Caribbean and Done!

Our first, and most interesting, stop after hitting the high seas was French Guiana. That territory, still a part of France, used to be a penal colony. Some of you may remember the movie "Papillon". The main prison was on the mainland, outer and worse areas on the three nearby islands, with the worst on Devil's Island. We landed on Isle Royale, which is the only one open to tourists. Having watched the movie the day before aboard ship, it was a lot of fun seeing the partially restored ruins in person.

This first picture shows Phil in an isolation cell. The low wall in the foreground was a full wall separated Phil's cell from his neighbor.

The next shot is Phil looking out through the opening in the door of a restored cell. His swelled head actually did not fit through the opening - he would have been in trouble when order: "Prisoner, show yourself."

The final two are a shot of Devil Island, and a current resident of Isle Royal.





















After that we stopped in Trinidad and Tobago to see the new performance hall - not open to the public yet. And a small museum in the home of, and owned and operated by, a 90 year old woman famous for her textile work. And finally some beautiful 100 year old houses from the time when sugar was king here. For some reason we really liked this one.


















Back aboard ship Margie and Phil won a silver medal in water volleyball the first day, and a gold the second. And then the last day they won first place in a game similar to the old TV game "Newlyweds". Our competition was a couple from Australia married 39 years and another from North Carolina married 50. But we knew eachother better than any of them! Needless to say we're very proud of our new-found athletic and intellectual prowess!

And now we're homeward bound, looking forward to re-entering the daily grind (?) on Monday!