The Amazing Caine Story

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Under the name X-Files we write about the unexpected events that might change our lives. Feel free to comment and to send your own story to info@global-unlimited.com.


The Amazing Caine Story - Thirth episode

Entering the world of Papillon

A few days past, we had a couple of what to go. The wind (what wind?) had been very light making the self-steering system bloody minded with the captain and crew not far behind. For all that we were on schedule for Salut on Friday morning a distance over just over 1000 nautical miles in 8 days.

An incident - Lara took the wheel. We checked her progress. She was on her way back to Cape Town. Was it intentional? Wednesday was very calm, hardly a breath, but the equatorial current was pushing us a 4 - 5 knots - quite uncanny. A small Dorado provided us with a 5 o'clock snack - Chinese recipe obtained from the back of the Soy Sauce bottle. In the small hours one morning we woke the children, only the rewards of fresh popcorn persuaded them to go up on deck with their harnesses on. Robert was told to hold the one backstay for balance and Lara the other. With the extreme accuracy with which modern navigation is possible (CMAP software), I was able to give a signal from the nav-table to Robyn holding the camera. With the timing of a noon-day gun a flash photo was taken. Robert was in the North Atlantic, Lara in the South. We had crossed the equator. The Chinese with their penchant for numerology would have had a field day: good fortune or disaster to come. A day or two later we put Robyn through her paces. We needed a more northerly course to leave the Amazon to it's own wicked ways, that meant raising the mainsail. It took an hour! A halyard was hooked around the mast steps and needed to be dis-entangled. The genoa had to be taken off the spinnaker pole and reset. More winds around the self-furler were needed. With minimal help from the extremely patient skipper (or so he says!) Robyn passed her deck hand course with flying colours.

Some days later, having had precious little sleep, we saw the flash of the Isle da Salut lighthouse. The sensible thing would have been to slow down or to turn around and to approach with first light. It was pitch dark and no moon. We circled the 3 islands and decided not to attempt to land. But the wind had come up and we had very little fuel and needed to hoist the main to get away from the forbidding rocks of Papillon's old home. The halyard jammed. Nightmare stuff in the pitch dark, especially with a wife swearing at you! and with the captain hanging like a puppet on a string. He got it free. The wind and the current were strong and we were making almost no progress. There seemed to be no alternative but to risk our remaining diesel to get us back into the shelter of the main island, Isle Royale. We dropped the anchor and had a celebratory Bailley's Irish Cream with the kids. We slept well and woke to find ourselves well placed in a small bay near the pier.

The islands were beautiful beyond description. The dense foliage, greens of every shade and texture, well laid out paths (made by the sweat of thousands of convicts over many years). The ruins of the forbidden prison last occupied 50 years ago have been well preserved over the last 10 years and the islands are extremely well managed as a day resort with the odd camper sleeping out between the coconut palms. The island supports a minimal staff to run a restaurant, a gendarme and a few others to maintain and service the ex-prison officers' bungalows, which are now rented out. A natural pool had been fashioned with the help of local rocks and the convicts to make for safe swimming. The ex-commander's house has been turned into a museum. Pictures on the walls were evidence of this place being hell on earth for the convicted. It appears that Papillon's book was a load of lies according to the museums archivist. He had used the stories of other prisoners to embellish his book. The most famous prisoner was Alfred or Albert Dreyfuss, about whom I remember very little. He was sent to Isle Diable (Devil's Island) by Napoleon and later completely exonerated.
By the way: these islands were a perfect spot to celebrate Robyns birthday. Handmade cards from the kids and a picnic on the beautiful island Isle St. Joseph.

Finally we left for Kourou, the mainland of French Guyana. If there is an hell-hole end of the earth, Kourou it is. Flat, uninteresting, unfriendly and expensive. Oh, I almost forgot - The boys had gone ashore to change money, fetch diesel etc. Lara looked up and we are literally 5 meters from the boat behind us in the river, and closing fast!! The anchor was dragging in the fast flowing and muddy river. Robyn never managed to start the engine so quickly in her life. Well, the girls managed OK, but they were hugely relieved to see us coming back from town. We tried to anchor twice more, but finally decided to tie up at the jetty. For the first time ever I had to bring 6 ton of boat alongside, with a boat tied up behind us, against the current and the wind, with an accelerator cable that has two speeds - fast forward and full stop!! Pwieehh.

Next stop: Surinam!

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