January 6 and 7

Tuesday, Jan 6. Bridgetown, Barbados.
We were here two or three years ago and Alan had recollections of a tour which included St. John's church. The only thing I am sure of is that I didn't do the tour and once I saw it, remember the terminal at the pier and the steel drum band playing for the tourists.
Holland America ran shuttle buses from the pier to the terminal, a distance of probably 1/4 to 1/2 mile, but hot and windy and rough walking. The terminal contained the usual duty free shops of jewelry and cosmetics, a few shops of brightly colored clothing, liquor stores aplenty and shops selling rum cakes.
A quick $2 per person cab ride and we were uptown. the shopping center of Bridgetown
was somewhat run-down with expensive jewelry shops next to stores selling fresh fruit and vegetables. We spent a considerable amount of time looking for tonic water for Alan's in cabin evening gin and tonics. For a British island tonic water was in short supply and when we finally found it, Alan bought all they had ----14 16.9 oz bottles.
We were back on the ship in time for a late lunch and a restful afternoon.
The evening entertainment was a singer/comedian who worked Las Vegas in the days of the Rat Pack and the movie, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Alan tried them both and I read my book.

Wednesday, Jan 7 At Sea
And a somewhat rough sea it is. Not too bad but I did end up skipping the afternoon lecturer, getting a sea sickness pill from the medical center and resting in the cabin for a couple of hours.
Today was packed full of activities with Kate Ross speaking on the Amazon, the Amazon Basin and the rain forest in the morning. A quick cup of coffee and it was time for Maureen, the shore excursion director to talk on upcoming ports and excursions. I spent some time talking to Henk and Lucia Barnhoorn, our Cruise Specialists, Inc., Onboard hosts.
The afternoon speakers were Palmer Acheson with “Introduction to the Languages of our Grand Voyage and plus another talk by Frank Buckingham, the Port Lecturer.
The travel agency we used for this cruise (with apologies to Amy, our wonderful Falmouth travel agent) is an outfit out of Seattle which specializes in long cruises, particularly on Holland America. They have one or two escorts travel along with their clients. Henk and Lucia have "office hours" each sea day for questions, comments and the like. They are also very visible during the day and evening. We will be taking several shore excursions with them, at a much better price than the Holland America tours. So far we’ve had a Cruise Specialist morning get together, a cocktail party and received windbreakers and travel bags.
Gifts from Holland America (which I will now type as HAL) have included journals and travel bags.
Tonight will be our first look at the Prinsendam Singers and Dancers. It might be interesting how they modify their dance numbers as the ship is a bit rocky. Not to mention that the theater is about as far forward as you can get. the movie is Get Smart. In our opinion, HAL missed an opportunity to show Papillon.
For anyone tracking the cruise on a chart our 6:07 pm position was
08° 02.34 N
54° 54.36 W
Our heading was 134
Water temp 80.6F Air temp 78.8F
Our speed 19 knots and the seas 5-6 feet (I don’t believe that one)

Tomorrow --Devil’s Island. A little history.
Devil’s Island is one of three small rocky islands off the coast of French Guiana. Anyone who knows of the French Captain Dreyfus or the book and movie Papillon knows that Devil’s Island was a French penal colony with horrific conditions. The largest and main island, Isle Royale, is about 45 acres and can be walked in about an hour or so. Ile Ste Joseph is the third island.
Before becoming a penal colony in the early 1850s, the islands were known as Iles de Salut, (the Salvation Islands) as the sea breezes kept mosquitoes away and people from French Guiana spent summers on the islands escaping the mosquitoes and malaria.
The most notorious of the three islands, Devil’s Island or Rocky Ile du Diable is almost completely inaccessible due to strong currents. Not to mention the shark infested waters. It was reserved for political prisoners such as Dreyfus. A supply cable provided a means of getting supplies from Ile Royale to Ile du Diable.
Today Ile Royale is home to macaws, monkeys and large wild guinea pigs. It has a small hotel with dining room and a bar, a lighthouse, ruins of old barracks, cells and the hospital. There is also a small cemetery on the island which contains the remains of just children. Families of the wardens and jailors lived on the island and as might be expected lives were short. Inmates bodies were dumped into the sea. I have no idea where the staff and jailers were buried when they died.
Of the 80,000 prisoners sent to the islands, only 30,000 lived beyond their sentence. 70 percent of the inmates of Devil’s Island died while incarcerated. Considering that only 30 prisoners were housed on Devil’s Island at a time the odds weren’t very good. If a criminal was sentenced to less than eight years and survived, he then had to spend an equal period of time in French Guiana as the French were trying to populate French Guiana.
Across the water in Kourou, French Guiana, is one of only 16 space centers of its kind in the world. Another is Cape Canaveral. The Kourou center is run by the French who sometimes cross to Ile Royale for tracking and observations.
More after we have visited this infamous place.