As you can imagine, with over 600 students, 100 faculty and staff, and 50 life long learners… a voyage like this cannot go uninterrupted.  Two days ago, we were made aware that a number of participants were experiencing health problems that required more care than the medical staff aboard the MV Explorer could give.  In spite of this, we would be making an unexpected, but absolutely necessary stop.

Diego Garcia is a small island in the Indian Ocean owned by the British. Its territorial waters, going out to 3 nautical miles (6 km) have been restricted from public access without permission of the BIOT Government and is exclusively used as a military base, primarily by the United States.  As you can imagine it was not an easy task just “dropping by” Diego Garcia.  As we approached the island, a tub boat and six small boats, all filled with armed British and American military men, surrounded our ship.  Six armed individuals boarded the MV Explorer to perform some sort of “sweep” before anything else could happen.  We were strictly forbidden to take any pictures of the island, even from afar.  Once all mandatory actions were performed, two students and one crew member were safely evacuated from the ship to a small medic boat, where they would be brought onto the US naval base, and then emergency med-flighted to Singapore, where necessary actions could be taken.  Although it was quite an eventful morning, we must remember that the reason we stopped at this usually forbidden place was not a good one.  Luckily, though, none of the participants were in life or death situations, and they will be okay.