December 23, 2023–Devil’s Island, French Guiana

I’ve had today circled on my calendar for months, though our destination was only three uninhabited specks of land ten miles from the mouth of the Kourou River in French Guiana. Devil’s Island, as the three are collectively called, is the site of a former French penal facility that became infamous for its horrific conditions. How bad was it? Bad enough that 75 percent of the prisoners never survived to be released when their sentences were over.

I first became aware of Devil’s Island several years ago when I read an engrossing historical novel by Michael Hardwick titled Prisoner of the Devil, in which Sherlock Holmes was retained to exonerate Alfred Dreyfus, a captain in the French army who was wrongly accused and convicted of passing secrets to the Germans in 1894, and imprisoned on Devil’s Island. The Dreyfus Affair, as it came to be known, was real and became a massive scandal in France. All of the principal characters in the book except Holmes and Watson were real and were portrayed as they were known to have spoken and acted. Dreyfus was ultimately exonerated and freed, but the description of Devil’s Island and portrayal of his time there were riveting, and I couldn’t believe my luck when I saw that the French penal colony was on the itinerary for this cruise.

So, does close count? As I said, the islands are now uninhabited, home only to monkeys and agoutis (large rodents), and there is no pier that a large ship can tie up to. There is only a small dock, requiring ships to anchor offshore and ferry passengers to the island by small boats called tenders. We arrived at the islands this morning under gray skies, light rain, and choppy seas that were too rough to safely tender us in, and it didn’t take our captain long to notify us that the excursion was canceled. We got a good, if brief, look at the islands where Dreyfus spent five dreadful years, before the captain turned the ship around and pointed us toward our next destination, Fortaleza, Brazil.

Despite my disappointment, I’m fine with the captain’s decision. On a cruise of this length (nine months), there will almost certainly be a number of situations beyond our control that require changes to our itinerary. I understood that going in, and am just chalking it up to part of the adventure of circling the globe by ship. Maybe the ghost of Dreyfus is smiling and saying, “Just as well you stayed away, it’s not a nice place.”

Our next two days, including Christmas, are at sea as we cross the Equator and make for Brazil. It’s traditional to hold a ceremony for seamen on their first Equator crossing, and I’ll be interested to see if the crew has anything planned for us. I’m also looking forward to seeing the Southern Cross for the first time, though I have no idea how far south we have to travel before the famous constellation becomes visible.

I’ll be sure to bring you along with me and let you know, so stay tuned. And best wishes to all for a joyous Christmas.

The three islands that collectively are known as Devil’s Island. In actuality, they are Ile Royals, the reception center, Saint-Joseph Island, the’reclusion’ where prisoners were punished in silence and darkness in solitary confinement, and Devil’s Island, which was reserved for political prisoners.

Close up of one of the islands. The two larger boats are French naval vessels.

I mentioned that it was windy. Michele is trying to hold her shirt down and hair in place long enough for me to take her picture.

This is the book I was referring to. It really is a good read, and worth picking up if you’re interested in learning more about Devil’s Island and l’Affaire Dreyfus.

Finally, thought I’d throw this photo in. One of my goals for the cruise on sea days is to get through this before we return home. Think I can do it?