Devil's Island, French Guiana

Monday, March 5, 2012 – at sea

Busy day – meeting at 10AM, pre-lunch cocktails at 11:30 with friends and cocktails with the Captain in his quarters and Pinnacle Grill dinner with Hotel Manager and then the Grand Masquerade Ball! What a nice evening. This ship has the only ante-chamber at sea in the Captain’s quarters where he can entertain up to 35 people! There were memorabilia from the ports of call (all glued down so they do not move during rocky seas!) and a verandah and four full length windows – lovely room. We did not see his private quarters but I’m sure he feels the motion up there as the higher up in the ship, the more motion you feel.

We were all given masks at the Pinnacle Grill dinner so we were all stunning as we danced and did the conga line through the lobby!

Had very sad news about J’s room attendant who is from Indonesia. We have been anxiously awaiting the news of his first child’s birth; his wife is in the hospital. Today he received word that his Father passed away. He was admitted to the hospital three days ago and diagnosed with lung cancer. The poor thing was beside himself. He then found out that his wife gave birth to their son today and both were doing well. Santana will be heading home earlier than expected, leaving the ship from St. Lucia. Death and life in one day and being so far away from home; how many of us could handle such personal circumstances from such a great distance?

Tuesday, March 6, 2012 – Devil’s Island/Iles du Salut (Salvation Islands), French Guiana

Through the misty rain but we were on our way via tender at 7:20 to the Ile de Royale, the largest of the three islands we call Devil’s Island. They are eight miles off the coast of French Guiana. The islands were part of a French penal settlement in use from 1852-1946. This system was gradually phased out and has been completely shut down since 1953; they were featured in the novel by Henri Charriere, Papillon. He was imprisoned here for 9 years. The prisoners were classified as follows: habitual criminals who were permitted to work, political prisoners and criminals who were permitted limited liberty and felons who were imprisoned with hard labor. If a prisoner was sentenced to a term of less than eight years, he had to spend an equal period of time in French Giuana. If the sentence was more than eight years, he had to remain for life. After 1885, only criminals with sentences of more than eight years were sent to Devil’s Island. Those prisoners who were liberated earned their passage home by working in the colony. The climate in the settlement proved so unhealthy that many prisoners died. Up to 2000 criminals could be interred at one time. All told, 80,000 prisoners were sent to the islands, and only 30,000 lived to tell about it.

The horrors of the settlement became notorious after the French army captain Alfred Dreyfus, was sent here in 1895; he was accused of planning to deliver an anonymous document that revealed French military secrets to the Germany embassy in Paris. He was later found not guilty, his real “crime” was probably being Jewish in anti-Semitic era) and given the French Legion of Honor medal and a French order of merit and served with distinction in WWI.

Papillon was sentenced to life in prison for a murder he did not commit but was never sent to Devil’s Island – the fictional tale was based on accounts taken from others prisoners. He was at French Giuana and managed to escape twice. Henri Charriere got his nickname during his naval term of service when he had a butterfly tattooed on his chest.

There is one lower level path around the island, which takes about 40 minutes to walk, and one higher path where the buildings are located. We saw turtles, agoutis (they look like Cornish guinea hens on stilts!), peacocks, chickens, roosters and squirrel monkeys so it was an interesting walk. Everything is in ruins. We toured the ruins of the Commandant’s House (which is now the reverse osmosis water plant), the children’s cemetery, hospital, prisoners’ quarters, chapel, solitary and condemned cells, workshops and butchery. There are old photos from the early 1900s in the chapel. It was a hard place to be sentenced with a slim chance of survival, let alone escape as the waters were shark-infested.

There is even a hotel on the small island! www.iledusalut.com Rooms were about $100 a night with a view of Devil’s Island.

Another interesting fact: There is a tracking station for space shuttles on the island! A ship anchored near us ONLY works when there is activity on the mainland at the Guinea Space Center. The Russians use the launch pad for the Ariane and Soyuz 2 rocket, which launches from Kourou, French Guinea. It is 350 miles north of the equator so they are in orbit quicker, as compared to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Back for lunch and I needed a break so I went to see the mindless movie “Blackthorn” about Butch Cassidy and tonight saw the movie “Papillon”. It’s been raining and gloomy so a good day to stay inside.