Enchanting Chagos

"We are so lucky to be here," sighed Benedicte as we cooled off in the crystal clear turquoise water off of Boddam island, Chagos. Then all of a sudden she said, "No, actually, we are not lucky, we deserve to be here! We've all worked so hard, and sacrificed so much to get here…it's not luck that we are here!" Whether luck played a part in it or not, we all agreed that we will always remember these days in Chagos: special time, special place, and special friends.

We will miss the absolute isolation of this place. The only sounds you hear are the breaking of the waves on the reef, the wind whistling through the rig, the water slapping against the side of the hull, and occasionally the birds chirping (there are beautiful, red-footed boobies here, white birds with bright red feet and blue beaks. There are numerous nests and the chicks, while getting big, are still fluffy and needing their parents, and the mommy and daddy boobies are very protective, and very vocal!). There are no sounds of motorized vehicles of any sort, not even a plane flying overhead. Only the sounds of nature. It's magical. And nature has shown us all her sides, both good and bad! We've had glorious, sun-drenched days where the water glitters and the blues are bluer and the greens are greener. And we've had stormy, rainy days, where the water turns an angry grey and is whipped into a frenzy by the wind, and the current fights it, wanting to go the oppos
ite
direction, and we are caught in the middle of the fight, the boat being lurched from side to side, more uncomfortable than any passage I've ever been on! We can see how the two wrecks that are here, one on the beach (an 82 foot catamaran), and the other under the water (a 60ft monohul) came to their unfortunate demise, and why, in the permit application process you have to prove that part of your insurance covers "wreck removal and recovery"!

But all in all, it's been fantastic! I wish I could post pictures, but they will come as soon as we have internet again. The kids have taken to surfing the waves that form when the swell comes in from the ocean beyond the reef, and eventually breaks on the sandbanks in low tide. They are not big waves, but perfect for learning on. Kids, young and not so young alike, have spent hours surfing the waves, and come back to the boat sundrenched and exhausted! After one such successful morning surfing session, we all took our dinghies over to one of the deserted little islands for a picnic. It is amazing the feast that can appear when 3 boats each bring something along to eat. Under the shade of the palm trees, with logs as seats, and little tables fashioned out of coconuts (for the base/feet) and flat rocks as table tops, all this delicious food appeared! Fresh, out-of-the-oven warm Italian herb focaccia, salami, cheese, fresh-baked rolls, sprouts, hummus, corn and more b
read
dipped in olive oil and herbs; it was a feast for kings, or at least a feast for some hungry yachties! And later, for desert, we cracked open some coconuts (easier said than done!), and ate fresh coconut right there in the sand, under the coconut palms!

The following day, after morning boat chores and school work was done, we once again took our little fleet of dinghies, this time over to Boddam island, where we explored the ruins of the once thriving community of Chagossians. Chagos has a checkered history, wherein a peaceful, simple and uneducated group of islanders was forcibly removed from their homeland by the British, who took over ownership from Mauritius, and then abandoned the small population of about 900 people in Mauritius and Seychelles, all to make way for an American military base. The primary settlement was on the island of Diego Garcia, which is now the military base (and contains the world's longest runway at 3,658 meters), and there were smaller settlements on Boddam in the Salomon atoll, and on Isle de Coin in the Peros Banhos atoll. As we walked through the now overgrown ruins on Boddam, we could imagine the community as it had been in the 1960's, before the deportation. We had pictures of the or
iginal
settlement, so we could see where the warehouse was, where the copra from the coconuts was stored, we saw the ruins of the once grand manager's house, the jail, the copra drying sheds, the hospital and the church. Now, the remaining, moss-covered remnants house only huge coconut crabs and the ever-expanding roots of the jungle trees. Anyone interested in the history of the Chagos Archipelago may be interested in reading "Next year in Diego Garcia…" by Jean Claude de L'Estrac. It is quite an interesting story…

After our outing to Boddam, we took a detour on the way back to our boats, to go and look at one of the other islands. From our boats, we could look across the lagoon and see the beach of this island, and we could see a big, white object on the beach. Even through binoculars, no-one could quite make out what it was, but it had to be big, because we could see it with the naked eye. So we made the detour over there on our way back, to once and for all find out what it was! To our surprise, the big, white object turned out to be a NOAA Tsunami buoy! It has the official markings on it, and it had obviously come loose from its mooring somewhere in the Indian Ocean, and had drifted into the atoll and onto the beach. It was huge, and an amazing piece of equipment just lying forgotten (we presume) on this deserted beach. We also managed to catch a delicious grouper on our way, so the detour was worth it! We have to log each fish we catch, and upon departure, return our fishin
g log
to BIOT (British Indian Ocean Territory) officials, so we carefully record the type, size and weight of each fish we catch, along with the location of where it was caught and time of day we went fishing.

As July made way for August, it was birthday time! August 1st was Benedicte's (Mobys mom) birthday, which started off by us dinghying over to Moby in the morning, for a rendition of "Happy Birthday", a cup of coffee and our gift of a homemade card, and 6 precious eggs! Yes, her birthday present was 6 eggs, which she was thrilled with, since Moby had run out of eggs, so they were a precious commodity! After lunch and swimming, we all met on the beach for a birthday celebration. A make-shift table was made with a piece of plywood from the wrecked catamaran, covered with a sarong as a tablecloth and a centerpiece of coconuts and pretty red and white coral was placed in the middle. For dinner we had freshly caught fish kebabs grilled over the bonfire, music playing and wine flowing! The highlight of the evening was the desert: Benedicte had made chocolate fondue, and baked a chocolate cake (with the eggs we gave her!). There was an array of goodies to dip in the cho
colate:
dried bananas, coconut, freshly baked Brioche, marshmallows, and of course the cake. The table cloth and many a t-shirt was splattered with chocolate at the end of the evening, but everyone went back to their boats with a full tummy and happy hearts!

That was birthday number 1. Birthday number 2 was Dror's on Shuti. Dror turned 7, and we all descended on Shuti late in the afternoon on August 2nd after the storms we had endured all day cleared. We enjoyed cake and singing happy birthday in three different languages (Hebrew, French and English), and Dror opened his "boat-made" presents and cards.

Birthday number 3 was a big one. On August 3rd (yes, 3 birthday celebrations in a row!), we were privileged enough to share in Yoav's (from Shuti) 13th birthday…his Bar Mitzvah! It was special in that it was a first for all on Cool Runnings and Moby, but also we hazard a guess that it was the first Bar Mitzvah to take place on the beach in Chagos…and the first to take place on the beach in Chagos in the pouring rain! After a beautiful day, the first rain drops started falling as we all arrived on the beach for the celebration. We thought it would pass, but it just got heavier and heavier. Never mind! We decided to continue in the rain! The fire was amazingly resilient, and ended up keeping the soaked contingent warm, if a bit smoky! Yoav had to recite a passage from the Torah, that he had practiced for weeks in advance (this is usually done at the synagogue). When he was done, everyone threw sweets at him, and the kids then scrambled to pick them up off the san
d.
Finder's Keeper's…!! It was very special for us all to celebrate this special birthday with Yoav and his family, and for us to learn the meaning of this special birthday, when a boy becomes a man!

And now we are 2 boats. Moby left 2 days ago, as they have to meet friends in Seychelles. We will meet up with them again when we get to the Seychelles, but the anchorage seems so empty without the third, big boat! No other boats have arrived in the entire time we've been here, which is 2 weeks tomorrow! We continue with "island life"…Momi and Dave went fishing yesterday and today, and tonight we'll make a fire on the beach and grill the catches. This will be our 3rd or 4th bonfire, and it's always a highlight! The kids are missing the Moby team, and in particular, Victor, who is a real comedy act and a staunch surfing partner! But luckily there are the Shuti boys, Yoav, Eyal and Dror, and so none of the kids are lonely or bored!

My mornings are filled with making yoghurt, making bread, and more recently, sprouting (in order to get some fresh greens!!), so by the time all those chores are done, it's usually afternoon. Dave spends each day slowly getting items checked off his "to do" list…he's been up the mast to check the rigging, and yesterday we installed a gutter system to better channel the rain water away from the cockpit and to start setting up a system to collect the precious rainwater directly into our water tanks. We continue to enjoy the water, and besides the surfing, we like to snorkel in this beautiful water, having already snorkeled on the wrecked monohull, and enjoyed some drift snorkeling along the reef where the current rips through a gap in the islands. The kids are doing well in school, and will graduate their respective grades here in Chagos in the next day or two! Not too many kids can have that claim to fame!! There is always something to do, but we make sure that
we
continue to appreciate and enjoy these days here, as they are limited, and we know it is unlikely that we will ever encounter a place so remote, and so isolated again, so we try and absorb it, and keep it in every fiber of our being: Special Time, Special Place, Special People!


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