Land Crabs
The crabs in Gan may have been few and far between but a little further over the Indian Ocean the ones in Diego Garcia were definitely unfriendly. On my first trip there where we slept in yellow sheets on bunk beds and the walls never reached the ground courtesy of the U.S. Navy. We had a heavy night in "The Ship" the Brit run Pub which was the only source of serious drink on the Atoll. Our R.N. mates advised us against leaving toes, fingers or soft dangly bits hanging over the side of the bed because of nightly marauding land crabs. "Switch the light on before stepping out of your pit" they said. I was on the top bunk but at Oh Christ o'clock when the Co in the bottom bunk needed a wazz he leapt at the light switch on the wall from his pit and the din accompanied by a stream of profanity when the fluorescent light tube inches from my head burst into life woke all the block. I preferred Gan myself.