Dr. Romance's travel notes:
Saturday, April 4 Devil's Island, The Salvations Islands, French Guiana 
We don't reach anchor until 1:00 PM, so it's another leisurely morning, which we need after dancing our butts off yesterday. Our Port Lecturer, Hutch, began a narration as we approached the islands.
There are three islands in the Salvation Island group: Diablo (Devil's), Royale, and St. Joseph's islands. They form a triangle, and were originally known as the Triangle Islands. Although Devil's Island was the scene of the film "Papillon," about a prisoner who attempted escape after escape, The prison really used all three islands. Isle Royale, which is the one we actually went ashore to, contained the Warden's and officers' quarters, as well as most of the prisoners.
It was surprising to find that there is a satellite launch base at Kourou, French Guiana, 9 miles away, which launches nearly half the world's commercial satellites.
The Isle Royale is beautiful, 
covered by dense jungle vegetation, and is home to Leatherback turtles, monkeys, agoutis
(they look like overgrown hamsters) and exotic birds. It is also quite hot and humid. The walking paths are cobblestone and rock, very difficult to walk, and there are many, many stairs up to the museum, which was once the Warden's Quarters. The museum is very sparse and small, but the buildings are of a distinctive style, with white outer walls, brick trim, and blue shutters. There are huge rock walls everywhere, and the steps are also of stone,
which makes me think they dug up a lot of stones while building. The Salvation Island name originated in the 1600s when settlers fled the mainland, nine miles across the ocean, to escape the disease-ridden jungle. French Emporer Napoleon III established the convict settlement in 1852, and France did not stop sending prisoners here until 1938, when the truth emerged that two-thirds of the 80,000 prisoners sent here did not survive. There is a heart-rending children's cemetary here, because families often came to be close to the prisoners, and large numbers of children died of disease. Prisoners who died were just cast into the sea.
We tendered in to the island, and started up the rocky path, which gently sloped up to the stone stairsway leading to the museum. A group were gathered at the water's edge a short way up the path, and we found they were watching a Leatherback turtle who was swimming near the wall. He would poke his head up very quickly, then dunk headfirst in the water, showing his tail. We went through the not very impressive museum, 
wandered around the accessible buildings, and saw the beautiful view of the other side of the island and the ocean beyond. There is also the Warden's Pool, a man-made, rock-lined pond which was built by prisoners for the Warden's pleasure. The pool was full of people today, 
perhaps guests from the small hotel on the island. Many fellow passengers wondered who would ever stay here, but I think that, only nine miles away from the mainland, the island would be a nice getaway for French Guianans. As warm as we thought it was, it is probably cooler than the mainland. There were many coconuts along the pathway, and looking up, we could see palm trees loaded with coconuts. Fortunately, none fell, or we would have needed hard hats!
When we turned back, we discovered a path sloping down to the road. We followed it, and were rewarded by the sight of many small monkeys in the trees and on the wall on our right. Someone had thought to bring a banana, and tossed small pieces to the monkeys,
which gave all of us the chance to take photos. There were baby monkeys as well as adults, climbing, chattering and swinging through the trees. Then, on the other side of the path we spotted a striking pheasant, with a bright red head, who indignantly puffed himself up when we flashed the camera at him. We walked back the rest of the path, took our tender back to the ship, and gratefully collapsed into the cool ship's buffet room for lunch. One lady on the elevator made us laugh when she said "OK, I've been there, and I never have to go again."
Our port lecturer has begun his talks on the Amazon, and we're all getting excited about cruising up the great river.
