• Forum server maintanace Friday night.(around 7PM Centeral time)
    Website will be off line for a short while.

    You may need to log out, log back in after we're back online.

Detecting in Mexico

Kcs365

Full Member
Joined
Nov 20, 2017
Messages
119
Location
Stamford Ct
I’m heading to Mexico in January and was thinking about bringing my Equinox can anyone tell me if it’s legal down there or anything I have to be mindful of
 
I’m heading to Mexico in January and was thinking about bringing my Equinox can anyone tell me if it’s legal down there or anything I have to be mindful of

Beaches are legal. I would not go inland, unless with people who know the area well. Where are ya going?
 
I’m heading to Mexico in January and was thinking about bringing my Equinox can anyone tell me if it’s legal down there or anything I have to be mindful of

I did it on the beaches in Huatulco and did not have any problems. On the way back the customs stopped me and checked the detector which was in the metal case. But again no problems.
 
Metal detectors are a common site on the tourist beaches there. The major manufacturers (Garrett, Fisher, Minelab, etc...) have dealers down there. Presumably selling them for lawful use :laughing: There's plenty of hunters there that detect in-land. So the practical real-world answer is : No problem .

No doubt like ANYWHERE in the world, where you avoid obvious historic sensitive monuments, blah blah

This question reminds me of a humorous incident I'll relate in the next post :
 
Back in the early or mid 1980s, Fisher Co. used to have a periodical mailer newsletter . Like a bi-monthly or quarterly sales newsletter. Each edition would have a page or two of "Recent things our customers have found" (show & tell). And would, of course, have the obligatory sales pitches for their machines. Eg.: Their newest machine hype, blah blah. And each edition also had a "letter to the editor" section. Where readers could send in any metal detecting related question they had.

In one edition, a reader sent in a question that was IDENTICAL question to yours here. Eg.: "Going on vacation in Mexico, can I bring my detector ?"

The editor's answer was basically: "No. Leave the detector at home. It's not allowed in Mexico"

In the NEXT edition of that periodical, several other readers had written in to take exception to this answer. Saying things like "Says who ?" And "Where did you get this information ?" And "We go down there all the time, and detect with no issues or problems"

The editor, in defense of his answer to the earlier reader, answered : "We asked". And explained that what they had done, when they fielded the earlier inquiry, was to forward the question on to bureaucracy in Mexico govt. legal channels. Eg.: a border consulate, or lawyer, or whatever. And whomever they asked, had told them "No". Therefore, Fisher Co. was merely passing on this info to their magazine readers. Ie.: "Don't shoot us, we're only the messenger" haha

So here's what probably happened : Whomever's desk it landed on, must have couched the answer in terms of laws dealing with shipwreck treasure salvage. Or "raiding the pyramids". Or crossing the border with bars of gold @ export issues, or bothering mating sea turtles, or ...... WHO KNOWS ?

What's strange is that Fisher even had dealers (in a few of the bigger cities) in Mexico. Wouldn't they have stopped and thought : "Gee, how can we be selling detectors in Mexico if you can't legally use them ?" :?:

In other words, it was a GIANT country-wide case of : "No one cared UNTIL you asked". Yet the rumor persisted for years. Simply because of the one off-hand silly magazine statement. Even in the early 1990s, when I went to Mexico, some person in my club was saying "Isn't it illegal there ?". And when I asked him "says who ?", he alluded to having read it in a Fisher article. :roll:

See how that works ? And once someone makes any such statement (OR EVEN THE MERE ASKING OF THE QUESTION TO FELLOW HOBBYISTS) , it's as if you can NEVER put it to death. And, sadly, if someone ever DOES come along and try to solve the matter once-for-all, guess how they're going to try to do it ? Yup, you guessed it : Ask a bored desk jockey bureaucrat. :mad:
 
Beach strips near the water are perfectly legal, it's the federal zone, ALL beaches are public property. However, some hotels do lease a certain strip in front of their places and lay out beach chairs during the day and poull them back in at night. They may ask you to go a bit closer to the water, all that means is go earlier in the morning before they haul the chairs back out if the dry sand is your thing.
Inland is fine with permission, obviously not in mayan ruins etc the same way you wouldn't think of hunting Gettysburg for example...
What part of mexico will you be visiting? Shoot me a pm if you need any more info...
 
Last time I was in Cancun, Mexico was 2010. I detected the beach without any issues. I had asked hotel security if I could detect and was told it would not be a problem. He told me there were locals who detected the beach on the weekends and he was correct. I ended up talking to 2 of them and although they hadn’t found any valuables that day, they told me they do quite well throughout the year.
Not sure if things have changed in the last 10-12 years but I suspect you will be fine.
 
..... I had asked hotel security if I could detect and was told it would not be a problem. ....

Rather arbitrary and whimsical rolling of-the-dice. Here's what happened to another dude once:

He had reservations at a tourist spot @ Mexican resort beach. So he called ahead to the hotel, to inquire as to whether he could bring his detector. Someone eventually called back (apparently after researching his question) and told him "no". And the reason given, was that there are mating sea-turtles, and this could damage their fragile eggs (or some such bullcr*p like that).

So the md'r left his detector at home. Imagine his surprise, when he got to his beach, and saw other md'rs out there, w/o a care in the world. HHhhmmm. I guess they didn't ask the right people ? :?:
 
Dont drink the water

My last trip cost me 3 months being sick and a loss of 60 pounds.
 
How about detecting inland in Mexico?

I did it. And no one said jack-squat to us.

We went over the border in El paso / Jaurez , with our detectors in full view at the inspection point. One of the border patrol pointed at them, and asked my guide something in Spanish. After we'd passed through, I asked my host : "What did he say ?". My host said that he'd asked "what are those ?" They answered "Paso tiempo" (meaning past-time or hobby).

The patrol had just shrugged his shoulders and waived us through.
 
I did it. And no one said jack-squat to us.

We went over the border in El paso / Jaurez , with our detectors in full view at the inspection point. One of the border patrol pointed at them, and asked my guide something in Spanish. After we'd passed through, I asked my host : "What did he say ?". My host said that he'd asked "what are those ?" They answered "Paso tiempo" (meaning past-time or hobby).

The patrol had just shrugged his shoulders and waived us through.

Reason I asked is that a Mexican national here stopped me a few years ago when I was detecting, to talk about treasures inland where he was from in Old Mexico. My swinging the detector got his attention. His stories about local treasures in Mexico sounded kinda solid to me. The beaches were always a natural to me, even though I never had a metal detector in Mexico, ever.
 
.... His stories about local treasures in Mexico sounded kinda solid to me. ....

Let me save you some time : Treasure lore reigns supreme in Mexican culture. Everyone down there is utterly convinced that there's a treasure in every cave & ruin. And they *all* sound so rock-solid true.

But when you unpack them, and start asking tough questions (eg.: "says who", and "what is the proof") it always ends up in he said she said campfire legend type stuff. Or that someone saw sparkles on the ground, or someone saw smoke coming from a spot in the mountain, blah blah blah :roll:
 
Let me save you some time : Treasure lore reigns supreme in Mexican culture. Everyone down there is utterly convinced that there's a treasure in every cave & ruin. And they *all* sound so rock-solid true.

But when you unpack them, and start asking tough questions (eg.: "says who", and "what is the proof") it always ends up in he said she said campfire legend type stuff. Or that someone saw sparkles on the ground, or someone saw smoke coming from a spot in the mountain, blah blah blah :roll:

I suspected as much back during the encounter but he made it all sound exciting.
 
Back
Top Bottom