Around South America – Report #19 - Devil’s Island, St.Lucia, St.Maarten – ‘On The Home Stretch’ Devil’s Island, French Guiana

Tues 6 Mar – So far, our ship having travelled more than 16 thousand nautical miles, our only port-of-call on this entire cruise requiring Yellow Fever Vaccination, Devil’s Island , is WAY more interesting than we anticipated. Cast your mind back, way back, to a movie classic staring Steve

McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, called “Papillion ” (in English = butterfly – a tattoo on his chest). It is the story of French convicts sentenced to Devil’s Island prison, 9 years overcoming extreme odds to survive. If you recall the setting of that movie you can visualize the horrors that transpired here. Light-less cells, are 6X9 feet, barely enough room for a rudimentary bed (see below). Operated until 1946, in this prison few prisoners survive mis-treatment and tropical diseases. Today, the island is populated by many tortured ghosts – as well as patrons of the sole commercial enterprise, a hotel. No doubt, on dark and stormy nights hotel guests can feel the presence of that woeful army of restless ghosts. During our time here, walking this island we’re in a cathedral, gentle light

filtering through a tree canopy, populated

by small, sweet, monkeys – of several species – to greet us.

Only a few miles west, on the French Guiana mainland, is the European Space Agency launch site, Kourou (see map). Being so close to the Equator,

from many nations gigantic rockets launched eastward get a speed benefit from Earth’s rotation. Their trajectory passes directly over-top Devil’s Island – for each launch the island is evacuated (except for the monkeys) �. Rocket monitors still present – a major launch just preceded our arrival!

Castries, St. Lucia – Thurs 8 Mar First off the ship, with cruise buddies we find an ‘independent’ zip line operator – 12 zip lines through dense jungle canopy – apparently voted ‘best on island’ – half the ship’s price. Longer than we expect, we enjoy a ¾ hour scenic drive diagonally across this mountainous island to the far side. Frightened but summoning all of her courage, Kerrell’s trepidations evaporate after the the first exciting zip. The ‘thumbs-up’ consensus of our entire group (below right) is we all had a wonderful time ‘jungle zipping’! Returning we learn about locally grown bananas, and, chocolate (white-coated beans centre below).

Philipsburg, St. Maarten – Fri 9 Mar Sadly, our final port-of-call on this grand voyage during which we have been blessed with great weather while ashore. And once again we arrive at this idyllic Caribbean Island in perfect sunshine and balmy temperatures. We are greeted by an exuberant class of sweet young school students as they pass by, enroute to a class outing. Having recently visited this bipartite island (Dutch

on one side; French on the other), for the morning Bob and Kerrell elect to go separate ways – Kerrell shopping and Bob on a long scenic hike to the ruins of Fort Amsterdam overlooking Philipsburg’s “Great

Bay” of crystal blue water (centre above). In our experience, the people living in this tidy/clean tropical paradise are universally friendly, always greeting us with a big warm smile and willingness to pleasantly chat. A great place for shoppers – it’s duty free!

Our final stop, after 68 days of adventure, we return to Ft Lauderdale, Florida – Mon 12 Mar Yes, during this cruise we have heard recent news stories about tragedies on other cruises: the capsized ship in Italy; the bus robbed in Mexico; and, the engine failure in pirate-infested waters off east Africa. But throughout, we LOVED this cruise. We feel safe. We feel privileged and excited to see parts of the world new to us. Being among the ship’s most exuberant travelers, for us every port-of-call has been an adventure. We are sorry to see the end approaching!

Believing true wealth is measured not in terms of one’s bank account size, but instead, by the quality of one’s friends, we feel enriched on this cruise meeting many wonderful people: fellow passengers; ship’s staff; and, residents in our ports-of call!

To us it feels ‘greedy’ to keep the privilege - and pleasure – of our travel adventures all to ourselves. We hope we have not been TOO much of a burden sharing this South American travel adventure with you.

“We have not yet been everywhere, but, it’s on our list!” (adapted from a Susan Sontag quote). While anticipating our next travel adventure, to where-ever that may be, for now we are missing family back home and are thrilled to soon be seeing them.

Suggestion: In any of our travel reports, if you wish, pictures can be viewed larger by selecting ‘Zoom’ under your ‘View’ menu. We hope eventually to have them all posted on our blog site at the link below.

‘Till next we have the pleasure of seeing you, much love to all, Bob & Kerrell http://lincolnshome.wordpress.com/

“A cloudy day is no match for a sunny disposition.”