Several weeks ago, we passed through the Nggosele Channel and after anchoring, we were approached by several men in a motorboat, who demanded $1000 Solomon for passing through the channel. We tried to reason with them and ended up paying $500 Solomon – about $75 USD. They did not seem to care that we were planning to tell other cruisers not to use the channel. They claimed that the Minister of Tourism said that they could charge boats for using kastom areas.
So – fellow cruisers – do not go through the Nggosele Channel (that separates Choiseul Island from its neighbor island, Rob Roy.) There is nothing special about the channel anyway! We were just exploring and wanted to get over to the other side of Choiseul.
I will let you know if I find out anything more about this situation. It is common for a landowner to charge a small fee if he has a special site on his land, but it is not right to charge money to use the water!
Vicki
Yacht Compadre
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