Chagos
NORDLYS
David and Annette Ridout
Fri 29 Jun 2007 02:59
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BIOT
(British Indian Ocean
Territory)
5:20S 72:15E
Ile Boddam, Salomon
atoll
29th July 2007
The politics of the whole Chagos group of atolls
that makes up the BIOT is a long subject. Suffice to say that indentured
labour was brought in mainly from Madagascar and Mauritius to farm the coconuts
for the production of copra and coconut oil. This lasted into the early
'70s when the trade got very slack and the population was forcibly removed to
Mauritius. Just before this happened Britain, who had a staging
post 300 miles to the north on the Maldivian atoll of Gann, now called Addu,
gave the Chagos atoll of Diego Garcia to the Americans. Now it is a large
airbase. Yachts are not allowed near it and the basic labour there is
Philipino and not the original Chagos workers. They were not allowed to do
this work.
The whole exercise has been a shabby but quiet bit
of British foreign policy. Recently the workers have won for the nth time
the right to return in the high court. However being realistic there
is no way they could return. They could not sustain themselves nor would
any amount of aid get them going as tourism is a non starter due to the lack of
an airport. The Americans are not likely to give up Diego Garcia nor allow
it to be half commercial half military.
This leaves the only visitors as yachtsmen.
The latter are allowed to visit just two atolls, Salomon and Peros Banhos.
There is no doubt that the British would love to ban us from coming here at all
but as these atolls are not a military area and the whole lot are British
it would be very difficult for them to do so legally. They are starting to
make it quite restrictive and more expensive. Permits at one hundred
pounds per month have to now be obtained before arrival. Apparently a
patrol boat with British marines and immigration officials but run by
civilians comes once a month. We just missed their last visit and are
likely to be gone before the next.
We came here not knowing quite what to expect as we
had heard stories of long term drop out type people living off the land and
growing marijuana. We had also heard that there were lots and lots of
visiting yachts. The reality has been that we turned up just before the
new cost structure kicked in, at least for those who were here, and the 17
yachts reduced to 8 fairly quickly and now as I write there are four of
us. In two days there will just be two. No doubt the yachts on the
Queensland, Darwin, South Africa route will be along in the next two
months. We came with the preconceived idea that the long term visitors
were the problem and we have to admit that we were totally wrong in this.
Ile Boddam, where the main settlement was, is the home of the long term stayers
and they are a delightful bunch of people who are proud of way they keep their
shore facilities. They respect the regulations and we could see very
little damage being done by man to the environment. Rubbish is incinerated
where possible and cans and bottles collected by the patrol boat. The
volley ball court, the general sitting area, the incinerator and rubbish
facilities, the well and the washing area are all kept very neat and
tidy. The trails through the jungle are kept open. We did hear
stories of a few real low budget types who rather rape the land and live off
coconut crabs and cut hearts of palm but we met non of these.
Interestingly everyone who admitted there were a few all said they come from a
country that lies just to the south of the UK and has a red, white and blue
flag. This information was given by American, Canadian, Finnish, German
and British yachtsman. I say no more.
What we have however found out was something
about ourselves. Whereas many of those whose company we have enjoyed come
here for six or so months year after year we have found that living the basic
life is something of an acquired taste. The thing is that a long time
without news papers, films, theatre and perhaps more importantly a local
community has left us craving these things. We never felt the same in
Vanuatu where all of the former were missing but on each island we interrelated
with the local village. Here there is nothing but magnificently beautiful
scenery. We still feel privileged to have come and can only recommend the
experience to anyone who gets the chance but we do know that whatever happens to
us either family wise or financially we will not head for an uninhabited atoll
to wind away our days.
As I write the plan is to set sail tomorrow for the
Seychelles. To this end we came up from Boddam through the coral bommies
at midday with the sun high. Leaving earlier from there is difficult so we
will spend tonight anchored where we were for our first week here. The
exit through the pass can be made from here after ten o'clock in the
morning. I will send a report after a day or so at sea. The passage
is likely to be one of slight frustration with light winds and no
doubt a fair amount of tropical rain. However if we go expecting this then
anything better will be good news. We have some 500nm of diesel left so
will motor at night if the going gets very slack.
 Morning walk on Ile Takamaka
 The lifespan of this church was not great. Built in
1935, abandoned in 1972.
Apparently there was always a cronic shortage of women on the
island.
Thus whenever the missionaries tried to get the couples
to marry the women
refused as they wanted to play the field. This was
the reason it was as late as
1935 that the church prevailed and started to dominate
behaviour amongst
the labourers on the plantations.
 Perhaps this picture sums up these atolls.
Man comes and man goes but, as long as the sea level
does not rise(!) the palm species goes on for
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