Chagos

CHAGOS SAILING / CRUISING NOTES

Ketoro March 2010

Peros Banhos Atoll

Arriving from the Seychelles, we entered in the western pass. As a first-time visitor and relatively novice sailor, it is somewhat disconcerting when you see the long line of breaking water indicating the extensive reef but the Raymarine chart-plotter / Navionics chart is accurate and we got through easily.

We subsequently used the northern pass, using waypoints 05:15.185S 71:48.000E (inside) and 05:14.697S 71:48.477E. The depth drops rapidly when entering the atoll, from 150m to 18m over only a few metres, but we saw no shallower than 11m. Nonetheless, we still had to skirt a few bommies so good light is required.

There is an uncharted (Navionics) shallow area at 05:22.308S 71:46.254E, easily visible in good light; it is not particularly shallow however.

Peros Banhos has only three permitted anchorage areas: Ile Diamant in the north, Ile du Coin / Ile Anglaise in the SW and Ile Fouquet in the south. Particularly in the case of the latter two, the authorised anchorage areas are, in fact, not the safest areas; the permitted locations put you into sand areas that have several bommies to watch out for, and put beautiful sand patches, clear of all coral, into the disallowed area! We were, however, generally able to find good anchorage in the allocated areas (there is good holding sand).

Ile du Coin / Ile Anglaise

This anchorage gives good protection in all winds except from the north and east.
We anchored at 05:26.516S 71:45.600E in 25m sand and subsequently 05:26.319S 71:45.488E in 16m sand. Another anchorage, closer to the pier and solidly in the BIOT recommended anchorage area, was abandoned as it put us uncomfortably close to several bommies and we heard our chain scraping: time to move.

This anchorage is a good spot from which to explore the islands of Coin, Anglaise, Gabrielle and Monpatre (twin islands) and Poule. Snorkelling was good off all of them particularly Poule and Coin (east of the pier).

On land: Coin has the fascinating plantation structures (at the pier entrance and also find the cemetery half-way down the island) and has a good well near the main old house. It has a few citrus trees (not export quality fruit but welcome….!) and some bilimbi trees (very tart fruit but great; also keeps mosquitoes at bay). Walking around the other islands at low tide is great, particularly Gabrielle/Monpatre.

Ile Fouquet

This anchorage gives good protection in all winds except from the north and west.
We anchored at 05:27.591S 71:48.747E in 14m sand (there is also shallower anchorage).

Very pretty island, quick and easy to walk around at low tide. Nice snorkelling at the Aquarium (inside the reef) and drifting the outer reef. Look out for manta rays and dolphins. Excellent fishing both inside and outside at the pass.

Ile Diamant

This anchorage gives good protection in all winds except from the south and east.
We anchored at 05:15.301S 71:46.369E in 8m excellent sand. The sand patch is fairly small – good for two or three yachts.

This is a lovely anchorage as a base to explore the islands of Diamant, Mapou (Grand and Petit) and Ile Pierre; the latter is a fascinating island to walk on the outer-atoll side (seemed to have different shells and corals washed up) while you may find the wells (not really usable without effort), citrus and bilimbi trees on Diamant. The snorkelling was marvellous around the FAD (around the middle of the island) and at the SW tip of the island; it is also good elsewhere!

Salomon Atoll

Waypoints for entry to Salomon Atoll

The waypoints below were reported by others, and found useful and accurate by us. There are fewer shallow areas down the centre of the atoll (more when closer to Ile Anglaise) and good light is required to make way.

WP1                                       05:17.857S           72:14.384E          
WP2       (Inside pass)             05:18.489S           72:14.508E          
WP3                                       05:18.855S           72:14.772E          
WP4                                       05:20.314S           72:14.278E

Ile Boddam

At Boddam there are several bommie moorings, but there are also apparently reasonable reported anchoring spots. In 2013 we were on a mooring at 05:21.422S 72:12.674E; we dove on the mooring and were happy with its condition; we felt safe although it was close to a drying reef (as are many of the moorings.)

Boddam is a good base from which to explore the tiny islands of Ile Poule and Ile du Sel; there is wonderful snorkeling around bommies and walls near these islands.

Walks on Boddam (to the plantation buildings and cemetery) and around it (low tide) are good.

Ile Takamaka / Ile Fouquet

The sand spit between the two islands is most beautiful but gets eroded by very strong currents between the islands; as a consequence the holding is not good and yachts are at risk. This anchorage in general gives good protection in all winds except from the north and west.

We anchored in 15m at 05:20.197S 72:15.883E and found the holding good. This is a lovely anchorage as a base to explore the two islands and the smaller islets (Sepulture and Jacobin) along the sand spit to the south-west of Fouquet, and to access the excellent snorkeling near these.

Chagos General Snorkeling Note:

We always pulled our dinghy while snorkelling in case the drift was too strong… and in case we felt uncomfortable with a shark! Reef sharks, mostly black-tip, some white-tip, some grey, are prolific but each seems to have its own reefs/areas that it prowls constantly. And every area has at least one shark. So wherever and whenever you go to explore the reef, you will encounter sharks (we saw sharks on almost every snorkel). Reef sharks are not dangerous to humans (apparently) but they are very curious and circle a few times as they check you out. We believed the reef sharks at Boddam to be more curious than elsewhere, probably as they are so accustomed to people, being fed by yachties when cleaning their fish.