Sorry that more later turned out to be a lot later but I expected to be back on line later the same day or at least before leaving Guyane but that didn't work out.

We were moored about ten miles away from Cayenne and I was never in the town again which was a shame. However I had a number of fascinating excursions.

I stood on the spot from which satellites are launched. The union jack flutters in front of the main buildings so I suppose we are still paying our dues to the European Space Agency but it was conspicuous by its absence from the Ariane rocket that sticks the satellites up there and makes the money. Another example of basket case Britain abandoning anything that involves high tech engineering in favour of hair dressing and financial services. Look where that has got us.

A wonderful day out was to the Isles de Salut. This is your genuine Devil's Island where Dreyfus was incarcerated and where Papillon, according to his own account, escaped from. Not quite true apparently but what the hell the regime was just as bad where he was. The French could have taught the Germans and the Russians a thing or two about how to run a prison camp. The truly astonishing thing is that this camp was only finally closed down after the second world war.

I'm now in a marina in Trinidad about 30 miles from Port of Spain. It's everything that your Caribbean dreams might suggest. For the moment though pleasure is taking second place to preparing the boat for its eight months out of the water.

Tip of the day.....if you don't like housework don't ever buy a boat. It's ten times as bad. And that's without all the little repair jobs that need DIY skills and crop up quite frequently. How would you like to put your subaqua gear on and dive below to clear a blocked drain?

No? Neither would I but I've seen it done and held a rope to prevent the deblocker from being swept away.