up the luminous flush in the western sky which was Miami 

 and the Gold Coast. I slept for a brief two hours in the 

 heart of the night and then took over the watch, anticipat- 

 ing that breath-taking moment when the man-made glow 

 of the Florida coast would be matched by the dawn light 

 in the east. 



I was not disappointed. Wrapped in a steamer robe 

 on the foredeck of Sea Diver while the faithful automatic 

 pilot guided us steadily toward home port, I watched the 

 first faint light creep upward in the east, paling the stars 

 and giving a faint apricot tint to the edges of the scattered 

 clouds hanging heavily over the now-vanished Bahamas. 

 Then, as the sun rose above the horizon, the apricot deep- 

 ened until the whole eastern sky was filled with brilliant 

 orange. Only the delicate cirrus clouds in the south bore 

 remembrance of the apricot dawn. 



Ahead of Sea Diver the medley of lights which was 

 civilization gradually disappeared in the dawn; the sweep- 

 ing beam of Hillsboro light beyond Fort Lauderdale was 

 no longer visible. The blinking colored lights on the tall 

 towers, which had previously indicated to us the location 

 of Miami, had vanished. Ahead could be seen only a dim, 

 low coastline. A few miles more and it would be possible 

 to distinguish the tall hotels along the water front of Miami 

 Beach. 



Ed and Clayton, awakened by the morning light, 

 joined me on the foredeck and together we watched with 

 binoculars for the first clue as to our position. At last we 

 were able to pick out the thickened horizon which was 

 Miami Beach. With a slight change of course we continued 

 toward the stone jetties guarding the entrance to Miami, 

 skirted the now-towering white fa9ades of Miami Beach, 

 picked up the navigation markers of the outer harbor en- 

 trance and then swung into the long approach to Miami. 

 Quickly inspected by quarantine authorities as we halted 



122 Sea Diver 



