Chagos and Peros Banhos

The Chagos Archipelago is a little piece of magic about 300nm south of the southernmost of the Maldives. It's officially a British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and most people only know about it from Diego Garcia, the big US military base in the south. The archipelago is over 200nm long north to south but only the 2 northern atolls - Peros Banhos and Salomon - are currently open to cruising yachts. The 2 atolls are fairly close together, with Peros Banhos about 25nm west of Salomon. Peros Banhos, at 14nm across, is several times bigger than Salomon (4nm across) but Salomon is much more tightly enclosed, giving better protection from the winds and seas. Peros Banhos is completely open to the south and east, so its anchorages are only tenable when the winds have some west in them.

 

Our second passage to Chagos was much better than our first one. We had choppy seas for the first 50 miles but the final 250 were relatively light winds and seas. We made the trip in less than 2 days and arrived at the pass at Peros Banhos just as the sun was rising. The new Lugger coolant pump worked well with no leaks and the Naiad roll stabilizers worked fine as well.

Through the morning haze we saw the BIOT patrol boat anchored just inside. We knew their vessel name was Pacific Marlin so we hailed them on the VHF. They were surprised at our call and based on our shape they thought we might be an illegal fishing boat and told us their fast dingy was already on its way to check us out. Once they checked our name against their permit list, all was well.

The islands surrounding both Peros Banhos and Salomon are lush with coconut palms and a few fine old hardwood takamaka trees. Red footed boobies, noddies and terns all nest on the islands, and large purple brown coconut crabs scuttle about under the leaf litter and on the lower tree trunks. Ashore on both atolls are the ruins of docks, homes and churches once used by the Chagossian people in the early 1960's and before. The surrounding reefs are alive with fish, marine turtles and sharks.

 

Between the late 1800's and 1965 the Maldives were a British Protectorate that included the Chagos Archipelago. When the tossing off of colonial ties became the in thing in the mid-1960s, the Maldives took their full independence as an ad-Din dynasty sultanate. But as part of the deal they handed the Chagos Archipelago over to the British, who now call it the British Indian Ocean Territory. As for the former residents of the Chagos Archipelago, they got sold out and had to leave their homeland.

The increasingly insolvent British immediately rented the largest of the Chagos Islands, Diego Garcia, to the United States government for a naval base. Of tremendous strategic importance, we're told that the arrival of the United States Navy coincided with the forced departure of all the natives. Because of the base's importance, we're also told that charts of the waters are no longer available.

We decided to proceed to anchor near Ile du Coin on the southern side of the atoll to get some protection from the light SE winds and swell. The BIOT boat did the same and we soon received an invitation for lunch and a private tour of their boat. After anchoring, we lowered the dingy and motored over to enjoy their air conditioned spaces and a nice lunch followed by big scoops of strawberry ice cream. We had just missed a barbecue that they put on once a month for all the cruising boats here and hoped we would be here to enjoy their next one before our 28 days were up.

 

The next day we went ashore to Ile du Coin and explored the ruins of the copra producing community which used to harvest coconuts on all the islets. The old jetty, the Manager's House, the copra storage building, wells and remnants of a railroad track were among the notable reminders that many people once lived and worked here.

Below is the Jetty, both now and in 1963.

 

Below is the Manager's House, both now and in 1963.

 

Below is the Church, both now and in 1975.

 

 

Again, all the Chagos islanders were transported by the British to Mauritius when Diego Garcia was leased to the USA for a large military base. The islanders have recently won a decision in a British court that their removal was unlawful but they have not been allowed to return, except for short visits to the cemeteries.

All day long, schools of bonito around Emily Grace round up schools of small fish into a tight ball. Now the bonito are feeding on them, darting through the ball of fish while Black Naped Terns and Lesser Noddy's squawk overhead and try to dive in for a bite of their own. This is a common occurrence that we were to see several times a day on both atolls.

After two days snorkeling, a catamaran sailed in and we were to meet the crew of Cat Mousses, French Canadians with 4 children aboard. Rene and Dany told us they were over in the Solomon atoll and decided to bring their kids over for a visit.

 

We hit it off with them, their 3 boys and Catherine who was 12 and quickly bonded with Emily. Rene and his boys are avid fishermen and we shared 3 yellowfin tuna as sushi and also a grouper they caught while trolling.

 

We stayed for another few days but the water visibility was not as good as we expected and the winds and waves were forecast to increase. We both "upped anchor" and headed to the Solomon atoll. There we hoped to spend the remainder of our 28 day permit. Come along with us, Dear reader as we move on.

Tom
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