Saint Joseph Island - Part 2

After visiting the ruins, our pleasant walk around the island was quite a startling contrast to the heavy silence of the decaying prison cells and hallways. (Click on photos to enlarge.)

There were a few cliffs on Saint Joseph Island as well as large slabs of stone along the path.

In the background, there's the infamous Devil's Island to the right and Royal Island to the left where our hotel is located.

There's also a large cemetery on Saint Joseph which was used exclusively for the prison wardens and their families...

It seemed very peculiar to see all of these graves so close to the ocean.

Unlike the prison guards, convicts were buried out at sea. Their bodies were simply dropped overboard to be eaten by sharks as the pictures below shows. This practice is what made the waters around the Salvation Islands so shark infested... successfully discouraging the convicts from ever trying to escape by swimming off the islands.

The only beach (actually more pulverized shells than sand) on the Salvations Islands is here too. However, at low tide (like on the picture) you have to walk over large black stones to reach the water to swim. Most people prefer to wait for high tide.

Here's a bread fruit tree that grows all over French Guiana. The fruit is edible and can really feed a lot of people. One easy recipe is to just pluck it off the tree when it's big and ripe and wrap it in aluminum foil. Then, place it on the coals of a barbecue for an hour or two. When you eat it, you can smear it with butter or dunk it in sauce or dips-- it's quite nice!