Day 8 Sat, January 8, 2010 Devils Island, French Guiana

Background

• 3 islands… called triangle island at first… then called Salvation Islands.  Originally settled by French that evacuated French Guiana after economy collapsed in 1800s.
• Pop of all French Guiana now 221K
• Heavily dependent on France
• There is a space center there.  Good location because of proximity to equator.  Accounts for 25% of GDP.
• Unemployment 20-30%
• Maroons:  ex slaves fled into rainforest around 1848
• French established prison colony- 4 camps on mainland, and one on each of the islands
• The most famous of these are called Devils Island, but that was the smallest of the prisons
• Actually going to Isle Royal, not Devils Island.  This was a large camp.
• Abt 80000 were eventually sent there.  1852-1902. Prisons closed in 1952.
• Have to tendor in.   Very difficult currents, so chances of actually visiting are low… (Why did they advertise…?)
• Hard to walk in: take it slow, very steep slope, take rain gear.  There’s a lighthouse and cemetery of prisoner and guard children. 
• See ruins and monkeys.

Our Experience

We were fortunate!  The possibility of actually getting on the island was talked down.  We were told 50-50.  Well, to make a long story short, it was favorable and we were able to complete make the visit.  On the other hand, you can see why the chances are so low.  The seas around the islands were rough.  The winds were favorable with respect to the anchorage, so it worked.

The island we went is more or less round and we walked around it. 

Warning:  THERE ARE NO RESTROOMS.  The maps indicate a restroom, but that one is closed.  The only restroom is at the small hotel at the top.  The beer isn’t a bad price, so be sure to take $$ and buy a beer and a pee.  Of course, the bushes work for men… it isn’t that jungley, but women would have a problem, as Chris did.

The ship anchored maybe 400 meters from shore. 

Oh, since we are getting a video at the end of the cruise, I’m not going to say much about what we saw.  We took a look at the video from yesterday and it does a good job.  In fact, it helps us understand what we need to see when we go back. 

In our walk around the island’s perimeter we saw those agouti’s, which look like:

It’s strange to me that we didn’t see much else in the way of wildlife other than a gang of monkeys:

There were various structure at the top.  Some were more or less ruins.  Others were in use.  There was a small contingent of families that permanently live on the island.  The breadwinners of the households work at a tracking station for the “space port.” 

Here are a few other pictures: (to be uploaded separately)