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I, unfortunately, would have to agree. It will lead to more corruption and simply no ATA Carnet = Tax, Tax and more theft..... I mean tax.

The letter from the ”secretary of tourism” unfortunately does not suggest any positive actions for uw-photographers or divers. The ATA documents will significantly increase the cost of bringing your personal equipment into Mexico, so I think it will actually create more incentive for ”enterprenaurial” initiatives by individual customs personnel. Completely detached inmo. Personally I’ve had Socorro on my list too, but will boycott and go to Malpelo, Galapagos or Cocos instead in that side of the world.

They already do not follow the actual customers literature / rules, so I personally would not trust this as far as I could throw a corrupt customs officer. I hope it works for the sake of us divers, as I would love to go back to Mexico, but, until I hear from people on this or similar forum that it has completely stopped I will be giving it a wide birth. Corruption really makes me angry.

Individual boycotting will protect YOU. I'm already 'Personally' out of pocket to the tune of $1500. I'm not saying do not do it, I am simply saying it will not affect the corrupt customs officers making money from unsuspecting tourists. I will personally not be going, but a few hundred less tourists will make zero difference to Mexico. The only pressure that will have any affect will be IF it comes from someone of importance........ Like government. The fact that they get away with it at all suggests that this goes a lot higher than the customs officers on the ground. If this was the UK then there would be hell to pay, both from companies and tourists. It simply would not happen without higher government input/acceptance.

Riviera Maya News & EventsQuintana Roo Opens Customs Talks After Cozumel Diver Char...Quintana Roo tourism officials have opened discussions with federal customs authorities following complaints that visiting divers are being charged import taxes on underwater cameras and other equipme Click the link to open the news article.

They also have an EU website

28th of July L mount system camera rumors and news - L mount system camera rumors and news from Panasonic Sigma and Leica7Artisans 10mm f/2.5 MAX L autofocus lens is coming on Ju...The company confirmed the launch of a new 7Artisans 10mm f/2.5 MAX L lens on July 28: When a fisheye lens is more than just a wide field of view 🔭 📌7Artisans AF 10mm F2.5 Full-Frame Auto Fisheye Len

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Hi, If individuell boycotting will not work tell me your solution. I myself do not want to support this current corrupt system. Br Markus

Hola Pedro, Welcome aboard! We hope you will enjoy the community. Ciao

Boycotting will NOT work. I agree there are plenty of other dive destinations, although Socorro is firmly on my list but it's only a small proportion of divers that are affected I.e. Photographers and regular divers. Those who request the day boats, dive once every few years will not be affected and Mexico will see very little loss in tourism from us photographers/divers. It will likely be the owners of the live aboard / crews that will be affected, in my opinion. I just cannot understand the rationale behind it, other than straight up corruption / theft.

Hi, I’ve been diving in Mexico several times. Most recently, last October, I dove Cenotes and Baja for 5 weeks. Lucky last year not get ripped off at border in Cancun for my UW rig. I was planning to go again this October. CANCELLED............. no more bucks for Mexico from my side Br Markus

I will happily boycott Mexico diving.. plenty of other places to spend $$ and with good diving!

Yes - doing over 2 hours deco each day - day after day... sucks...

Hi, I do not know the size of your F-stop backpack. But if you do not extend size for international carry on luggage (55 x 40 x 23 cm) it should not be a problem. May be some discussions on check-in. If they refuse, let them know about the value and the fragility. This usually works. Br Markus

Did you take all that photos with similar settings? What was the white balance?

If you are in the UK then it is well worth talking to Easy Composites - their knowledge and customer service is absolutely top notch.

We coated it in an epoxy coating and it was incredibly durable - we beat the absolute crap out of the ROV's doing inspection work that would have had ROV lovers screaming - e.g. running a ROV at full speed down a partly flooded culvert so that it had enough speed to launch itself over the gravel bar part way through and keep going with the inspection - and then get dragged backwards by its tether back over the gravel bar to get it back out - and the foam was never dented - from memory it was a two part swimming pool epoxy that we coated the foam in - it was just what we had lying around.

Hi all: Having just recently joined this community, here goes my introduction. I am Pedro Neves, a Portuguese marine biologist/ecologist working in Madeira island. I use UW photography as a tool do document and promote our work, which mainly revolves around monitoring diversity of fish and macroinvertebrates in several locations in Madeira and Porto Santo islands. All the best: Pedro

I ordered stix floats, but they delivery seriously delayed. I need to find some solution for an upcoming trip. I definitely give that material a try. I found that material may have compressive strength from 0.15 to 0.5 MPa (1.5-5 bar), but I don't know what kind of material I have. So wish me luck.

I changed my plan a bit. I'll bring a roller bag and my F-Stop backpack. If they don't allow the roller as carry-on, I can take out the housing and strobes and carry those separately. My only concern is that my F-Stop backpack is quite large, so they might be strict about that too. Funny enough, I thought the WACP-C would be more compact than a dome, but for travel the shape of a dome is actually much easier to pack.

I have used this stuff for a few years: https://www.easycomposites.co.uk/easycell75-closed-cell-pvc-foam It distorts a bit below 80m but is still useable

The main advantage of foam is price plus the ability to fine tune buoyancy.. How durable is the blue robotics foam? I'm thinking I'd like to use some to balance out my wide angle rig placing it under the housing to counter the float arms above. But sitting the housings on the rocks around shore dive entry sites I'm guessing may cause problems?