Diego Garcia

Diego Garcia is that elusive place that people in the military, or in Jeremy's work, want to go to...just for the experience and to say that they've been.  Jeremy has now been twice.  We will not publicize the unfortunate, negative reasons why.  However, the rest the time on trips can be very positive.

Diego Garcia is a tropical, foot-print shaped coral atoll located south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean (between Africa, India, and Australia).  Nearby are the Seychelles and Maldives.  It is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory.  The United States operates a large support facility, ship and submarine base, air base, and communications and tracking facility.  It is about 67 square miles.  There are no commercial flights in or out.  However, it was one place where the runway was designed to be able to land the Space Shuttle.  This is a fun article to read about "tourism" here:
http://www.gwins.com/gig/articles/ISLANDS_OF_NO_RETURN.htm

If you have ever seen Transformers 2, there is a brief scene here.  That is the closest most people will ever get to seeing it.  Jeremy describes it as "paradise untouched."  There are about 2,000 military and contractors on it.  Places to eat:  the military chow hall and 5-6 restaurants run by the military (none of them chain food places).  Places to sleep:  military lodging similar to a nice hotel room.

This is a road that goes around the island.  Most people, even on the atoll, are not allowed on it.  Jeremy got to go drive on it to the other side of the island, which is uninhabited:

Donkey's are native to the island.  They were brought there hundreds of years ago and run wild:

Old coconut plantation.  Uninhabited, on the other side of the island that Jeremy mentioned earlier:

WWII British aircraft that was wrecked on the island during a hurricane:

Beach photos:

Pristine beach area that Jeremy got to swim in, including a bay area where they saw marine life:

More beach pictures:

Rough work trip!  All Sarah got (and ever will) were copies of the pictures and a t-shirt...