May 4, 1494
After leaving La Isabela, Columbus’s newly found town in Hispaniola, with just three ships, the journey ahead of us seemed perilous. The food supply is not as large as it was on the earlier parts of the voyage and almost no fruits or vegetables are to be seen. Many of the sailors are suffering from scurvy. Almost every day, members of the crew are throwing up, losing teeth or hair, and showing great signs of weakness. Fortunately, we will be anchoring on the Island called Jamaica, which Columbus has said is rich with gold. I hope to get a good night’s rest and a handsome supply of food in my stomach. There will most likely be tropical fruits on the Island that I can record and bring back to Spain for my family. The water is crystal blue and many yachts roam around our ships. However, at night, there are loud shrieks and tribal noises coming from the mysterious island. I am afraid that the Indians living there will not welcome us and force us to return to Cuba.

May 24, 1494
Christopher Columbus decided to leave Jamaica only a few weeks after arriving because of the hostility from the Indians living there. Columbus also believes that he has not yet found what is the mainland. He has decided to head back to Cuba. However, the conditions were dismal and the southern coast of Cuba is scattered with shoals and small Islands, so he decided to sail westward. Over the period of time, I have grown accustomed to sea life and have gained much knowledge of the ship. I am excellent with the compass and have a sufficient amount of knowledge on the traverse board, which is a way to record the course of a ship over a period of four hours. It contained a piece of wood, in which a compass rose was marked out and eight holes at the end of each point. At the half of every hour, a wooden peg was placed into a hole marking the compass point on which the ship had run. The course was determined by the position of the eight pegs. It is truly a marvelous thing.

October 1, 1494
Much has happened in the past few months with Christopher Columbus. After several long weeks on the ship heading westward, Christopher Columbus had decided that his search for the mainland was in fact, a failure. However, I have been ordered to sign a document as part of being in Columbus’s crew that Cuba was the mainland and I had to swear that because it was so big, it must be so. Then, we voyaged back to Hispaniola, which was the most treacherous trip of all because we had to go back through the shoals and work against the headwind. After four weeks of unbearable winds, Columbus decided to once again head back for Jamaica and confirmed that it was an island. The date was August 20th when we finally reached the shores of Hispaniola, but proceeded eastward along the mysterious southern coast. Nothing new was discovered. After many exciting adventures with Christopher Columbus, in late September, I decided that since Columbus was seriously ill, I would abandon any further explorations and return to La Isabela until a later voyage.

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