Chagos update July 2001

Created by webmaster. Last modified on 2004-09-15 13:25:53
Contributors: Thomas Mueller, Yacht MIZ MAE
Countries: Chagos

Yacht MIZ MAE arrived the Salomon Islands of the Chagos Atoll in the beginning of July 2001. This report was updated by DANERA in August 2004.

Other boats had given us an entry position for the northern pass into the Salomon atoll of 05.18,446 S and 072.14,540 E, based on WGS 72. There we arrived at 02.30 hrs in the morning, tired of sailing in a washing machine from Cocos Keeling, and even though we had only been out 11 days at sea, it felt much longer this time. Anything from complete calm to 35 kn had been experienced and the cross-swell could have driven calmer people than us up the wall. After dropping the hook into 7 meters of sand and coral we slept the last hours of darkness.

First light brought up a beautiful atoll right in front of us. Another 12 boats were anchored off Takamaka Isl at 05.20,2 S and 072.15,8 E. We eyeballed our way to that anchorage very easily with only a few bommies in our way. Tropic Birds, boobies and lots of other small seabirds looked at us steaming into the fresh breeze whipping up white chop in the lagoon.

Germans, Kiwis, Aussis, French, Americans, here they were all peacefully united again. Some had been here for over 6 months. We should have brought more beer, cigarettes, fishing hooks and other life threatening supplies we were told. Well, we'll know better on the next round. However, on the next round we may or may not be welcome here any longer. So far the British authorities come by about every 14 days, check that everybody paid the fee of 80 USD/3 months and away they go again. But gone are the times when they stayed for BBQ's, took the mail and helped with spare parts. As those things were published, they were quickly taken away by the superiors of those officers being so helpful. With this help vanished and remembering the fact that a dismasted yacht was told it might cost them in excess of 40,000 USD to bring in a new spar to the military base of Diego Garcia, the question remains what the 80 USD are actually being charged for.

Rubbish is supposed to be burnt by the yachties themselves, and most of them do, though some less ambitious soul left it to the fellow sailors to take care of their broken glass and fuel filters they forgot on the beach. On Boddam Isl in the SW corner of the atoll bins are provided for glass and cans, but plastic and other unburnable items remain a problem. We were told we missed the big rush. More than 50 boats had been at Salomon Atoll at one time, the yachties getting extremely well organized with BBQ's, sundowners and fixed volley ball schedules. The indigenous "Ilois" have won the battle. The court declared that it was incorrect to take them off their home turf Chagos and move them to Reunion and Mauritius some 45 years ago. Some Ilois have declared they would wish to come back, also and especially to Salomon Atoll. While bad mouths claim they say so in order to seek reparation payments or sell the fishing rights, we asked ourselves what they would really face if they would return. The atolls of Chagos are declared to be completely protected as far as wildlife and nature is concerned. Consequently, there must be no commercial fishing (yachties can't even scuba dive legally), no buildings can be raised i.e. on Boddam, and the complete lack of infrastructure like roads, proper water and sewage facilities, docks, airports or even nav aids would make a comeback not only difficult, but extremely costly.

The ruins on Boddam Isl. were beautified by some visiting yachts, trying to leave some tracks of their voyage, telling friends who had been here. The British paint brushes though came to nullify the efforts and if not looking carefully, one could not tell any yachts ever visited. Gardens were levelled, BBQ places renaturized and "camps'' destroyed. But maybe there was good reason to be concerned as well. Some yachts, which return every year from Asia and Africa, were hiding dug in barrels of fuel in the ground, built up gardens, fences and even got into fights with each other when some "unauthorized" yachts were happy to discover these treasures. Some boats were given very short notice to leave, the others had to watch half happy when their Robinson-efforts were leveled. Sundowners brought up many opinions and ideas around those events. The British authorities don't seem to be completely sure about what will happen. They have leased out Diego Garcia to the USA, who support a very substantial military base there. No sign could be found of the Americans planning to leave Diego before the end of the lease and discussions with the Ilois are obviously left to the British authorities. While all the powers there are don't seem to be sure how to handle this increasingly hot potato, the yachts are selfishly wondering what will happen to their favorite paradise.

We personally are impressed that the British authorities have placed various automatic recording stations on the islands to find out about weather data, ground water level and other valid issues. With no gardens left, very low islands supplying limited water resources and the travel distance to the next "civilized" islands being around 1000 miles, the data gathered will be crucial to evaluate if decent and non-yachty-life is possible on Chagos.

Whatever happens, we found Chagos and the Salomon Atoll just lovely. The water colors are nothing short of fantastic. Crystal clear water for snorkeling and lush green palm forest let us forget how far it was to get here. Manta rays in the bay, superb underwater visibility, turtles and crabs in abundance. A wildlife sanctuary out of the ordinary, We found a most pleasant and helpful group of sailors being together when we anchored off Takamaka and Isle de Passe on 05.18,331 S and 072.15,176 E. It was a great time and we regret not being able to stay longer. Wishing this place will be available to the yachts as a safe and friendly haven even in future, we can only hope that both the Ilois and the British authorities have enough sailors amongst them to let common sense win over narrow minded ideas.