Tropical Paradise or Notorious Prison ?

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

LeRoy and Vialula barely escaped capture and imprisonment while exploring the three-island penal colony that is Devil’s Island!  Three tiny islands that are both a tropical paradise and also hell on earth, made up the prison Cayenne, commonly known as Devil’s Island.  Each island housed inmates but one of the islands was reserved for the worst of the worst criminals. The islands unbelievably, operated as a prison for a hundred years from 1852 until 1952.  1952 was not that long ago.  Some quick facts about the penal colony…

Should you have been sent there, it was most likely you would never leave, at least breathing.  Of the 80,000 some odd folks sent there, 75% of those sent there died from either harsh treatment, malnutrition or disease.  Burial was most usually at sea.  It was just as harsh on the guards and staff as it was the prisoners.  Crimes that got you a one-way ticket ranged from nothing to offending Napoleon III  to murder.  It was soon established that it was a very good way to rid yourself of political competition, the most famous of those political prisoners being Alfred Dreyfus.  The cells we saw were maybe 4 feet by 6 feet.  Concrete walls, no windows, high ceilings with a small hole in the top.   Nothing I saw was appealing or said to me that yes, I could stay here for a while.  Vialula said it reminded her of inside cabins on the ship, without the room stewards and the food!

The islands were first called the Salvation Islands and people went there to escape the terror and ravishes of yellow fever in French Guiana. Napoleon III actually asked for volunteers to go there. It turned out to not be the answer people were looking for and thus Napoleon III made it into what we now know as Devil’s Island.  Ships full of prisoners were sent there, not only to serve their sentences but to also help colonize French Guiana.   So, women were also sentenced there although that plan did not work out so well.   We witnessed the cemetery for children there as well.  They were the children of the guards, administrators and colonists.  

Treacherous waters surround the islands and attempted escape was futile.  It is believed that only 2 people ever successfully escaped.   One was a French anarchist who was arrested for robbing and stabbing a policeman.   In 1900, after 20 attempts he finally made it off the island.  I am not sure what became of him after that.  The other, was Papillon.  Perhaps you have seen the movie with Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen.  It isn’t what I would call an uplifting movie.

But that is all the dark side of Devil’s Island.   While it gets its name from its history very honestly, it also is a tropical paradise.   Vi and I sat on large rocks at the water’s edge and watched as the waves crashed in, splashing us like we were at a water park!  It felt so good combined with the sea breeze as it was very hot and Tennessee-like humidity!  We saw several sea turtles swim by.  Vi was tickled!  Large coconut palm trees and beautiful flowers cover the islands.  Vialula identified lantana, bouganvillea, hibiscus and other tropical flowers that are seen at home. It is a lush environment which grows anything and everything.  Monkeys and tapir-like critters scurry about looking for vegetation to feed on.  One guy brought a banana from the ship, and the monkeys were on him like moths to a flame!

As I said, the waters are treacherous, so no docking of boats is allowed there.   Strangely, as a tourist attraction, it is not open to the public and to be honest, I don’t know how we are allowed to stop in.  My local beer found at the only watering hole there was Jeune Gueule, from Guiana; something to do with a jaguar.  It was an APA (American Pale Ale) instead of an IPA (India Pale Ale)!

Devil’s Island is a tender port, so we anchor out in the bay area and our tender boats carry us back and forth.   Like our stops at Pitcairn and Easter Island on our last voyage, we can now say we have been to Devil’s Island.   What a treat!   A beautiful place with a storied past.

The area is now the Guiana Space Center.   Whatever that is…

The mighty Amazon River lies ahead.  Here we go.

Sail on.

LeRoy and Vi