Possessed Macaws on Devil’s Island

Today we arrived at Devil’s Island.  Or, to be more accurate, we arrived at the Salvation Islands located 7 miles off the coast of French Guiana.  There are three islands comprising this island “chain” and they are situated very close together, separated by rough waters and apparently a large number of hungry sharks (although we did not see any sharks — but we heard that other people did!).  None of the islands are very large and Devil’s Island is only 35 acres.  For more information click here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Island

As a quick overview, the history of French Guiana is very confusing and I’m sure the French wish they had never stepped foot here.  In a nutshell:

– Columbus discovered it.  He named it “Land of Pariah” – which doesn’t sound very good…
– In 1604 France attempted to settle here but were driven out by the Portuguese
– In 1643 the French tried again but were driven out (again)
– In 1658 the Dutch took over
– In 1664 the French tried again but were attacked by the Dutch
– In 1667 the British took over
– Later in 1667 the Brits gave it to France
– In 1676 the Dutch came back
– In 1763, following a treaty, France gave up almost all their possessions in this area except for Guiana and a few islands (including Devil’s Island)

At this point, Louis XV, in a not so smart move, thought that this area had the potential to be a French “nirvana” and offered free land and 3 years of food and provisions to anyone willing to settle there.  France ended up sending 12,000 people to the area.  Their plan was to setup a “free” society that would be the envy of the rest of the world.  All of that was good — except for the fact that the area was full of hostile natives, tropical diseases and massive numbers of mosquitoes.  Over 9,000 people died in the first 18 months and only a few hundred managed to flee the mainland and settle the islands located 12 miles off the coast which they named the Iles de Salut or “Salvation Islands”.  The islands were unpopulated at the time so they were safe, the constant sea breezes kept the mosquitoes at bay and they were isolated from disease outside of their own group.

The three islands that make up the Salvations Islands are Royal Island, St. Joseph Island and Devil’s Island.

In 1852 Napoleon III opened a prison complex for France.  “Criminals” of various types were banished to this island settlement.  Men sent here were typically the very worst and most dangerous in France as well  as political prisoners of the King.  Once they served their sentence in brutal conditions, complete with nightly shackles, hard labor, etc. they then had to serve the rest of their life doing hard labor on one of the islands.  This is the site of the movie “Papillion” that documents the escape of a prisoner from Devil’s Island.

Today we will explore Royal Island.  This is the main island and contains the primary prisons, housing for guards, hospital, cemetery, etc.  Now these buildings are relics, but there is a hotel, restaurant, museum and a gift shop on the island that is used regularly.

We arrived a bit after the projected time and, with the islands in sight we waited for the pilots to arrive.  The plan was to anchor about a mile offshore and initiate tender service to shore.  The problem was that the same characteristics that made these islands a perfect penal colony also made it difficult to easily tether and board tenders.  After a lengthy delay, the pilots arrived and they came up with a plan that would require the Mariner using her aft thrusters to keep the tender loading ramp positioned on the leeward (out of the wind) side of the ship and the operation went into full swing.

At about 3 pm we boarded the tender with Nick and Sherrie and started our rather bumpy and wet trip to shore.  It usually isn’t “wet” on the tender…but today it was quite warm so the people in front of us opened a small window so we could get a breeze, and were thoroughly doused with water when we encountered a rogue wave!

Exiting the tender was a bit tricky as it moved with the swells and a couple people fell attempting it.  There was a nice dock that took us to a dirt path that circles the island.  We were told it takes approx. 45 minutes to walk around so we chose to go to the right and we were off on our exploration.

Right off the bat we had excellent photo ops with a view of St. Joseph Island in the background.  There were a large number of coconut palms and hundreds of coconuts on the ground in various stages of decay and new palms sprouting up from the coconut!

It was a truly beautiful walk with the waves breaking on our right and masses of palm trees on our left shimmering in the afternoon sun.  It was hard to imagine that at one point they had cut down every tree on the island so they could keep watch over a political prisoner who was in solitary confinement.  Nature has done an excellent job of recovery over the last century!

There were a number of large (a bit over a foot long) guinea pig-looking animals called “agoutis” running around.  They have skinny little legs and sort of hop around somewhat like a rabbit.  They appeared to be hunting something, pausing from time to time motionless and somewhat impervious to our existence.  I later discovered some iguanas on the higher part of the island with one being several feet long.  Most were less than two feet.  There were also colorful (but possessed) macaws, some monkeys, lots of colorful chickens, a few beautiful pheasants, peacocks and even pigs.

Our hiking continued as we discovered the swimming area that was down some steps from a rock seawall.  There were a number of people swimming in this area.  While it looks like it is open to the ocean it apparently is actually protected by a rock wall that during high tide is below water — but is high enough (supposedly) to protect swimmers from the deadly sharks.

We then came to the outbuildings that had supported the logistics operation that would zip-line food over to Devil’s Island.  The zip-line is long gone but the buildings and a memorial remain.  We tried to visualize the operation in full swing as the waves broke over the black rocks.  The way it worked was some of the prisoners lived on Devil’s Island with basically nothing.  They were dropped off there to fend for themselves…with the exception that the guards would zip-line over some bread and water.  Enough to keep them alive but that was about it.  For them to survive beyond those simple provisions, the men had to hunt and fish for protein and make their own shelter with whatever they could find on the island.

The next phase of our trip involved hiking up a fairly steep and rocky road that went to the main prison operations.  We first came to the museum and then moved on to the restaurant and hotel area.  It was unexpectedly nice and suitable for having a Heineken on the outdoor covered deck with a beautiful view of Devil’s Island.

We then walked around the grounds where we discovered a blue and two red macaws.  While Sherrie was taking pictures of them they started going crazy, like they were possessed, and going after her!  She was trying to take pictures of them and kept backing up to get away from them and she ended up tripping and falling on her backside!  The macaws kept coming!  Finally we were able to get them away from her and help her up.   I, of course, kept snapping pictures to memorialize the incident!  The birds then started going after my shoelaces.  Not sure what was their attraction…but they were quite focused on untying our shoes!

It was getting late and we were hot and sweaty so Margaret and Nick headed back down to catch the tender.  Sherrie and I went on to explore the prison area.  We came upon a small church, a large building that appeared to be the mess hall that is now used for holding special events, barracks that housed the guards and then the prison area.  The walls between the small cells have fallen down over the years but we could still see the shackles that held the men at night.  This was not a nice place to stay and many of the men went mad during their captivity.

Outside the prison building there was a huge cistern (reservoir where they stored rainwater for drinking) about the size of a football field and maybe 100 feet deep.  It was made of stone and the story goes that the prisoners had to dig this hole with teaspoons!  There is no water in it now and the bottom is covered with lily pad-type plants that are a beautiful light green color.  This is where I saw and took a picture of the huge iguana while the smaller ones clinging to the walls hissed and spit at me!

It was getting late now so Sherrie and I made our way down the hill and to the tender dock.  Turns out that Margaret and Nick were crammed into a sweltering tender with 150 other people while Sherrie and I were lucky enough to be in a nice breezy one with only 8 other people.  All in all our trip to Iles du Royale was enjoyable and well worthwhile.

Later in the afternoon, as the haze settle down and with the sun lower in the sky I could make out the missile launch facilities on the coast.  Since 1968 Kourou (on the French Guiana mainland) has been the launch site for rockets at the Guiana Space Centre due to its remote location and location near the equator.

Tonight Margaret and I will attend the Le Cordon Bleu graduation ceremony and have dinner with all of the guests participating in the program (18 in all) as well as with our Le Cordon Bleu chef.  Looking forward to another fantastic meal!

Picture Gallery for Devil’s Island: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Devils-Island-Mar-9-2010/25178636_pzQF7B#!i=2065205364&k=sPv769t

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  • March 12, 2010 - 5:51 am

    Marlene Shirley - The birds might be possessed but they are beautiful. Your pictures are awesome. You ought to get a job as a photographer for “National Geographic”. The iguana picture is amazing, I think my favorite of the day. I’m curious if you have a favorite adventure so far on this journey? Love, MarleneReplyCancel

  • March 12, 2010 - 5:51 am

    Marlene Shirley - The birds might be possessed but they are beautiful. Your pictures are awesome. You ought to get a job as a photographer for “National Geographic”. The iguana picture is amazing, I think my favorite of the day. I’m curious if you have a favorite adventure so far on this journey? Love, MarleneReplyCancel

  • March 13, 2010 - 1:49 am

    kathy krizan - I am so enjoying your blog!!
    Thanks for capturing your ventures into words and photos for all of us…I LOVE IT!!
    Have fun
    Talk to you soonReplyCancel

  • March 13, 2010 - 1:49 am

    kathy krizan - I am so enjoying your blog!!
    Thanks for capturing your ventures into words and photos for all of us…I LOVE IT!!
    Have fun
    Talk to you soonReplyCancel

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