Chasing Summer –

French Guiana’s Prison Islands

March 27

Not too far off the coast of French Guiana lie three small islands. These islands can be walked around in about an hour and were home to France’s worst criminals. England had Austrailia, Argentina had Ushuia, and France had Devil’s Island.

Devil’s Island – History and Facts | History Hit

Insula Royale is on the left, and Pisons ile Saint-Joseph is on the right. Devil’s Island is behind Insula Royale.

The prisons ran up until the 1950s, and very few inmates ever made it out. Prisoner-on-prisoner violence, disease, and the shark-infested waters surrounding the islands made for a brutal and short life expectancy for the prisoners.

The shark sightings have become increasingly rare. I’ll leave it up to your imagination as to why.

Now, the jungle is reclaiming the land and buildings, but it remains a tourist hotspot for the region. Our ship decided to make a day of it, anchored off the shores and local tendering onto the islands.

All three from the other side: Prisons ile Saint-Joseph, Insula Royale, and Devil’s Island.

Unfortunately for us, the weather in this region has been less than ideal, and the tender boats couldn’t safely dock on our side. So I’m not sure if our visit really counts. We were in the territorial waters and had immigration clear our passports, so I’m going to count this as country 119 anyway.

The immigration boat where the officers leapt aboard.

We arrived to cloudy and humid skies early in the morning and remained anchored while attempting to get us ashore for 3 hours before throwing in the towel to rain.

So close and yet so far.
Phare de L’ile Royale
Royal Island Chapel

Many of us ran from side to side as two different boats attempted to line up with our 2nd level doors with too wide of a gap for most passengers to safely traverse. I say a few of us could have jumped it.

Ist tender was a catamaran- too small and bobbing too much in the water
Tender #2 was larger and more stable but still too far to step for most of the residents.

Shortly after lunch, our ship lifted anchor and made our way around the islands to the open waters for 4 more sea days to return to the Caribbean. Sigh.

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