Iles de Salut

Our next journey took us up the coast, past the muddy waters of the Amazon (even as far as 120nm off shore!), over the equator (with the essential offerings to Neptune), through a couple of days of the doldrums and, a week later, we dropped anchor off Iles du Salut in French Guiana, made famous for the “Papillon” story on Devil’s Island. There was absolutely nothing there but tranquillity and coconuts however, we loved the peacefulness and spent hours swimming and walking around the islands with Paul collecting coconuts (I think we’re all coconutted out now!)

There are three islands which were originally known as Iles du Diable and were used as a penal colony from 1852 to 1946 where political prisoners and habitual criminals were imprisoned. Conditions were such that many prisoners died due to the unhealthy conditions and very few escaped.

During our stay, we were boarded by the Gendemerie Maritime who asked us to evacuate the region for a night as there was to be a satellite launch – the island is in the fallout zone. French Guiana is home to the European Space Agencies launch site so we sailed into Kourou overnight and were really privileged to watch the launch – quite spectacular! The sky lit up just as brightly as though the sun were up.

Back to the islands for a couple more days then off on the 6-day trip to Trinidad & Tobago catching our supper en route. Sushi and drinks as the magnificent sunsets played out ahead of us – what more could a mortal soul ask for?

PHOTO ALBUM:

Crossing the Equator

The Doldrums

No Shortage of Coconuts