Guiana Space Center, Kourou

We visited Kourou briefly on our way to Cayenne, but decided it deserved a bit more exploration on our return trip. It's only about 60 km (36 miles) from Cayenne and lies at the mouth of the Kourou River. Some of our cruiser friends anchored in the river, but admit that Saint-Laurent is a bit easier and more convenient. Driving to Kourou was definitely easier than anchoring in the river and walking.

Kourou, too, was originally part of the French penal colony. There's not much left of the prison, mostly ruins. The Dreyfuss Tower remains, a solemn, but dilapidated reminder of years past when semaphore communication was used to communicate with the offshore prison islands. Iles du Salut (Devil's Island) is only 14 km (8 miles) away.

Kourou isn't known for its prisons, though. It's known nowadays for the Centre Spatial Guayanais, the Guiana Space Center. It's the launch facility for the European Space Agency (ESA), comprised of 10 cooperating European countries. It's also the home of Arianespace SA, a European multinational company founded in 1980 as the world's first commercial launch service provider It's a very active site with a schedule of six launches in 2015. The last was 30 September and the next will be 10 November. If we were staying around, we'd likely attend. They offer a free bus from Saint-Laurent to Kourou to view the launches. It would be great, but as always, there are compromises for sailors. If we delay our departure from French Guiana, we miss visiting Suriname and/or Guyana.

Free tours are available, but pre-planning is required. We signed up for one, but found it was a three-hour tour and only given in French. Three hours of understanding 50% or less of what was going on added to the broken toe situation didn't make sense. We opted instead to drive around the facility and see what we could see.

CSG (Centre Spatial Guayanais or the Guiana Space Centre) has been in existence since 1968. According to Wiki and the Space Center site, “it is particularly suitable as a location for a spaceport as it fulfills the two major geographical requirements of such a site:

• it is quite close to the equator, so that the spinning earth can impart some extra velocity to the rockets for free when launched eastward, and
• it has uninhabited territory (in this case, open sea) to the east, so that lower stages of rockets and debris from launch failures cannot fall on human habitations.”

The CSG site continued ...

“Kourou is located approximately 500 kilometres (310 mi) north of the equator, at a latitude of 5°10'. The near-equatorial launch location provides an advantage for launches to low-inclination (or geostationary) Earth orbits compared to launches from space ports at higher latitude. For example, the eastward boost provided by the Earth's rotation is about 463 m/s (1,035 miles per hour) at the Guiana Space Centre versus about 406 m/s (908 miles per hour) at Cape Canaveral/Kennedy Space Center space ports in Florida which are at 28°27′N latitude.The proximity to the equator also makes maneuvering satellites for geosynchronous orbits simpler and less costly.”

There was plenty to see from the car actually. There's an impressive Ariane rocket replica on display next to the CSG headquarters.

We were surprised at how far we could drive without being stopped. Beyond the CSG headquarters building, we took a perimeter road and drove for several kilometers. We passed the Satellite Prep site and the Meteorological station.

A turn-off and parking area invited us to take a closer look at a recovered booster rocket engine.

When we approached the actual launch site area, however, we weren't surprised when we were very politely denied access. All in all though, a pretty impressive site and no French translation was involved.

French Guiana's Cayenne and Cacao

I'd read about the Hmong Sunday market in Cacao on several websites and in Lonely Planet. Cacao is a small Hmong village about 70 km (40 miles) south of Cayenne.

The Hmong people are originally from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. During the Vietnam War, France and the USA recruited thousands of Hmong people to fight against the North Vietnamese. After the war, Hmong refugees fled and sought political asylum elsewhere. France repatriated several thousand people to French Guiana where their industrious natures and talents have thrived. Not much goes on in French Guiana on Sundays and it seemed a worthwhile trip... so we were off.

We took the N2 highway, also known at Route de l'Est, heading south and east out of Cayenne. There aren't many major highways in French Guiana... the N1 and the N2. If we followed the N2 to the end, we'd be on the Brazil border. Though we weren't heading all that far, it was still a chance to get into the interior a bit. Several of the roundabouts provided a venue for public statuary which centered more on the AmerIndian tribes, the Wayana and the Wayampi.

Once we left the city limits, the road narrowed significantly and followed the contour of the land up and down (15% grades!) and around hairpin turns. We encountered single lane, wooden plank bridges that clop-clop-clopped as we took our turn to drive across.

We reached the turn-off for Cacao, an even narrower road, and were surprised to see several cars making the same turn. When we arrived in Cacao, we were gobsmacked by the amount of cars and people and the gendarmerie (police) directing traffic. There was no room to park closer and we were instructed to park in a gravel lot and walk the 1.5 km (1 mile) into town. Usually this would not have posed a problem, but it seemed I'd broken my toe before we left the boat (while hanging out clothes, no less … don't ask!). David explained the situation to an understanding, English-speaking cop. I showed him my swollen, black and blue toe and he let us pass the barricade into town. We continued wending our way through tiny streets, clogged with haphazardly parked cars and throngs of people. The gods were with us … we found a place to park within a few hundred feet of the main marketplace. Who could have known how popular this place would be?

We headed directly to the market hall for some Soupe Pho. This variation included some coconut milk in the broth and it was even better than the last we'd tried. Slurping, however, seems to be an occupational hazard for eating this soup and it ain't pretty. (Note to self: Never let David hold camera while I'm eating!)

Beyond the fruits and veggies, the Hmongs are known for their fine needlework tapestries. Some were large works of art … perhaps recalling scenes from home.

Some were beautifully intricate geometric patterns in bright colors that boasted hours and hours of concentrated labor.

Other needlework was reverse appliqué, reminiscent of the molas created by the Kuna people in Panama. We looked and pondered whether to buy and in the end, purchased nothing. We have so much aboard already that may never be put to use, we hesitate to purchase more. Photos are the best mementos for sailors, I guess.

There were also a few pieces of art that we didn't regret leaving behind.

We would have enjoyed exploring the town a bit more, but the crowds kept wandering to a minimum. We returned to Cayenne in mid-afternoon. The city was sleepy...nothing going on at all. All the shops, even the big supermarkets, were closed. All the restaurants were closed, save our hotel restaurant. It was a day of rest for all. Nothing happens on Sundays. We decided it was a good time for a walk. We headed first to the Cathedrale Saint-Sauveur. We were surprised to find it closed and locked up tight.

We wandered through the Place des Palmistes. There were very few people around. The park was in a sad state. Old, ornate cement planters which lined the paths within the park were empty, chipped and faded. The grass was parched. Park benches needed paint and repair. A monument erected in 1889 commemorated the French Revolution of 1789, but it was hard to read the plaque.

A statue of Felix Eboue erected in 1959, honored the first French Guianan-born black to be appointed to a high position in the French government.

Beyond the park, we passed the ruins of an old military installation, now all fenced off. The fencing, however, provided a great canvas for some lively street art which we appreciated.

From the shore, we could see the muddy water mixing with the Atlantic blue and the grassy peninsula of Pointe des Amandiers not far away.

Once again, hot and tired, we retreated to the cool respite of our room. All too soon, we'll be sweating and sweltering aboard Nine of Cups, taking advantage of the cool provides as much a pleasure as exploring. We'll head back to Saint-Laurent tomorrow via Kourou and the European Space Center. In the meantime, a cool shower, a cool room and a picnic for dinner. Vacations end all too quickly.

The Blue View - Essential Ship's Library

When we began our cruising life, we had precious little experience. We had taken a few classes on sailing and had bare boat chartered several times in Florida and the Caribbean. We did, however, have a number of very experienced friends to rely upon as we gained experience. These good friends, the Dashews, the Pardeys, Nigel Calder, Don Casey, Brion Toss and Jimmy Cornell to mention a few, also helped us out of more than a few ticklish situations.

In reality, we have only met a few of these fine people, but we have read their books cover to cover. We started collecting their books when the cruising life was still a far off dream. Then, when it did become a reality, hardly a day went by that I didn't consult with Nigel to get his input on servicing a winch or bleeding the diesel engine, or with Don to improve my fiberglassing technique, or Jimmy to plan our next voyage.

I no longer check with my mentors quite as frequently as the early days, but they remain on-board as cherished old friends. And while I have begun to embrace e-books on my Kindle, I can't fathom ever parting with my hard copies.

I painfully reduced this list to my ten most used technical books – my essential ship's library. I'll be the first to admit that my list is very dated. I haven't been keeping track of the latest and greatest new generation of authors and books. If you have suggestions for books that should be added to the list, please let me know.

General Reference

Pocket Ref by Thomas Glover

The hands down winner of the most used book aboard Nine of Cups, this book is a compendium of a zillion useful pieces of information. Want to know the tap drill bit size for a 6mm bolt? How to convert from horsepower to kilowatts, or from hogsheads to gallons? The safe working load of wire rope? How about wire size vs amperage? It's all there.

General Cruising and Passage Planning

World Cruising Routes by Jimmy Cornell

This is a great book for planning passages – everything from a trip to the Bahamas to a circumnavigation. It provides winds and currents throughout the world, as well as the best times and routes for passages.

Maintenance and Repair

In addition to the specific repair manuals for the equipment aboard, we recommend the following:

Boatowners Mechanical and Electrical Manual and Marine Diesel Engines, both by Nigel Calder – or any other book by Nigel for that matter.

(Okay – so I cheated just a little and only counted these as one book). If you plan to leave the marina, you need to know the basics about repairing the mechanical and electrical systems aboard. After Pocket Ref above, these books are probably the two most used books aboard Nine of Cups. (You can tell by the greasy fingerprints all over them.) They not only describe how most of these systems work, but how to repair them.

This Old Boat by Don Casey

While it is basically intended as a book for restoring an older boat, it is also a great collection of tutorials on a variety of boat projects such as upgrading, repair and maintenance of fiberglass, paint, varnish, canvas, electrical, refrigeration and much more. In addition, his writing style makes it an enjoyable read.

Sail and Rig Tuning by Ivar Dedekam

A short concise book that does exactly what its title says.

Seamanship

The Annapolis Book of Seamanship by John Rousmaniere

This book, a classic, covers the basics of sailing, navigation, boat handling and seamanship.

Marlinspike Seamanship

While most of us probably won’t ever learn how to caulk the seams of a wooden boat or to tar a hemp lanyard, ropes still require knots, splices and hitches, and a sailmaker’s needle and palm are still necessary gear aboard a modern cruising sailboat. Beyond the basic essentials, however, it is quite satisfying to learn some of the traditional sailors’ arts. A fine canvas bucket or rope mat are far superior to the modern plastic or “astroturf” equivalents. We recommend and frequently refer to the following books:

The Ashley Book of Knots by Clifford Ashley

A compendium of almost 4,000 knots of every type imaginable, from occupational to decorative, along with a lot of interesting nautical lore and history. It is such a valuable book, I devoted a whole blog to it.

The Marlinspike Sailor by Hervey Garrett Smith

A great book on the traditional arts of the sailor, from basic knots to decorative ropework and canvaswork.

Riggers Apprentice by Brion Toss

A good source of information on repair and maintenance of your rigging, a good section on the basic knots and splices needed aboard and a chapter devoted to decorative knots.

Brightwork: The Art of Finishing Wood by Rebecca Wittman

Nine of Cups has a lot of teak brightwork, and I must have spent a few man-years in what often seems like a never-ending and futile attempt at trying to keep it beautiful. This book is my bible on the subject.

I've only covered technical reference books in this blog. I'll leave it up to Marcie to cover the books which she considers to be part of an Essential Ship's library on the non-technical side.