Tues Jan 14, 2025
Hi All! We made it to Devil’s Island off the coast of French Guiana which is part of South America. There were no excursions on this island since up to a few years ago, it was completely off limits to tourists. We took the tender boat over and walked the island. It’s interesting since we didn’t actually get on to Devil’s Island but rather Isle Royale.
But first a little history… The penal colony of Cayenne, commonly known as Devil’s Island (Île du Diable), was a French penal colony that operated for 100 years, from 1852 to 1952, and officially closed in 1953. It was notorious both for the staff’s harsh treatment of detainees and the tropical climate and diseases that contributed to high mortality, with a death rate of 75 percent at its worst. Devil’s Island was also notorious for being used for the exile of French political prisoners, with the most famous being Captain Alfred Dreyfus, who had been accused of spying for Germany.
Henri Charrière‘s memoir, Papillon (1969), ostensibly described the extreme brutality of the penal colony. He claimed to be an escaped convict but was found never to have visited the island. The book was adapted as an American movie of the same name; released in 1973, it starred Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman.
This area is actually made up of three islands, Devil’s Island, which housed the less violent convicts; Isle of Saint-Joseph, which was chosen as a place of solitary confinement, a madhouse and a cemetery for the guards; and Isle Royale which served as the main administrative center for the prison.
While walking the island we saw the prison, an old hotel, the church and a lighthouse. We also saw lots of wild animals. There were Capuchin monkeys running everywhere, a large guinea pig type animal called an agouti and several peacocks.
When we went to tender back, we saw a helicopter hovering over the ship. We later came to find out that one of the guest lecturers had appendicitis and needed to be airlifted to the mainland. Poor guy!
Well that’s all for now. I’ll send an update after dinner. Happy Tuesday to all!
The Wandering Italian 