Sunday, March 4 to Tuesday, March 6

Sunday we sailed down the Amazon all day, only slowing down to let the pilots off at Marapa. About the middle of the evening we crossed the bar into the Atlantic again. The Indonesian Crew Show was that evening. Our assistant dining room steward, Fausta, was the master of ceremonies and did a fine job of that and of a ballad. Our dining room steward, Indra, was also in the show. It was one of the very best crew shows I’ve ever seen.

Monday was rainy and bouncy...a perfect day to do not much but read.

Today, Tuesday, we are at Devil’s Island, French Guyana. Actually, there are three islands called Iles du Salut (Iles of Salvation). The main prison facility is on Ile Royale which is the only one we can visit. The other two, Ile St. Joseph (where they kept the prisoners in solitary) and Devil’s Island itself (where they kept political prisoners like Dreyfus) are smaller and virtually inaccessible due to extremely treacherous currents through very narrow channels (650 yards in one case) between the islands. The prison was phased out between 1938 and 1947 and virtually all that’s left are ruins and a small hotel that occupies what used to be the wardens’ mess hall. Having seen enough of prisons in recent years, and the fact that we are going ashore in tenders and there’s nothing to do there but walk around, I am not going ashore today. In fact, the weather is so hazy and humid that the islands look like small palm-covered lumps, so even a photo isn’t very interesting. After lunch we head out for St. Lucia.