Thursday – Iles du Salut – Devil’s Island
Today, we arrived in Iles Du Salut. Having watched the film ‘Papillon’ in the Marco Polo Lounge again the previous night, we were looking forward to what has been a highlight of the trip in the last two years. Iles du Salut actually consists of 3 islands; St Joseph, Ile du Royale and Ile du Diablo (Devil’s Island). Getting to the island (Ile di Royale) is always a bit of a gamble; partly because the islands are used for tracking of launches from the Space Centre based on the the mainland, but mostly because the currents around the island are so troublesome. Today was no exception; a high swell meant that getting passengers in and out of tender boats was a difficult and protracted process. We were only due to be here until 2pm; in reality, because some people didn’t even get onto the island until gone 2pm, we didn’t leave until almost 5pm.
Iles du Salut is a fantastic, and totally charming place. Despite its awful history as a penal colony, the island is actually bursting with life. We saw Palm rats, monkeys, turtles, parrots and more…. the highlight of the day, for Tracey and I, was capturing a humming bird on film and in photographs – a very rare occurrence indeed; usually they are so fleeting, and so small, that spotting them is difficult, never mind trying to photograph them – on this occasion, we had one performing right before our very eyes… excellent!!!
Short and sweet was our visit; once again, Iles du Salut did not disappoint, and we were grateful to have even had the chance to get there, once again. Getting everyone back on board ship was difficult; the swell, if anything, had increased, and at one point, even the Marco Polo ran aground on a sand bank. Constantly changing its position was the order of the day, and some tender boats were stood, bobbing about for almost an hour, waiting to board the ship. Sat in a tender as it crashes and crunches against the boarding platform is a disconcerting experience; it was taking three or four attempts for each tender, and the small boats were really taking a battering…
Still… All safely aboard…. and we’re off, heading towards the Caribbean.
Unfortunately, there is one little piece of bad news…
All Art and Craft sessions have been suspended, until the current health risk subsides… we don’t know exactly when that will be….
