Mexico situation - Liveaboards coming up - What to do?

[kleinson]

The boat is the Quino from Cabo San Lucas harbor, so most likely it's a quick in/out as travel between Socorro and Cabo is about 12h anyway. So plan is to just hang tight at the airport and not even do hotel on the way back.

I agree that you'll most likely be OK.......but now might be a good time to contact your live-aboard operator to see what their policies on travel advisories or bans are if things should escalate or change..... You might also want to confirm what your trip insurance provider will or will not cover....if you have travel insurance.

Good idea. I did send a message to Liveaboard.com, so will follow up with Capital One where I have automatic travel insurance through credit card.

 

[Lorenzoid]

There are literally thousands of tourists who fly into San Jose del Cabo every day. Lots are headed to Cabo San Lucas but many go elsewhere on the Baja. Pick yourself a place to stay before/after your liveaboard trip that is in a part of town you're comfortable with and enjoy the diving.

Sure, but there may be significantly fewer flying into SJD "every day" than there were before the violence erupted. The OP's caution seems very reasonable to me.

 

[San Diego Climber]

Culiacan and Cabo are like 200 miles of almost-open-ocean apart. I doubt there's any material impact to the overall number of visitors to Baja Sur. The State Department's travel warnings are almost a joke, last time I looked it seemed like every other country was on the warning list for some reason or another. Meanwhile, in US daily gun violence news...

 

[AZTinman]

Generally, the drug cartels haven't purposefully targeted people engaged in tourism activities. Risk factors can substantially be reduced by steering clear of places that you probably shouldn't be anyway.

Caution and situational awareness are good things with all international travel.

-AZTinman

 

[kleinson]

Latest "news"...

2 Mexican airports reopen amid unrest, but Canadians still advised to take caution - National | Globalnews.ca

The airports in Culiacan and Mazatlan restarted operations Friday morning and a third remained closed as unrest continues in Sinaloa state following the arrest of a cartel leader.

globalnews.ca

Visitors To Parts Of Mexico Are Being Told To Shelter In Place & El Chapo's Son Is Involved

Planes have been hit by gunfire.

www.narcity.com

‘Have your wits about you’: Travel advice for Canadians visiting Mexico

The federal government says 1.8 million Canadians travelled to Mexico in 2022. Some of the more popular tourist spots include Cabo San Lucas, Cancun, ...

www.thestar.com

 

[Jafo19D]

Generally, the drug cartels haven't purposefully targeted people engaged in tourism activities. Risk factors can substantially be reduced by steering clear of places that you probably shouldn't be anyway.

Caution and situational awareness are good things with all international travel.

-AZTinman

They shot at a civilian airliner on the tarmac

 

[AZTinman]

"They shot at a civilian airliner on the tarmac."

Like I said, "Generally, the drug cartels haven't purposefully targeted people engaged in tourism activities." Was the airliner specifically targeted or was it hit by gunfire that was intended for other targets? I wasn't there... maybe you were.

People have the right to think whatever they want. If someone thinks the current situation in Sinaloa is a reason cancel a trip departing from Baja California Sur, that's okay with me.

I started traveling to locations in Sonora and Baja over twelve years ago fairly frequently. During that time do not ever remember the U.S. State Department not having travel advisories recommending people not travel in Mexico. Many of the people I dive with in Sonora and Baja have been going there since the early 1970's. None of us have ever had any issues where we feared for our lives from cartel activity.

Nowadays, there are risks when traveling internationally. Personally, I believe being thoughtful and aware of risks helps reduce the risk... but, that's just me. Frankly, there are areas in Phoenix and Tucson where I feel less safe than I've ever felt while traveling in Mexico.

-AZTinman

 

[Lorenzoid]

I started traveling to locations in Sonora and Baja over twelve years ago fairly frequently. During that time do not ever remember the U.S. State Department not having travel advisories recommending people not travel in Mexico. Many of the people I dive with in Sonora and Baja have been going there since the early 1970's. None of us have ever had any issues where we feared for our lives from cartel activity.

This brings to mind how perspectives might differ depending on the times. When I lived in San Diego, beginning in the '80s, I traveled down to Baja a lot. I don't recall any travel advisories, but then again, the Internet didn't exist, and unless you were really diligent, the information we had on safety was word-of-mouth and a guidebook. My friends and I had no fear for our safety, other than the usual caution for petty crime. As far as I can recall, the security checkpoints on the roads didn't start popping up until a few years later. By the late '90s none of my friends with whom I'd camped on remote beaches felt that was safe anymore; I couldn't even get to the off-road bits without military guys jumping out of their vehicles to check out my SUV with suspicion. (From TV dramas, it would seem the bad guys prefer SUVs.) You didn't say specifically, but I would guess that your people who have been going down there "since the early 1970s" have noticed a change for the worse, even if they still feel safe enough to continue visiting. I, too, would feel safe enough to visit now, but I would exercise more caution than I did in decades past and avoid remote areas.

 

[San Diego Climber]

This brings to mind how perspectives might differ depending on the times. When I lived in San Diego, beginning in the '80s, I traveled down to Baja a lot. I don't recall any travel advisories, but then again, the Internet didn't exist, and unless you were really diligent, the information we had on safety was word-of-mouth and a guidebook. My friends and I had no fear for our safety, other than the usual caution for petty crime. As far as I can recall, the security checkpoints on the roads didn't start popping up until a few years later. By the late '90s none of my friends with whom I'd camped on remote beaches felt that was safe anymore; I couldn't even get to the off-road bits without military guys jumping out of their vehicles to check out my SUV with suspicion. (From TV dramas, it would seem the bad guys prefer SUVs.) You didn't say specifically, but I would guess that your people who have been going down there "since the early 1970s" have noticed a change for the worse, even if they still feel safe enough to continue visiting. I, too, would feel safe enough to visit now, but I would exercise more caution than I did in decades past and avoid remote areas.

Current day San Diego: without even taking time to think I can list more than two dozen people I know locally who have recently traveled to the Yucatan, Cabo, coastal Baja (beach camping/surfing), Mexico City, Monterey, and Puerto Vallarta in the last month or two. The further you are from Mexico, the more it's passed off as some boogeyman where the entire country is a modern day Mordor.

Would I travel to Culiacan? Probably not. But I also wouldn't have even before the recent Guzman arrest.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Current day San Diego: without even taking time to think I can list more than two dozen people I know locally who have recently traveled to the Yucatan, Cabo, coastal Baja (beach camping/surfing), Mexico City, Monterey, and Puerto Vallarta in the last month or two. The further you are from Mexico, the more it's passed off as some boogeyman where the entire country is a modern day Mordor.

Would I travel to Culiacan? Probably not. But I also wouldn't have even before the recent Guzman arrest.

This may illustrate my point (though I don't think anyone here is talking about "the entire country"--just the narcotrafficking corridors). What are those people who travel in those places comparing their perceived level of safety today with? In other words, what is their baseline? Were they doing those same Baja trips decades ago, and if so, do they believe they are more safe, less safe, or the same as back then? That's the same question I would ask @AZTinman 's friends who have been going there since the 1970s. Even today it may be safe enough not to deter them from going, but is it as safe as it used to be? It all depends on one's baseline.