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Firefly - Cruising French Guyana - Iles du Salut



We were disappointed that our planned stop to the Brazilian islands of Fernando du Naronha had to be abandoned due to the predicted wave height at the anchorage but our next stops along the coast and up a river of French Guyana has made up for it.

11 days after leaving Salvador, at 1000 on February 25th 2017, we dropped anchor at Isles du Salut (salvation) comprising Isle Royale, Isle St. Joseph and Isle Diable (Devil's Island). The group is famous (or infamous) as a French penal colony introduced by Napoleon and active for around 100 years from the 1850's until 1953. We anchored South of Isle Royale the largest of the group sheltered from the NE Trade winds and the strong current running up the coast (sometimes over 3 knots). There were three other yachts one from France and two from Austria who had recently arrived from Cape Verdes and Brazil.

A number of catamarans bringing day trippers from Kourou on the mainland 12 miles away also used the anchorage. There were good paths and scenic walks around Royale and St. Joseph amongst palm trees and even monkeys! Many of the prison buildings remain and some on Royale have been converted to a hotel and restaurant, something we did not expect to find.

Royale was the main prison island, St Joseph where there is now a small military base was for solitary confinement and Devil's island was for political prisoners. The latter more isolated island is remembered for the 4 year 'unfair' incarceration of Dreyfus. There is a small museum on Isle Royal with good interpretation boards in French and English this gave us a good insight into the history, life and hardships experienced. We could walk into the dilapidated cell blocks, many with their roofs gone. In fact some cells never had roofs and you could still see where prisoners were shackled.

Predictably our first stop after anchoring was the restaurant for French beer and delicious French/Creole cuisine, it was so good we came back the next day to celebrate Peter's birthday.

Paul, Peter and Gerard

On 26th February 2017, after two days and one night at the rolly anchorage south of Iles Royale, one of the Iles du Salut, we headed North approximately 100NM to the Maroni River. Our destination was St Laurent Du Maroni, a town on the boarder with Suriname some 25 miles up river. St Laurint is now a town with a population of 40,000. It was historically a prisoner reception port for the French penal colonies within French Guyana, where all prisoners including Dreyfus came first after their voyage from France.

Our little detour up the river was suggested by Tim and Magda from fellow WARC yacht Bellafonte who had been in email contact with Davide Matelicani. Davide is the driving force behind the marina at St Laurent - he gave us good instructions. We timed our arrival at the safe water mark in the mouth of the river for dawn and a rising tide. We proceeded up stream to navigating through the various sand/ mud banks, the lowest depth we saw was about 2 metres below our keel.

About half way we anchored as suggested by Davide for brunch (delicious all day breakfast cooked by Paul) at the Creek Coswine and waited for the next tide to take us up to the marina. It had rained all morning - what did we expect in a rain forest in the Amazon basin? The rain cleared by lunch time and our trip and the scenery up through the mangroves and jungle on both the French Guyana and Suriname side of the river was very interesting, the channel being well marked with lateral buoys.

Davide was there to meet us at the marina's mooring field. The marina is work in progress, there are no pontoons yet; these are planned for next year but our mooring was close to the dock and sheltered by the wreck of a prison ship the Edith Cavel which has now curiously sprouted trees and looks like a forested island. Formal entry procedures were made very easy by Davide and included a welcome drink and a familiarisation tour around the town (in his car) even dropping us off at a good Creole Restaurant for supper.

Since its closure as a prison town St Laurent de Maroni has become a major crossing point into the country from Suriname, there was civil war across the border in the 1990's and now a large proportion of the town's residents are refugees from the war and even now many try to cross illegally to enjoy the benefits of the European Union!

The historic buildings from the prison era remain including impressive, officer's residences, a church, and hotel de ville. The town has now expanded out on a formal grid plan with wide streets. We were there at carnival but the celebrations were rather tame compared to those we missed in Brazil.

So after two days we are now heading down the river and back to sea, speeding down with the current at 9 knots. Many thanks to Davide and the marina for such brilliant hospitality - we wish him the best of luck with his future plans. If anyone is interested in a similar trip look at www.marinaslm.com and the new RCC Cruising Guide for Suriname and French Guyana.

Paul, Gerard and Peter

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