Question about safety and security

[Mossman]

Wells Fargo is giving a little better than 13.2:1. WSJournal is quoting 14.358, but those are not retail rates I don't think. The downside to using credit cards is mostly the exchange fee, about 3% I think.

And you can avoid that with the right card. I use my United MileagePlus Explorer card which dropped the 3% fee a while back.

---------- Post added December 6th, 2014 at 09:41 PM ----------

I agree Mossman, I use my CC in Cozumel twice a year and have never had a problem. Besides if the exchange rate is say 12.75:1 with cash you get 10:1 maybe 12:1 but with your card you get 12.75:1. I have had no trouble in Cozumel but I don't act stupid (drunk) don't stay out late at night and take my Mexican wife with me.

I'll have to get me a Mexican wife someday. Just so long as she stays there when I return home to the States.

 

[DjDiverDan]

Personally, I usually take cash to Cozumel -- do NOT pack extra cash in your checked bags, as that can and will get lifted by airport baggage personnel, most likely in the States before you ever leave. I then change $400-$600 into Pesos. I got 13.75 Pesos to the Dollar at ScotiaBank on Thursday, and the rate keeps getting better. I then keep Passport and all extra cash in the Room Safe in my hotel, only carrying about $150 or so, most of it in Pesos, except when I know I'm going to need more (like for paying the Dive Op). I use Pesos for pretty much everything, you'll get a much better deal (using Pesos for taxis is like getting a 35% Discount). In my experience, Cozumel is about one of the safest locations you can go to, and I've been known to walk along Ave. 35 or 65 late at night, without a care. Yes, there is some property crime; if you leave your purse or expensive camera in the back of an open Jeep while you walk the East Side Beaches, they WILL get stolen. So just don't be stupid, and you'll be fine.

 

[DandyDon]

And you can avoid that with the right card. I use my United MileagePlus Explorer card which dropped the 3% fee a while back.

Can I use your card? I need it here by Tuesday.

 

[mediumone]

I also take cash. I take the amount to pay for our diving, and about $250.00 additional to start, which will cover our cab rides to and from PDX, and the grossly overpriced swill in the airports.

We fly into CUN, as the flight choices, prices, and times into CZM are unattractive. (I do not do red-eyes). So I get off the plane, through immigration and customs, and head for the ATM. It's a Santander, and when I withdraw my usual $5,000 MXN, I'll have to pay 31.32 pesos for the privilege. I can expect very, very close to the official exchange rate.

Go to the condo, put the works in the safe, and I'm good. When I need more pesos, I hit another ATM, and will pay about the same for the next withdrawal. I use Pesos for everything except our diving tab. When I total up all of the meals, drinks, tips, transportation, and miscellaneous purchases of all sorts, using pesos yields a substantial, (substantial in my world), savings.

 

[Darol]

Twentyfour trips to Coz and never a problem crime wise, except for the young lady from Columbus, Ohio who decided to rescue my shorty wet suit from the rack at Dive Paradise. A friend was hitting on her and told me she had it. Contacted her and got it back via USPS. My son lives in Columbus and would have paid her a visit.

 

[ASA400]

Thanks guys, that's pretty much what I experienced the other times I was in Coz. I try to have less than $100 on me at any time, and keep the rest in the safe. I will bring my CC but will only use it at the bank atms to get more cash.

 

[DandyDon]

Thanks guys, that's pretty much what I experienced the other times I was in Coz. I try to have less than $100 on me at any time, and keep the rest in the safe. I will bring my CC but will only use it at the bank atms to get more cash.

Cheaper to use your Debit card for cash.

 

[kerrycorcoran]

I have found the island to be very safe. Walking around in tourist areas or general neighborhoods seem fine. The wife and I take the same precautions we would in any city, in or out of the country (US). We have used the ATM's at the banks and the ATM within our resort (Cozumel Palace) and we have yet to experience any issues. Can't wait to return!!

 

[El Graduado]

I am one of those who always say that Cozumel is safer than whatever town or city you currently live in and I stick to that statement. HOWEVER, Cozumel is not crime free and some of the crime is violent. For the most part, these violent crimes do not involve tourists, but that is because most tourists usually keep to certain areas where these crimes usually don't occur.

The past couple of years there have been several purse-snatchings that ended up with the victim severely injured. These attacks usually happened on quiet streets (like some streets in Corpus Cristi) when a woman who was walking, bicycling, or riding her moto was thrown off her feet/bike/moto by young hoodlums coming up behind on a motorbike. Another location that this seems to happen is the area north of eighth street between the Malecon and 10th Avenue (again, quiet streets). A friend of mine was riding his bike in that area one evening when two young men riding on one moto cut him off. The young man on the back of the moto jumped off and pulled a knife. A scuffle ensued, but my friend got away.

Another friend was riding his bicycle home (after dark) and someone came up behind him on a moto and smacked him in the back of the head with something. It fractured his skull and he spent a week in a coma. He suffered a brain injury that has forced him to under go months of rehab. He is getting better. This is not the only "bang-the-head-from-behind" attack that has occurred in the past couple of years.

What I would hope you take away from this is, that even though Cozumel is very safe, it is still in the real world. There are a few bad people are out there. Stay on the sidewalk and avoid quiet streets when walking somewhere after dark. It seems counter intuitive; with there being so many dark doorways and alcoves that you'd think walking in the street where the street light is better would be safer, but it is IN THE STREET that the typical purse-snatching or "bang-the-head-from-behind" attack occurs. I have never heard of someone being assailed by someone who was hiding in a dark doorway on Cozumel; not to say it never happened, but I've never heard of one. Typically, the hoodlums use a moto. If you are on a sidewalk, out of reach from the passing moto, you are less of a target.

 

[Mossman]

but it is IN THE STREET that the typical purse-snatching or "bang-the-head-from-behind" attack occurs.

I have been victim several times of a "bang-the-head-from-behind" attack in Cozumel but it's always been underwater, sometimes even in broad daylight. Fortunately I don't carry my purse underwater.