Back to the Grenadines, and on to Bonaire - Family Time!

We left the Salvation Islands, French Guyana mid October and headed back to Tobago, just over 600Nm, but with the wind this time - conditions were good, and 5 days later we arrived in Charlottsville.  The bay in Charlottsville is more unspoilt than Store Bay in the south where we'd been at the start of Nereid's Rally so it was good to get a view of more of the island - the snorkelling and scuba diving in the north is certainly excellent.

We then headed back to Grenada - great excitement, out daughter Clare and Jamie were coming to spend a couple of weeks with us.  

Clare earning her keep as a sail trimmer.

We retraced our steps with them back up to Bequia, stopping at Carriacou and Sandy Island where we have d possibly the best snorkelling to date - the area is a National Marine Park and there is a small shallow coral reef which is literally teeming with fish.

Sandy Island, above the water - there's nothing there apart from a few palm trees and piles of coral.  We used a Park mooring buoy and spent a very peaceful night there.

Carriacou - the rocks are called The Sisters, we did a couple of dives there - the Dive Centre owner joked that he'd give us a refund if we didn't see 200 types of fish, he must have won the bet in the first 10 minutes!

Underwater, Carriacou with Clare and Jamie.

We then headed on to Union Island, not a place we'd enjoyed previously but a place we needed to check into in order to clear customs.  It had not improved!  We had arranged to meet up with Steve and Lynne from Aztec Dream - Lynne's brother Phil was also visiting and we had planned to celebrate his 50th in Tobago Cays but the forecast was not suitable.  Instead we headed on to Bequia  - not a great distance, but certainly one of the most unpleasant beats into a 30kt headwind we've experienced for a long time!

Bequia was as lovely as ever, and we had great birthday evening with Phil, Steve and Lynne at the Plantation Restaurant in Admiralty Bay.  Bequia was also where we had learnt to SCUBA at the begining of the year, so we felt the need to revisit old haunts with Clare and Jamie.

Our next destination was Tobago Cays - by now we were worrying that we had 'oversold' the charms of the Cays, but fortunately it lived up to expectation.  

Clare and one of the many Tobago Cays turtles

Feeding bread to Trunkfish 

Don't be fooled by their cuteness - they bite! as Jamie found out ... no medical assistance required, it was rather more of a surprise than an injury.

Tobago Cays - a lovely Caribbean paradise.

Having failed to get here for Phil's birthday, we decided to have the traditional lobster BBQ anyway.

Lobster BBQ with Aztec Dream and the birthday boy.

Back to the boats by water taxi - certainly not the sort of journey we'd like to undertake in the portabote in pitch dark!

Two weeks with Clare and Jamie passed in a flash, and it was time for us to head back to Grenada, this time to Port Louis Marina where we were leaving Nautilus for two weeks to fly back to the UK for a very brief visit.  It actually rained less in the UK than it had been in the Caribbean and once we'd found some appropriate UK winter clothing the temperature change was not an issue.

It was lovely to catch up with family and friends in the UK, but again the two weeks passed incredibly quickly and it was time to head back to the airport, back to the boat and straight to Bonaire where our other daughter Leonie and Greg were due to join us. They live in New Zealand and we'd not seen Leonie for two years so we were really looking forward to spending time with them and geting to know Greg.

When we arranged to meet Leonie and Greg in Bonaire we actually knew very little about the island - but we now know Bonaire really is just a rock surrounded by SCUBA sites.  The coastline is surrounded by a Marine Park, anchoring is prohibited in order to preserve the coral, there are plenty of buoys available for a $10 fee per night and the fee includes the use of any of the 100 dive site moorings around the island.

The Marine Park guide map of Bonaire - showing the dive sites along the western coast.

Our mooring - right on the edge of the reef, a stunning locatio, and right next to a bar that just happened to have Mojito's.

Celebrating their arrival with a welcome Mojito

Even the almost daily appearance of Cruise Ships didn't spoil the view.

We hired a car for a couple of days to look round the island

One of the relatively few beaches at a site called '1000 Steps' - there are only about 30, but it feels like 1000 on your way back up with your SCUBA kit on your back!

Gotomeer - a saltwater lagoon on the edge of the Washington Slagbaai National Park

One of the many flamingos in the saltwater lagoon.

Inside the National Park on the North coast of Bonaire - the Seru Grandi, a rock terrace apparently about 1 million years old caused by the rise and fall of sea level.  A very barren area.

The Seru Grandi, looking North - just as desolate!

Boka Kokolishi, one of the very few sandy bays on the North coast - just don't swim too far out!

North Coast - you would not want to be anywhere near this area in a yacht.

Heading on through the park to the North West coat the landscape became greener, and there were spectacular cacti trees.

It looked like something out of the wild west.

Our drive to the South of the island took us to the vast Solar Salt Works - a huge area of shallow salt water pans and absolutely huge piles of crisp white salt ready for loading onto ships when the price is right.

The Solar Salt Works

One of the salt pans - the pink colour is algae in the water, which is apparently also the reason for all the froth being blown across the water.

Flamingoes hunting for shrimp in the salt pans.

The White Slave Huts

The salt works were originally manned by slaves - these huts used to house about 10 slaves, they stayed here during the working season, and then walked the 13 or so miles back to the town of Rincon where they lived with their families.  

The Orange Slave Huts - the colour denotes the quality of the salt produced at that particular location, and white, orange, red and blue obelisks (the colours of the Dutch flag) were constructed to guide ships to the particular salt they had contracted to buy.

Like much of Bonaire's coast, this area is very exposed and extremely unforgiving.  The collection of salt must have been a risky business back in the early days.  It's certainly easier now - there is a huge pier extending out to sea for the modern salt cargo ship!

The southern tip of Bonaire is very low lying, you almost hear the waves breaking before you see the land so the Willamstoren Lighthouse certainly must have saved a few sailors in its time!

Naturally having come to the Diving Mecca of the Caribbean, we spent a lot of time underwater.  The coral reefs are fantastic.

Leonie and Greg join us under water.

Some of the corals you can see.

A blue spot Cornetfish surrounded by Blue Tang.

It's like an underwater garden.

A Peacock Flounder and a Puffer fish.

Right under the yacht, an octopus out for a stroll!

We now have to go to Curacao to drop Leonie and Greg off for their flights, but we plan to return very soon, not only to do some more diving, but to see some more of the magnificent Iguanas that can be seen on much of the island.

Who needs to visit the Galápagos Islands when they've been to Bonaire!

The Papillon Trail - the Transportation Camp of St Laurent and Isles du Salut

The home of the Nereids' Rally is St Laurent du Maroni, 20 miles up the Maroni River in French Guyana - and St Laurent was also the home for 70,000 prisoners, shipped from France every two years over a period of almost 100 years.  The penal system reached notoriety by the book Papillon later made into a film starring Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. The prison was finally shut down after the Second World War in 1946.

The remnants of the old dock where the prisoners would have been put ashore after a long sail from France.  

The Gates to the Transportation Centre - the new arrivals were stripped, washed, issued with uniforms and sorted into categories.

The accommodation blocks for prisoners who were not being subjected to additional punishment.  After the prison closed these blocks were purchased by a local businessman for housing, and finally bought by the Town of St Laurent in 1992.  This area was not open to the public.

Many prisoners were sent this way, for punishment.

Convicts awaiting a further hearing for misdemeanours were locked in one of 4 identical Blockhouses at night, up to 60 men in these blocks, sleeping on the concrete.  Additional punishment involved being shackled by the ankle to the steel bar for up to 22 hours a day.

Once the disciplinary hearing had taken place, prisoners were frequently sentenced to long periods of solitary confinement in very small cells.

Solitary confinement cells - one section of 12 cells was reserved for those awaiting the death sentence.  The guillotine was conveniently located just in front of the cells.

A single cell, complete with ankle shackle - prisoners sometimes spent years in these cells.

Cell 47.  Papillon spent two years in here after his first escape attempt.

Papillon's first escape attempt involved a trip up stream to Leper's Island.  In the days before a cure was found, Leper's were sent to live out their lives away from the uninflected population - the Lepers provided Papillon with a good boat and greatly helped him on his way.  

Leper's Island, a couple of miles upstream from St Laurent.  All that remains now are some stone bases, the recently added roofs make the perfect support for a hammock and a pic-nic. Amazingly, Papillon made it all the way to Trinidad, a good 500 miles, before he made landfall.

Papillon himself spent 11 months on the run, much of the time with an Indiginous Indian tribe on the Venezuelan / Columbian border before deciding to go back to civilisation for revenge.  Unfortunately for him, he was caught again and transported to the Isles du Salut - also known as Devil's Islands, where escape was considered extremely difficult.

We followed the trail to the Islands.

Sunrise, leaving the Maroni.

Once we had left the river, the wind and current were against us - it was a hard sail, the 100 miles took us almost two days.  We set off with another Rally yacht, Atla - they were boarded by customs and searched for two hours off the French Guyana coast.

The Douane  - French Customs boat came and had a close look at us but presumably had their hands full with Atla so left us to continue in peace.

Arriving at the Isles du Salut, also called the Devil's Islands.  Finally released by the Customs, Atla is the other yacht in the anchorage.

The view from Isle Royale.  The mainland is 15 km in the distance.

The first island we visited was Isle Royale, the largest of the islands at 0.16 sq miles (100 acres) it housed about 1000 'common law' or petty criminals and the Administration Officers.

Situated next to the light house, the Hospital dominates the top of the island.

The Hospital

It is no longer safe to go into the building.

But with its own Ice Maker outside the door it clearly was a well appointed facility in its day!

There is a large church on the island, and also the remains of a Nunery - the Nuns did not agree with the harsh treatment of the prisons and the ongoing conflict caused them to leave after a fairly short stay on the island.

Reclaimed by nature - the original 1850's Nun's accommodation block.

This was the reservoir - there were also some wells on the island.

And of course some solitary confinement cells.

Solitary cells - there was no thought of correction or education in those days, just punishment.

Interestingly you can now stay on the island in little chalets - the prison island has become a little haven for those seeking a very quiet holiday.

Devil's Island is the smallest of the three, and was used to house approximately 100 political prisoners who were kept. You are not able to visit the island, when it was in Prison a cable was used to transport provisions and possibly guards - when the sea was calm, small boats were used to row prisoners across the gap.

The third island in the group is St Joseph. Smaller than Royale at a mere 0.05 sq miles (35 acres) it held escapers and troublemakers. Not surprisingly there were lots of cells for solitary confinement, and Papillon spent 18 months of an 8 year sentence in one such cell when recaptured after his earlier escape.

The Cells - the roof has long since collapsed, as has the walkway over the cells used by the guards - an alternative take on the punishment here was that it was a place of incessant supervision and complete silence - no speaking at all. Even the guards didn't wear shoes in order to maintain the oppressive silence.

A single cell - the ceiling is steel bars, the guards were overhead and looked down on the prisoners below.  They were allowed out for a walk in another larger cell for one hour per day.

Again, the jungle is doing a very good job of hiding the evidence!

One of the three main accommodation blocks, prisoners slept in rows of hammocks here.

A few ceiling beams remain, but the building is falling into ruins now.

Many many prisoners died on the islands and they were simply thrown in the sea between Royale and St Joseph's islands at 6pm - at that time this sustained a very large and healthy shark population.  Further discouraging the prisoners from trying to escape by sea!

Wardens and other prison employees were buried in this cemetery - interestingly only the graves of clergymen are still intact - the rest look very much as if they have been vandalised.

Despite their history, they are beautiful islands - with lots of wildlife.

The peacock that joined us for lunch.

Lots of little monkeys.

And this is an Agouti - looks like a cross between a Guinea pig and a kangaroo!

We could have spent longer on the islands, and unfortunately we didn't have time to visit the mainland towns of Kourou and Cayenne.  We had planned to visit by road earlier to see the rocket launch, but unfortunately they only go once a month, and the bus drivers were on strike that day!  We did see the rocket from St Laurent - even from 70 km away it was pretty impressive.

The Ariane Rocket launch - 70 km away!

So finally, our route with the Nereids Rally - about 45 tacks down to the Islands, and none on the way back to Tobago!

So it's back to Grenada now, we've got visitors!  Clare and Jamie are joining us for a couple of weeks in the Grenadines.