Devils island is a place that lives in infamy. The 3 islands (Iles de Salut) are mostly overgrown, hiding this infamous French penal colony. Used from 1852 to 1953, the numbers of those incarcerated vary, however between 80,000 and 60,000 are quoted. Less than 5,000 survived.
We visited the Iles Royale, this is where some of the prison population were kept; along with the overseers, wardens and military. Solitary confinement was on the southernmost island, St. Josephe.
Although escape was foremost in the prisoner’s minds, it was virtually impossible because of the sharks that circled the island, waiting for the bodies of prisoners who died, these were thrown into the ocean. There is 1 cemetery on the island, however this contains few graves, many of the being children. The prisoners were treated like animals, the harshest of treatments and back-breaking work, just one of the tasks was building a road that was never to be used.
It may seem strange to take a Cruise ship to such a place, however a Grand World voyage takes one where one is educated of past history, no matter what the history may be and this is one of them.
Entry to the anchorage is made through very shallow water, during the latter stage there is less than 2 meters/6 feet under the keel. On my previous visit, the waters were calm, not so for this one and embarking/disembarking guests had to be done slowly and with assistance. Nevertheless, once ashore they all seemed to be enjoying themselves, even though steps were steep (and many), as were the ‘roads’. Here is our arrival time-lapse, (yes I remembered this time 😕 )
And now, the photographs……..
The islands viewed from a distance
The 3 distinct islands; Iles Royale centre
The pilot (and ship’s agent) about to board
Our destination
Our lovely “Amsterdam”, as seen from shore
….and from astern. The mud, which we were disturbing with our azipods in the shallow water, can be clearly seen
Monkeys abound, this guest, is brave enough to feed them…..
K1 and K2 posing for a shot, they are on the steps of the Commandant’s house
Hot and humid, (29C/85F)time for a cold beer in the restaurant. (My bottle disappeared in seconds 🙂
In the foreground, the now overgrown water reservoir. behind were the married Warders’ quarters
The main Prisoner quarters. (Others were on the other 2 islands)
The Convent/Maternity Ward, behind being a modern lighthouse
The small (and only) cemetery
K2 trying to read the gravestones, Many were indecipherable, worn through the ages
We departed the islands late in the afternoon and now we are off the coast of Brazil. We are making for the entrance of the Para River which is part of the Amazon Greater estuary. A 70 mile passage awaits us before we arrive off Icoarici, a small town, 45 minutes bus-ride to Belem. Smaller ships can sail further up-river to Belem itself, however we have too deep a draft to make it over the sandbanks and thus have to stop and tender guests ashore.
