{"id":225,"date":"2017-04-03T16:53:38","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T15:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.celinaschou.no\/oceanescapades\/?p=225"},"modified":"2017-04-12T21:47:41","modified_gmt":"2017-04-12T20:47:41","slug":"devils-island","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.celinaschou.no\/oceanescapades\/devils-island\/","title":{"rendered":"Devils Island"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00celes du Salut has a long, troubled and famous history. Located off the coast of French Guiana, the island group is most famous for hosting one of the most notorious French penal colonies from 1852 until 1953. The \u00celes du Salut consist of 3 islands, \u00cele Royale which\u00a0was the administrative island with a chapel, a light house, a hospital and the housing for the guards. \u00cele St. Joseph was the home of the somewhat more dangerous prisoners. The most famous of the islands, Devil\u2019s Island, held the most dangerous prisoners and also had the worst living conditions.<\/p>\n

\"Warning

Warning signs are frequent around the island<\/p><\/div>\n

Many inmates tried to escape the prison on Devil\u2019s Island but very few succeeded. The most famous escape attempt was chronicled by Henri Charri\u00e8re in his bestselling book Papillon. This book describes Charri\u00e8res time on the island as well as several escape attempts until he actually managed to escape on a sack of coconuts. He made it to Venezuela where he became a free man. While this was written as an autobiography, there has been a lot of controversy around this. Most historians agree that while what is written in the book did happen, it did not happen to Charri\u00e8re, rather, they were stories he had been told.<\/p>\n

\"Strong

Strong currents and shark infested waters made it difficult to escape<\/p><\/div>\n

These days, French Guyana is owned by the French space agency, Centre National d’\u00c9tudes Spatiales (CNES). While they do research and launch space rockets and satellites from the capital Cayenne, the \u00celes du Salut are\u00a0left for the tourists. A lot of the buildings still stand, especially on \u00cele Royale which is where I went ashore to explore.<\/p>\n

\"Sign

Sign from the French space agency<\/p><\/div>\n

Due to the notorious currents surrounding the islands, the swells to get into the tender were pretty big. Luckily for us, we have an amazing crew and they safely helped everyone into the tender. Ashore we were met with intense heat, a jungle and a turtle swimming in the water. For what used to be a prison it was very picturesque.<\/p>\n

\"Port

Port area<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Prison

Prison Guard house<\/p><\/div>\n

Our First stop was along the edge of the island where we saw some of the houses the prison guards and their families used to live in. We could also see Devil\u2019s Island a short distance off \u00cele Royale. We could even spot the house that was the home of Alfred Dreyfus, a French artillery officer sentenced to life on the island for treason \u2013 a conviction he was later found innocent of.<\/p>\n

\"Devil\u2019s

Devil\u2019s Island with the house Alfred Dreyfus called home<\/p><\/div>\n

Continuing up a hill we came to the main \u201ccenter\u201d of the island. We saw even more houses that used to host the prison guards. Today one of them even acts as a hotel. Next to these houses you have the old solitary confinement cells. While one of the buildings is mostly in ruins, the other one is mostly intact \u2013 except for the doors and furniture that is. Walking inside you could almost get a feel for how bad the conditions must have been. While the fact that you are inside shields a bit from the heat and sunshine, it is still extremely hot, the cells are tiny and there is no light except for a tiny window over the door.<\/p>\n

\"Entrance

Entrance to the solitary confinement cells<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Not

Not much space or light<\/p><\/div>\n

Next up was my favorite part of the island, a massive square with a hospital and a light house on one side and a big satellite and helipad on the other side. The hospital was not used by the prisoners, but rather by the guards and their families. It is a massive building, and with the equally massive light house right next to it, it makes for an impressive sight. Unfortunately we were not allowed to go into either buildings. I do not know the history behind the helipad, nor the big satellite, but I am guessing this has something to do with the rockets being launched from neighbouring Cayenne.<\/p>\n

\"Hospital

Hospital and light house<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Traces

Traces of more modern times<\/p><\/div>\n

At this point we were done with the ruins, and decided to go look for monkeys. Or rather, we thought we were done with ruins. On the way we passed by the graveyard and a building that used to hold the petrol tank for the cable car that used to exist between Devil\u2019s Island and \u00cele Royale. Following the road through the jungle we finally saw a monkey, then another one and another one. One was sitting nicely on a branch just waiting for his photo opportunity.<\/p>\n

\"Petrol

Petrol tank<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Modern

Modern day petrol storage<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Monkey!!!\"

Monkey!!!<\/p><\/div>\n

Back at the pier it was time for a sticky and bumpy tender ride back to the ship.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00celes du Salut has a long, troubled and famous history. Located off the coast of French Guiana, the island group is most famous for hosting one of the most notorious French penal colonies from 1852 until 1953. The \u00celes du Salut consist of 3 islands, \u00cele Royale which\u00a0was the administrative island with a chapel, a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-south-america"],"yoast_head":"\nDevils Island - CC's Ocean Escapades<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.celinaschou.no\/oceanescapades\/devils-island\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Devils Island - CC's Ocean Escapades\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u00celes du Salut has a long, troubled and famous history. 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