French Guiana...Iles du Salut...The Place of Papillon

Isle de Salut,  The Salvation Islands... a group of three islands next to French Guiana

Two days of cruising from Grenada and we have almost reached the mainland of South America.  The Viking Sun has stopped at Isle de Salut, the infamous penal colony of France. These three islands were used at first as a stop off point for France's attempt to colonize French Guiana. France had lost its land in Canada and the American colonies. In Europe's race to grab the gold from the Western Hemisphere, France decided to place all its hope in South America. It sent 15,000 colonists in a short period of time, and fearing they were going to over-congest French Guiana, they used the triangular islands, or Isle de Salut, as a stop off point before arriving at  French Guiana. Ironically, the name Salvation Islands was given to the isles by missionaries to the mainland, trying to flee the illnesses and mosquitoes of French Guiana.
Later, France began having another problem, overflowing jails. The simple solution...send the criminals overseas where they will not bother France ever again. Britain did the same thing, with prisoners being sent to colonize Australia. Britain even did it in the American colonies with prisoners being sent as "indentured servants" to Maryland, Virginia, and Georgia.

Tendering tenderly to the island, although the seas
 were a bit rough and those with walking problems
were discouraged from making this trip. 

France's treatment of prisoners was deplorable, instead of reconciling,  severe punishment was
the emphasis.
Few prisoners made it back to France. Those with sentences of less than eight years, once "freed" had to stay on the islands for an equal amount of time. Those sentences of eight or more years were changed to life imprisonment. Work was hard, conditions inhumane, and the chance of returning home unlikely.

Cell blocks to the left, guards to the right

The movie Papillon was based on one man's imprisonment and finally his escape from here. Much of it was true, including having to sleep on a wooden bed with leg irons. Prisoners breaking the rules were put in Silence Rooms. Here, for two months at a time, they were given half rations, left in total darkness (being allowed one day every two weeks to see light, just so they would not become blind), and were not allowed to make any noise. Henri, the main character escaped by making a raft of coconuts and floating to the mainland. That was true, although in our thorough inspection of the island we never saw the huge cliffs the movie showed him jumping from to the sea.
The penal colony was started in 1852, and did not completely close down until 1953. During that time 80,000 prisoners were sent there with only a handful returning to France. 

Children's Graveyard

So, where were all the graveyards?  Well, the land was quite rocky, so only the guards and their families were buried here, the prisoners as they passed were placed in a shroud with rocks and dumped into the sea, which fed the sharks that were attracted to the island, making escape from such a place less likely.

Two convicts in the Cells of the Condemned

Solitary Confinement

Hospital 

 


Of the three islands, the main island had been turned into a museum. There were even simple tourist guest rooms in the main facility area.  We could see Devil's Island right next door, this is where the most notorious criminals were housed in the harshest conditions.

Picture of Devil's Island taken from the main island, Isle Royale

The history was interesting, but the island also contained paths winding through the forest with beautiful views, palms and the mango trees. Mangos were everywhere, those on the ground covered with little gnawings on them. The scent at times was both sweet, and fermented.
 

Capuchan Monkey
Ross's pal on Friends

We blamed the bite marks on rodents looked closely for signs of them. Halfway around the island path we spotted a monkey and then a few hundred yards further down, we ran into a group of 15 monkeys, some of them being fed crackers, others walking straight up on their hind legs, chattering loudly. Rumor has it, they were professional pick pockets. This did not happen to us, or at least, not that we knew of.

Lush Path around the Island

Down the path, we finally met up with the mango muncher,  the Agouti, a rat like rodent measuring 20 inches long, and beautifully colored, with delicate hands, eating pieces of mango as a squirrel would eat acorns.

Leather-Back Sea Turtle

Several small sea turtles were seen, but the most amazing turtle was the leather-back, who for a while floated right next to us, its head bopping up and down to occasionally take a breath.

An Army of Leaf Cutter Ants

 We were fascinated by the leaf cutter ants, moving to our right empty-handed while stopping at times to catch some pheromones of a passing ant, and those going to our left each with a small leaf. We spotted one ant, an over achiever, pulling three leaves attached to a small twig on his journey home.
 


   

The Original Toaster Oven

So with some reluctance, we hopped on board the next to the last tender to get back to the ship. We ended up baking for 15 minutes inside the bowels, as this turned out to be its final crossing for the day...a small price to pay for a wonderful day.