Devil's Island, French Guiana

We anchored off of Devil’s Island and were happy to hear that we could tender in even though the seas were fairly rough.
Devil’s Island is an infamous French penal colony that was well-known for the horrific conditions in which prisoners were kept, in many cases for quite minor infractions.
The story (movie and book) Papillon tells a very graphic story of a prisoner who spent time on Devil’s Island and eventually escaped. 72,000 prisoners were imprisoned here over the years and almost all died here, their bodies being cast into the sea.
We visited on an overcast and windy day - the island had a very ominous feel to it. It is very green and jungle-like with agutis (small animals that look like a cross between a large rat and a squirrel, but stand on long skinny legs) and monkeys everywhere. The prison was actually in operation until the 1950’s before word got out about how bad the conditions were and it was eventually abandoned.
Devil’s Island is an archipelago of 3 small islands surrounded by very rough, shark-infested waters. This is what made escape from the island virtually impossible.
The first photo is Jeff as "Papillon".
The second photo is an aguti.
The third photo is a local monkey.Read more