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Devil's Island, French GuianaDec 8, 2008
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Devil’s Island, French Guiana (The Salvation Islands: Isle Royale, Isle Joseph and Isle du Diable)
December 8, 2008
After 2 days at sea we have reached The Salvation Islands 6.8 miles off the coast of French Guiana. These 3 tiny (34.6 acres), stunningly beautiful islands are: Isle Royale, Isle Joseph and Isle du Diable. As a group they are better known, world wide, as Devil’s Island. Not one of them is as large as our Buck Island and one is about the size of Protestant Cay. They are very close together and look as though you could easily swim from one to the next. Looks can be deceiving, however, and there are strong currents and sharks in these waters. The islands are also oppressively hot.
At bit of history:
The mainland on the north of South America (between Brazil and Suriname) was colonized by the French in the 1700’s. After nearly 80% of the colonists died from rampant disease (malaria and yellow fever) or from the jungle and its inhabitants (alligators, snakes, piranha, etc.), they moved to 3 small islands off the coast. They named them the Salvation Islands for that is how the thought of them; here they would be safe.
In the mid 1800’s Napoleon was in need of money for his wars. He looked to French Guiana for its natural resources (he wanted gold). The problem lay in the fact that no one wanted to be on the mainland so he had no volunteers to move here and slavery was nearly over and politically incorrect. What he did have was prisons that were overflowing (under Napoleonic Law you were guilty until you proved yourself innocent). Problem solved; turn French Guiana into a penal colony. Here the prisoners labored under unimaginable conditions and most died. The penitentiary itself was located on Isle Royale and accepted prisoners until 1938. It was finally closed in 1952. It was one of the most notorious prisons in the entire world; you have probably seen the movie Papillon.
Today French Guiana is a state of France just as Alaska is a state of the US with all rights. The islands are, now, only a tourist attraction inhabited only by the staff and the monkeys. Only the gruesome remains of the prison give testimony to their horrific past.
We arrived around 6:30 this morning and anchored just off of the islands. We went by tender to Isle Royale (the only place you can go) and spent the morning walking around the island in stifling heat. The island itself is incredibly beautiful and the ruins are very sobering. It was great fun watching the monkeys but after about 3hrs we were dripping with perspiration and longed for the cool of the ship and a shower. Since it is this hot in Dec. I can’t even imagine how hot it must be in the summer or if you were laboring instead of just strolling around.
We are now off to Dominica. We will be there on Wed.
