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10-02-2012, 02:58
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: UK, Middle East, Australia
Boat: Angus Primrose One design 45ft And Duncanson 34 Mk2
Posts: 222
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Diego Garcia - Seeking Info
Has anybody sailed to Diego Garcia its below the Maldives and is British Teritory?
It has an interesting History where the UK govt depopulated it on purpose,
The locals have fought and won back but the US are still there occupying until 2016 i think.
but it looks like a nice sailing destination..
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10-02-2012, 03:11
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#2
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Senior Cruiser
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: gettin naughty on the beach in cornwall
Boat: 63 custom alloy sloop,macwester26,prout snowgoose 37 elite catamaran!
Posts: 10,594
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Re: Diego Garcia
Quote:
Originally Posted by nauticalnomad
Has anybody sailed to Diego Garcia its below the Maldives and is British Teritory?
It has an interesting History where the UK govt depopulated it on purpose,
The locals have fought and won back but the US are still there occupying until 2016 i think.
but it looks like a nice sailing destination..
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can you post a link to the us and uk abandoning it as a base in 2016.
i've only been to the archepelago a few times but it would be great if the locals could go back before the sea levels rise enough to make the area uninhabitable......................
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10-02-2012, 03:14
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Homer, AK is my home port
Boat: Skookum 53'
Posts: 4,042
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Re: Diego Garcia
It is a pre-deployment site for MCS (Military Sealift Command) vessels that are under contract with the US Navy. An industrial area. Have not sail in myself, have worked with several mariners that were there, doesn't sound like much to offer, hotter than the hubs of hell 122* F.
__________________
" Wisdom; is your reward for surviving your mistakes"
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10-02-2012, 03:38
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#4
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: UK, Middle East, Australia
Boat: Angus Primrose One design 45ft And Duncanson 34 Mk2
Posts: 222
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Re: Diego Garcia
Quote:
Originally Posted by atoll
can you post a link to the us and uk abandoning it as a base in 2016.
i've only been to the archepelago a few times but it would be great if the locals could go back before the sea levels rise enough to make the area uninhabitable......................
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Depopulation of Diego Garcia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Developments since 2000
The headquarters of BIOT police (2005)
In 2000 the British High Court granted the islanders the right to return to the Archipelago. [59] In 2002 the islanders and their descendants, now numbering 4,500, returned to court claiming compensation, after what they said were two years of delays by the British Foreign Office. [60]
However, on 10 June 2004 the British government made two Orders in Council under the Royal Prerogative forever banning the islanders from returning home, [61] to override the effect of the 2000 court decision. Some of the Chagossians are making return plans to turn Diego Garcia into a sugarcane and fishing enterprise as soon as the defence agreement expires (some see this as early as 2016).
(i read somewhere else about it as well, But cant find it now, Ill keep looking)
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10-02-2012, 03:48
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#5
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Senior Cruiser
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: gettin naughty on the beach in cornwall
Boat: 63 custom alloy sloop,macwester26,prout snowgoose 37 elite catamaran!
Posts: 10,594
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Re: Diego Garcia
it was my understanding that the islanders were forever banned from returning by the british government.
and by 2016 iran and iraq will have sorted themselves out,so the uk and us will not need to keep a task force in the area............................
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10-02-2012, 04:46
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: South Pacific
Boat: Oyster 53
Posts: 359
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Re: Diego Garcia
Otherwise known to sailors as "Chagos," as in the "Chagos Archipelago," this is one of the ultimate cruising destinations. The only way there is by your own boat. Diego Garcia is a US naval base at the bottom of the chain which is totally off limits to sailors. The US leases the facilities from the British who kicked the original inhabitants out, ostensibly telling them, "We're all going on a shopping trip to the Seychelles." And then nobody was allowed to go back...
We spent several months there and it is a true paradise.
One of the most pristine and beautiful places on earth.
Dhillen
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10-02-2012, 05:02
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#7
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Nearly an old salt
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Lefkas Marina ,Greece
Boat: Bavaria 36
Posts: 22,801
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dhillen
Otherwise known to sailors as "Chagos," as in the "Chagos Archipelago," this is one of the ultimate cruising destinations. The only way there is by your own boat. Diego Garcia is a US naval base at the bottom of the chain which is totally off limits to sailors. The US leases the facilities from the British who kicked the original inhabitants out, ostensibly telling them, "We're all going on a shopping trip to the Seychelles." And then nobody was allowed to go back...
We spent several months there and it is a true paradise.
One of the most pristine and beautiful places on earth.
Dhillen
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There are now severe rules and high costs on visiting chagos. Its becoming virtually impossible to stay any length of time there now
Dave
__________________
Interested in smart boat technology, networking and all things tech
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10-02-2012, 05:06
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#8
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Winnipeg
Boat: None at this time
Posts: 8,462
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Re: Diego Garcia
Quote:
It is a pre-deployment site for MCS (Military Sealift Command) vessels that are under contract with the US Navy. An industrial area.
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That's a different way of saying "Bomber Base".
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10-02-2012, 05:23
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#9
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Senior Cruiser
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario - 48-29N x 89-20W
Boat: (Cruiser Living On Dirt)
Posts: 49,082
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Re: Diego Garcia
See also, several earlier CF discussions ➥ biot - Google Search
Including ➥ http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...les-51369.html
And ➥ http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...tml#post579399
The UK/ U.S. treaty, that turned the island into a military base, was signed in 1966. It runs until 2036, but either government can opt out in 2016. Meanwhile, there’s the non-trivial matter of supplying, improving, and operating the island’s military infrastructure. This article offers a look into those contracts ...
More ➥ http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/diego-garcia-03556/
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Gord May
"If you didn't have the time or money to do it right in the first place, when will you get the time/$ to fix it?"
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10-02-2012, 05:49
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Hurricane Highway
Boat: O'Day 28
Posts: 3,920
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Re: Diego Garcia
Rhumb line view.
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10-02-2012, 07:48
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Lake Macquarie
Boat: Leopard 47ft "Pussy Galore"
Posts: 26
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Re: Diego Garcia
I read somewhere that you could become a life member of the yacht club for just $20 but the cost of mooring there has gone through the roof in recent times, off hand $500 for a minimum stay
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10-02-2012, 08:30
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#12
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 6,185
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Re: Diego Garcia
I went there several times when I was in the Navy; our submarine stopped in there. Two interesting facts:
- There are folks who say the biblical version of "Eden" was really on Diego Garcia. Back before it was a barren atoll it was (according to fossil data) a garden paradise roughly smack dab in the backyard of early humans.
- It's solely an industrial military installation at this point. Private vessels can clear in there with permission from the installation commander because of emergency reasons, but there's nothing really to see and no one wants you there.
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10-02-2012, 09:16
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#13
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Currently cruising the Philippines, just got back from PNG & Solomons
Boat: Wauquiez 45' (now 48') catamaran
Posts: 1,087
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Re: Diego Garcia
Salamon & Peros Banhos atolls (~300nm S of the southernmost Maldives, or ~100nm N of Diego Garcia) are delightful, but Diego Garcia is strictly off limits to cruising boats, although we did meet a Chinese Journalist(! - who was clueless at sailing) who stopped there for repairs.
I think the Brits actually did pay compensation to the displaced Chagosians, but they paid it to the Seychelles & Mauritius governments, who decided they had better uses for the $$ than giving it to the Chagosians.
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14-02-2012, 14:43
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#14
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: Ko Olina, Oahu, Hawaii
Boat: Hudson Force 50
Posts: 124
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Re: Diego Garcia
OK Guys, here is the real skinny on Diego Garcia.
I was stationed there at the begining of the war. All of the islands in the atol are completly off limits. However, the military only occupys the island of Diego Garcia. The other islands are open, but you are not allowed to go to them. Here is what happens.
About every week or ten days, a patrol of the Royal Marine Commandos will set out to patrol the islands looking for cruisers who have anchored in the atoll. If they find you, they tell you to pull up anchor and leave immediatly. They do not send you to jail or fine you.
Thus, if you can set anchor for a few days before they find you, all is well. Good luck.
And as one of those who lived in the "Garden of Eden" it was not all that fun. I lived in a tent the size of my boat with 10 other men. I had rats crawling on me at night and bombers screaming in and out at all times of the day and night. I do not see myself looking to visit there any time in the near future.
The Witchdoctor.
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14-02-2012, 18:11
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#15
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Nearly an old salt
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Lefkas Marina ,Greece
Boat: Bavaria 36
Posts: 22,801
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Re: Diego Garcia
Quote:
About every week or ten days, a patrol of the Royal Marine Commandos will set out to patrol the islands looking for cruisers who have anchored in the atoll. If they find you, they tell you to pull up anchor and leave immediatly. They do not send you to jail or fine you.
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sorry is this information pertinent to 1945 or today? a lot has changed in the last 5 years. see the BIOT site.
Dave
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Interested in smart boat technology, networking and all things tech
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