This post is being
written out of sequence. We arrived in Chagos on the 22nd of April and departed on the 22nd of May, 2015. With no
internet access in the uninhabited Salomon Atoll, I wanted to wait until I
could post photos.
The Salomon Atoll lies about 300 miles south of Gan, the southerly-most
island in the Maldives archipelago. The
atoll is a rough round shape if looked from the air, bordered by Île Boddam on the west, Île
Takamaka on the east, Île Anglies on the north and Île Fouquet on the south. The entire atoll is no more than 5 kilometers
across.
At one point, there were inhabitants at Île Boddam and there are
still ruins and a dilapidated cemetery as testimonies to their existence. The jungle is quickly reclaiming its
ownership of what’s left of a once-thriving community as the roofs of the buildings
have long disappeared and now trees grow up through the building’s
foundations. More on what happen to the
Chagosian people later.
Sundowners at the 'Yacht Club' |
Even though the anchoring is poor and the
prevailing winds make it a lee shore near Île Boddam, that’s where most of the visiting yachts
drop their hooks. We joined the fleet
there and though we never had an incident with our anchor holding, we were
never completely comfortable there.
However, the lure of the cruising community was strong and we enjoyed
being near friends, getting together for sundowners on shore and the occasional
visits via dinghy. Though the water
visibility wasn’t very good, we frequently saw black-tip reef sharks and
leather-back turtles swim by.
One particularly squally day, we decided
that we needed a change of venue, pulled up our anchor and steamed to the other
side of the atoll to a small sandy-bottomed gap in between Île Takamaka and Île Fouquet. Our two marine biologist friends, Tom and
Sonja, were anchored there on board their 51’ all-electric Wharrem cat, Pakia Tea, with their 3-year old son,
Keanu. We felt like we were in
heaven, The thick sandy bottom grabbed
our anchor securely and the water remained flat even if the wind came up as we
were in the lee of the island. The bulk
of our friends were now 3 kilometers away but we came to treasure the time we
spent with the Pakia Tea family. As scientists, Tom and Sonja were able to
explain so much of what was going on around us but it was their kindness, humor
and energy that instantly made them close friends. From time to time Tom and Sonja would need to
do some underwater research and they would ask us to watch Keanu, which we
gladly did. Even Keanu seemed to enjoy
his visits with us and quickly learned that we didn’t speak German so he would
switch to his limited English. One night
when we were having the Pakia Tea crew
over for sundowners, Ruthie spotted a manta ray swimming by. Tom quickly excused himself, jumped into his
dinghy, went back to Pakia Tea for
his snorkeling gear and camera and jumped into the water. He was able to capture world-class video of
the giant manta rays feeding just off our boat, unusual in that mantas rarely
feed inside a lagoon. The next day, Tom
and Sonja came over to pick us up in their dinghy and took us to snorkel with
the mantas, a completely unbelievable experience. The grace and beauty of these huge creatures
is nothing short of remarkable and after a time, Tom and Sonja were able to
identify 9 different mantas swimming right around our boats. Sometimes all four of us adults would be
swimming while Keanu manned the dinghy that was being towed by his swimming
mother or father.
Peppered Eel |
Our stay off Île Takamaka was enhanced by the ability to go
ashore and completely walk around the island – but only at low tide. It felt so good to get some exercise but
especially in this remote and wild place.
The tide pools created by the lack of water offered some views of sea
life that we had never seen before – like a peppered eel attacking and eating a
crab, tying itself into knots to develop enough purchase to break apart the
tough crabshell. Too bad we didn’t have
the camera with us that day!
Why a strong current developed remains a
mystery to us. After 10 days of being
anchored off Île Takamaka, the current
began to make us uncomfortable. We don’t
think it was specifically related to the tides as we had already been there
through a full moon with no current at all.
Regardless, we tore ourselves away from the precious company of Pakia Tea (for crying out loud, we were
only going 3 kilometers away!) and reanchored ourselves off of Île Boddam again.
One night, one of the boats in our fleet
brought a laptop into shore to show a documentary about the Chagos Archipelago
which can be found at http://johnpilger.com/videos/stealing-a-nation. We were all intensely saddened by what the
British had done to the Chagossian people, which, in my opinion, is a crime
against humanity – the World Courts agree – and we also felt guilty that we
were able to enjoy a visit to their previous homes while they were not. Coincidently, while we were staying in the
Salomon Atoll, the British Indian Ocean Territory patrol ship, Pacific Marlin, a 60-meter trawler,
brought descendants of those who used to live on Île Boddam back from Mauritius where they now live –
800 miles away – for a one-hour visit to the cemetery. The irony and tragedy was not lost on us –
people who had lived on this island for 200 years – whose ancestors are buried
here - were allowed a one-hour visit while those of us foreigners who were
visiting on yachts were easily granted a four-week permit.
The BIOT patrol boat, Pacific Marlin, makes frequent visits to the Salomon Atoll and
boards every yacht to inspect their mooring permit. Once anchored near the lagoon’s entrance,
large, military-style RIBs are deployed, manned with substantial crews. Their boardings, while innocuous enough, are
still intimidating. One particularly
squally day, the RIBs approached the anchorage late in the afternoon, just as
the sky was turning an ominous dark black.
The BIOT crew boarded Amigo, a
Najad 37, with our friends, Helga and René on board, whose permit had expired
a few days prior. We watched in horror
as we saw Amigo lift its anchor and
slowly steam through the lagoon, darkened as though night had fallen even
though it was hours before the sun would set.
I later spoke with René on the radio and he said that the BIOT official
told him that if he stayed another day he was at risk of being fined £1,000. The BIOT officials quickly back-pedaled,
realizing that if Amigo was damaged
or lost, it could be an international incident but the intrepid crew of Amigo was able to make it to the island
of Rodriguez, 800 miles away, safely.
Regal Angelfish Pygoplites diacanthus |
We did a lot of snorkeling as we waited for a weather
window to make the jump to Madagascar, our own mooring permit expired and
through a series of emails to the London office, we were able to talk them into
a one-week extension, although they warned us that no further extensions would
be granted and if our desired destination was unobtainable with the existing
weather conditions, then we should choose a different destination. It’s not that the weather was bad but rather
the lack of wind that troubled us. Our
fuel was getting low and we were left with a limited range for motoring. Granted, we’re a sailboat and theoretically
should be able to make it anywhere without diesel fuel but we also need fuel to
generate electrical power as we suspect that there might be a couple of people
who might get irritated if we didn’t send emails at least occasionally. So, even with a light winds forecast, we
weighed anchor on the 22nd of May in the early afternoon and left
the Salomon Atoll.