Trip report: 1/2-1/9 2021

[Kimela]

Some random pics. We were just diving with an old GoPro, so I'll leave the u/w pics to the pros on the site:
DM Rocky showed my kids how to do this cool bubble ring:

I MUST learn how to do this bubble ring. I've tried, with no success!!!

 

[cozcharlie]

Thanks for the report. Which ATMs did you use at Mega? I did have to dispute 2 large Santander charges there 5 or 6 months ago. (I requested money , it said it had a communication error , then they charged my bank anyway for full withdrawal ). I did get my money back with very little hassle after complaining to my bank in the states.

HSBC ATM seems to be the most reliable of the bunch at Mega. Think fee is still 69 pesos mas o menos as of last week.

 

[cpace]

I tried two ATMs at the MEGA to get $100USD in pesos. Both warned me about a $15USD fee for the transaction and had a "decline this transaction" button. After displaying that warning, I pressed "decline" and both of them spit out my pesos and charged me that $15USD. WTF??? Avoid those machines. I might try to dispute those with my bank.

Why not get pesos from your bank in USA and avoid the aggravation?

 

[H2ODoc]

O.k., guessing it was a Tiida/Versa then. Do you know how much it was with all of the insurance? I think with taxes and insurance we paid around $55/day all-in for one last time.

$14/day for insurance

 

[H2ODoc]

Please tell me more about this ... sounds interesting as I sip my port wine in Missouri in January ... feeling sorry that you went home to snow in Denver. But glad you had such fun on Cozumel!!

You need to go to Ohana and try them. They sell it by the bottle, too, so I now have one tucked away in the fridge for those nights when we want to re-create our Coz trip!

 

[H2ODoc]

Thanks for the report. Which ATMs did you use at Mega? I did have to dispute 2 large Santander charges there 5 or 6 months ago. (I requested money , it said it had a communication error , then they charged my bank anyway for full withdrawal ). I did get my money back with very little hassle after complaining to my bank in the states.

HSBC ATM seems to be the most reliable of the bunch at Mega. Think fee is still 69 pesos mas o menos as of last week.

HSBC is the far right one, I think, and both that one and the Santander had the same "decline this transaction" button, but both transactions when through!

Why not get pesos from your bank in USA and avoid the aggravation?

Next time, we will. I didn't call in advance, so they didn't have many pesos in time for our trip.

 

[mikeycanuk]

Decline the transaction or decline the conversion?

I use CI Banco on 30 near K'ooben Laab, 58 pesos. I did 2 withdraws from that machine and one from HSBC on 30/Andres. I only went to the HSBC machine as I was getting too many 500 bills. And that didn't really work either. I spent the rest of the trip using 500's everywhere and finally getting some small bills. Odd as I went home last near with nothing but a wad of 200 pesos bills.

I got pretty close to posted exchange rates on my non-forex credit card. If you didn't decline the conversion, it works out to a 6.5% charge.

I rented from ISIS which worked out to $35usd per day.

 

[ColoDale]

Ah Dive Palancar pier. For a moment I thought it was the stone pier on Palancar beach. Nice pics. We are trying to get back home to Colorado. Will be difficult as I have not worn pants in two years.

 

[H2ODoc]

Most restaurants had a decent exchange rate, so we paid in USD or credit card.

I was going to go with ISIS, but we needed room for 5, and that was going to be $49/day or about twice what we paid. ISIS is always my go-to in Coz!

By the way, how does everyone handle dive shops that want cash in USD for diving? I'm not a fan of carrying $2500 in cash around for diving PLUS the other cash for restaurants/tips/etc. I'm surprised we can't use Zelle or Venmo or check or something. We were a bit short on cash for paying Papa Hogs for diving (5 people for 6 days with some rental gear is almost $2600). We ended up paying mostly cash plus about $200 on credit card and they charge 15% or so to use a credit card. Ouch.

 

[H2ODoc]

...We are trying to get back home to Colorado. Will be difficult as I have not worn pants in two years.

Arrived Sat night to dark/snow/very icy roads, but today, we are looking at 50 and sun, then 60 and sun on Wednesday. Maybe wear some of those '80s leg warmers with your shorts until it warms up?