
blue waters of the Gulf Stream met
the aquamarine of the shoal waters of
Miami's coast.
Now and then thought We glimpsed
the outlines Of shadoWy fish, dark
against the pale sands of the beach.
Legend has it that sailfsh are found
thereabouts. I say legend because l
tried unsuccessfully one day last week
to capture one. To me their existence
is thus far merely hearsay.
Tunes in for Forecasts.
Shortly after 6 O'Clock two ships
were visible. 1t was then. with them
beneath us, when everything in the
cockpit was properly set and working
smoothly, l tuned in Miami's radio
station WQAM, which was broadcast
ing every hour summary Of weather
conditions which lay before us, as pre-
pared by Pan-America's efficient me-
teorologists. My own schedule called
for broadcast every 80 minutes, at a
quarter past and quarter to the hour
l was delayed little with my first
broadcast, because just then the
radlo stations were sending out a de-
scription of my own take-off. So, a
hundred miles from the field, the an
nouncer held me in cruel suspense as
to whether or not l actually was going
to get off safely.
AS the sun rose higher the sea be-
came hazy. A few fuzzy clouds sailed
lazily beneath the silver wings of the
ship. Fred Noonan was not enioyinp
the scenery as such, but spotting con-
flrmatlons of the islands beneath us
and looking for lighthouses with which
to check our course and rate of speed
At 6:35 we sighted the great reef
Of the Bahama banks. At about 7
O'Clock Andres Island stretched out
as vivid green rug before our eyes.
The fringe Of that rug was formed
by the varicolored tendrils of the sea,
reaching fingerlike into the islands.
some Of them so green as to resemble
bright snakes Wriggling in q new
found Garden of Eden.
Fly Through Clouds.
The beauties of these tropic seas,
as seen from the air, were in sharp
contrast to the leaden dullness of the
North Atlantic and far reaches of the
Pacific Ocean, as I have seen them
from aloft.
My penciled log records that of
Andres We sighted partly sub
merged wreck, mute testimony of a
tragedy of long ago. Here cumulous
clouds piled high, their shadows float
ing across the pale waters. FLYING at
a thousand feet, we sneaked beneath
some of these cloud layers and soon
emerged again into brilliant sun
shine
BY midmorning Noonan estimated
that We would reach San Juan by 10
past l o'clock. I remember a
few days ago, when we few across
some 400 miles of the Gulf of Mex
leo from New Orleans toward Florida,
while we were still far from land
he predicted we would sight Tampa at
1910. Actually We made our land
fall one minute earlier. So I have
come to have implicit faith in Moo
mans power Of navigational divina-
tions.
3 What with such expert naviga-
tional help and the flying assistance
of the Sperry gyro-pilot, it does seem
that my long-range flying is getting
pretty sissy. The ease and friendli-
ness Of it all is further accentuated
by the marvellous help given by the
radio.
Sights Land at 12:40.
We're I alone on such a trip as
this, I would be hopping along short
lines, my attention divided between
flying ships and attempting to keep
track Of exactly where I was.
At about noon the navigator told
me we were too far north, and I
changed slightly as directed. At the
there was nothing to see but
indistinguishable sea and sky. And
then suddenly through a haze we
sighted the beautiful shore line OF
Puerto Rico. That vas at 12:4o pm.