TDY Gouge - Diego Garcia, BIOT

Diego Garcia, BIOT - AMCC is your point of contact for everything here. They have snorkel gear, bicycles, and other sports equipment that will make your stay bearable. There is a shuttle that runs between all over the base every 15 minutes, or check out a bike unless you want to hoof it everywhere. The club has a make your own pizza and the O'club has live music and a patio right on the beach with a local live band that was decent. There is a comissary-type store with convenient hours and a "ship's store" with BX-type stuff and movies for rent. Check out the outdoor theater with 2 shows per night next to the well-equipped gym. The Seamen's Club has really good chow. Burgers and Bytes has short-order junk food as well as computers for surfing if you happen to catch them open. If not, there is also a internet cafe with free computers if you don't mind waiting an hour or so for 30 mins of net time. Get a FREE haircut at the barber shop next to the Q's. Also, get one of the locals hanging outside your Q to put a spitshine on your boots for 4 bones! Best sorkeling is on the lagoon side near the E-club -- beautiful water, coral, and fish. Watch for jellyfish, sharp coral, and the equatorial sun. Fishing at Diego is incredible. Talk to Vic at the Marina or call AMCC and they will transfer you. He can set you up with a trip for $150 for the boat (max of 4 people). It is best to be at the marina early, I think it opens at 0700. The locals will gut and fillet the fish you catch and then you take the fillets to the United Seamans Service and they will cook it all for you for $6 a person. Also, if you are at Diego on the weekend, go to the plantation on the other side of the island. It costs 1 dollar for a pass you have to get from the BIOT police. They have a shuttle bus that runs three times a day. Bring snorkeling gear, the beaches on the Lagoon by the plantation are like no other--pristine, and not crowded. Wifi internet is available at most of the MWR/Services locations, you have to buy a $20 phone card that you can use to call home or for the internet. If you use it for only the internet it is $5 and hour. You can make DSN calls from your Q room but the AC has to approve it when the AMC rep meets you at the jet.