20260120 Tuesday Isle Royale, French Guinea 0900 - 1800
Ile Royale is the closest island to Ile du Diable (aka Devil's Island), it being only 60m across a very narrow but extremely treacherous piece of water. It is not possible to visit Devil's Island unfortunately. However, Ile Royale was the administrative island and home to the penal colony's lower risk prisoners and guards. On a sunny day it is a beautiful tropical paradise and it is hard to imagine it being such a desperate place in the days when the three islands were a French prison.
Wiki for Devil's Island or the Salvations or Salut
We're the only ship visiting this week. There are no ship's tours.
We'll see what the weather is like before going ashore. It's a historic place, if gruesome. But there are monkeys and capybara running about, which might be amusing. We'll hike around and take pictures.
A consideration is that we have leftover Euros, the local currency. Perhaps we can purchase something in the small shop in the center of the island..
Picture below is of Ile Royale, the administrative center (also (R)); Devil's Island is off-picture to the upper right, St Joseph's off-picture to the lower right. The walking distance from Port to the other end is three-fifths of a mile.
At 0800 the ship is in 5*45' N, 52*57' W on course 122* at 14 knots. The bad part is the wind at 37 mph (7 Beaufort scale) from the Northeast. The islands are not yet in sight.
Waves are four to five feet. The ship is rolling a few degrees despite the stabilizers. O would not put a tender over the side here; but perhaps in the lee of the island it might be more settled.
While waiting for word on going ashore we went to the Excursions desk to cancel our jungle walk in Belem. Unfortunately, the numbers have been sent ashore so we have paid for something we won't use. If another couple wants to take our place, they get our tickets, but …. The temperature in Belem is forecast to be around 100*, so we don't know what to do at this point.
Later: the tenders are operating to the island, with great caution. D decided not to go ashore, but O headed off anyway, on the 1000 tender. In transit, a shower came along and got everyone wet as we climbed onto the pier. O set off along the well defined road past the "magazin" and up the path to the first building, the one that overlooks the bay - it's the Commandante's house. Then due west up a cobblestone road no longer used, overgrown and partially blocked by fallen trees to the first building, a long hard climb.
Photo Link
Continuing west, O came to the chapel and took more pictures (see the Photo Link). More westerly, he came to the hospital and the lighthouse. Just across from the lighthouse is the pad for helicopter use. O walked onto the pad then tuned east through the open square of the penitentiary (where the "good" prisoners who served and worked on this sland lived). Continuing east down the "street" between the staff houses, he came to a large depression that was used as a cistern.
He went around the cistern to the building that turned out to be the hotel (R) and beverage counter, with a small room of tee-shirts, etc. all in French. The open-air dining center is the angled building above (north) of the hotel. O bought a terribly gaudy tee-shirt for D and some trivial things.
Then past and south down terrible wet, slick, rocky steps to the Commandante's place, and downhill from there to the pier. He waited there and caught the next tender, getting back to the ship totally worn to a frazzle, at 1230.
The only buildings in use appear to be the hotel, dining place and one other that holds the Poste, Gandarmaie, and communications. O's phone says he walked 2.5 miles on the island, no accounting for altitude changing.
After explaining the trip to D,, we started worrying laundry. We filled a bag to submit to on-board laundry and filled another bag to take to the self-serve machines. O did that and started the machine. Then we went to the Patio for lunch, thoroughly enjoyed.
Down to the laundry to put it into the dryer and on to the cabin to do these notes. Forty minutes later, off to get the dried clothing and return to the room. O feels like the proverbial "rented mule".
But, continuing, off to Trivia!! At the Living Room we pulled up four chairs together. After a bit, Laura and Beth joined us. Lots of talk and some giggling. In General we knew 17 of 20, quite good. In "Whitney Houston song titles" we only got 8, all Laura's. But it was fun chatting with the young ladies.
Then we got a call that the Excursion people have sold our tickets in Belem. Good.
Later, O took aspirin. Then dinner in the Patio, and back to rest.
20260121 Wednesday At Sea
O woke up feeling better than he anticipated. No stiffness beyond the normal. The exercise was good, but the mountain goat on slick steps part can be done without.
We decided to loaf, since there's nothing on the agenda until noon. We ordered Continental Breakfasts and coffee in the cabin. It was delivered in good time and devoured. Now we can do and did some serious loafing.
We got up to do Progressive Trivia with the ladies and another couple (from Toronto). Did quite well for a change; Beth could spell out what DNA stand for.
For lunch, we decided to walk through Windows to get to the Patio. But we saw small things in Windows that would do, so we ate there. The adjacent table had our Toronto couple and a table in the next row had our Ottawa friends. Then back to the cabin, where we found Satej had done something with O's sneakers that made them slightly drier - perhaps in a day or two they'll again be wearable.
Trivia was fun but not great; 11 vs 16 in general, 9 vs 15 in 50's music, where we could remember all the songs but not the titles. Walked back via the walking track and got buffeted by the wind. Nice warm day, though. See photo at (L).
