People robbed at gunpoint in cenote dive

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Consider where you're diving---in the middle of a jungle in a fricking 3rd world country
 
A few years ago the guy that was paid to collect money and watch over cars at Mayan Blue was beaten up and robbed. That happened about a year after our last trip to the mainland. Mayan Blue was closed to diving for a while after that. I've heard of other incidents on the mainland. The times I've been there we were also told by our guide to not bring any valuables with us because vehicle break ins were not uncommon. IIRC he even left his truck unlocked and windows down so his windows wouldn't get broken.

Our rule in Mexico after learning the hard way, is to leave nothing in the car and leave the doors unlocked with a window down a little.
 
Consider where you're diving---in the middle of a jungle in a fricking 3rd world country

Well... Just to be clear, Mexico isn't considered a 3rd world country anymore.

The rate of robberies in Mexico is very high. It's #5 internationally. Compare that to the United States (#18) or Canada (#28) and I think it's clear that tourists would be well advised to be vigilant while travelling in Mexico.

In Mexico's defense, if you compare it internationally for other crimes like assaults (US #7, Mexico #32), murders (neither country in the top 40), rape (US #52, Mexico #70) and kidnapping (mexico #36), then it doesn't strike me as a particularly dangerous place to travel.

Obviously, tourists have to be careful everywhere and no country is crime free but let's keep it in perspective.

R..
 
Um . ... never mind. I think I just won't go out again today. Too scary. #54. Yikes.
 
Consider where you're diving---in the middle of a jungle in a fricking 3rd world country

Yeah and that's part of the fun of it!

I've dove them many times and never had a problem. Use some standard precautions and one should be fine. Take only the money you need for that day and if you get robbed you won't loose much.

It happens, people get robbed. No one was hurt. Move on.

PH
 
No. the solution is to find a way to kill anyone that would rob you...
Looks like if I had to dive this area, I would need to find a way to get a security force with guns to stand by....the robbers deserve death.
 
In Lake Worth it is easy to avoid being a victim of crime...Of course, living on Lakeside as I do, crime is almost absent, compared to South Florida as a whole.....the issue of course, is how far you live from the tracks, and the right side of the tracks, etc....there is the tracks area, the buffer zones, and the safe areas....When you know these areas, crime is easy to avoid.......In this Mexican area, it does not seem so easy to avoid it.
 
So because it happens 8-12 blocks away it is a non-issue but when it happens in the middle of nowhere in Mexico it is a big deal? haha

I thought the point was to make sure your self and your family and friends are safe. So you learn and plan....Trying to fix an un-fixable world is not a plan. Trying to Fix what can impact with you, can "sometimes" be fixed. Making no plans to prevent yourself from being preyed on by criminals, is not something I will be guilty of.

So if I had to dive in Mexican caves....just had to ( don't really know why I would, given these reports), then I would be as likely to decide I needed to pay for an armed security detail, as I would be likely to use doubles and a buddy system in a cave dive. If I was not ready to shell out the money for the armed escort, then I would not be diving in a place like this.
 
I think Tim's point is a good one. We have one anecdote of a felonious crime. That does not mean going to dive in Mexico requires body guards, just like the violent crime in south florida doesn't mean you need bodyguards. I have been threatened with assault more at Phil Foster Park than in other countries!

While many people will agree with you that it's good to have a means to protect yourself from those who mean you harm, it is senseless and irrational to try and blow this anecdote up into a requirement for the need for several armed men with you to survive Mexico. You end up sounding like the news anchor who comes out with sensationalist and exaggerated headlines proclaiming that there is a new way to die you simply must hear about after the commercials, and 3 minutes later it turns out to be a story that someone somewhere ate something or went somewhere and died. Just because it happened to someone doesn't mean we need to encourage irrational fears, unless we simply must get the attention to up our ratings.


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