Travel Blog Sunday
and Monday, December 29-30, 2013
At sea in the Atlantic Ocean off the
coast of French Guiana
On Sunday morning, we presented our third show for the
guests and we had a full house in the show lounge. We were presenting
information on our “visit” to Devil’s Island our stop
for the following day. Since this was one of the high points of the cruise,
many of the guests were eager to learn everything about this former French
penal colony located off the coast of French Guiana in South
America. We were very pleased with this new show that we had
produced and the guests complimented us on it. It was broadcast on the
stateroom TV continuously after our live show ended.
We had been told that we would be landing on one of the
islands and would spend a few hours exploring the remains of the prison located
on one of the three Iles du Salut (Salvation
Islands). We anticipated walking in
the footsteps of Papillion, the most famous escape Baynard (prisoner). This
determined man who escaped during the Second World War and subsequently wrote
an excellent book on his life in this French prison system. His memoirs later
became an award winning movie by the same name.
A few days after we embarked on this cruise, we were told
that we would not be landing on Devil’s Island but would
be spending two hours cruising around the island and the cruise director wanted
us to narrate the experience for the guests. Many of the guests were equally
disappointed in the decision to not land on the island. We had a short amount
of time to prepare for our on the spot lecture on Monday.
We decided to forgo the late dining hour on Sunday as we
knew that we would be changing out clocks and losing an hour’s sleep so we
wanted to go to bed earlier and be ready for this unexpected “play by play” on
deck in the morning.
Upon waking, we felt that our first week on the Pacific
Princess had been a success and we were ready to offer our comments to the
guests who crowded the pool deck and jogging track on decks 9-10 in
anticipation of viewing Devil’s Island. We answered
numerous questions and took turns relaying information on this infamous penal
system that gave a ‘black eye’ to France’s
modern history.
Later in the day we watched the silly ceremony marking our
crossing the equator. Many members of the cruise staff, who had never done the
crossing were doused with various liquids and thrown into the pool. Even the
ship’s captain allowed himself to be tossed into the pool in full uniform. It
was a delight for all who participated and for those of us “shellbacks” happy
not be included but just watch the proceeding on the pool deck.
We are now off to the mouth of the Amazon and will not be ashore again until Thursday.
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