Papillon

 

Prison Hospital with lighthouse in the background

We have now travelled 5,211 nautical miles since we left Cape Town in mid-February, crossing the South Atlantic Ocean, crossing the equator for the fourth time and are now in the North Atlantic Ocean. We decided on a brief stop to catch up on some sleep and do a little boat work. Given the number of miles under the keel recently, I think we and Georgia earned it. So we stopped at Illes de Salut islands in French Guiana for two nights.

 

The islands are better known as Devils Island from the 1973 Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman classic movie Papillon.

Or better yet from the 1969 book written by the Papillon himself, the Frenchman Henri Charriere.

When we get back to the states Chris wants to get a house with a living room that is sized to fit this Elephant Ear house plant along side the trail to the prison..

Georgia anchored off Ille Royal

The prison church. Front rows for administration and guards, back rows for the convicts. There is a grave yard on the island for the administration staff. The story has it that when convicts died they were wrapped in cloth and had a stone tied to them. They would be taken out in a skiff in the cut between Ille Royal and Saint Joseph islands. The church bell would be rung, which alerted the sharks and the corpse would be slid off the boat into the water -- all to quickly vanish a splash of wild shark feeding.

I swear this peacock was hitting on Chris.

The barracks

We managed to snap a boom vang tang  -- I know it sounds like a K-pop band -- while on passage. I used some dyneema lashing to back it up temporarily.  We've decided to change our plans and not head directly for Antigua in the Caribbean, but take the shorter route to Grenada. We can get the vang and boom repair work done there.

We weren't sure if we were going to be able to come ashore here, as we have not officially cleared into the country. Something you have to go another 100 miles up the coast to do. Being a French controlled country they are pretty laid back when it comes to cruisers entering and leaving. The island has a few gendarmes stationed here -- probably as security for the near by European Space Launch complex. When we took the dinghy into the dock, there were two young gendarmes (police) chatting away with locals. We smiled and walked past. There is also a small hotel that uses some of the old prison building that has a restaurant on the island (they take credit cards).

Anchor location 05*17.033N 052*35.428W in about 15 feet of water.

Nice break and we are off on Sunday morning.

Tufted Capuchin monkey on the trail

An Agouti cruising by

Paul