Took my family on a vacation to Cabo San Lucas MX, I decided to not take my Nox along but my son did. Before the trip I had some concerns about traveling to MX with the detector. I contacted Southwest Airlines and they advised that as long as the detector fit into a carry-on sized bag we could take it on the plane. So we removed the aftermarket carbon shaft and packed the original 2 piece aluminum shaft, the head unit, coil and headphones into the hard sided carry-on bag. The lower shaft would not fit as it is too long so we packed it in the checked bag. We made a collapsible sand scoop which went in the checked bag.
We made it through TSA just fine and there was no issue with customs entering MX. However our return to the U.S. was not quite as easy. Upon arrival at the Southwest ticket counter we were advised we could not take the detector onto the plane in the carry-on luggage. I asked why and they really had no answer other than to point to a list of items that were not allowed on in carry-on luggage and they had metal detector listed! I asked for management and asked why we can fly from U.S. with it in the carry-on but not back to the U.S. which made no sense when it's the same flight and carrier. He said that TSA will not allow it through to the gate. After a lot of discussion we opted to allow them to check the bag. Certainly not what we wanted to do as we have had issues in the past with some items being stolen from our bags traveling from Mexico to U.S.
Well long story short the detector made it back safe and sound, of course the whole time it was out of our control we were concerned. I always use black zip ties on the zipper and it was not cut so they never opened the luggage. Just be aware when traveling outside the U.S. you may not always be able to bring the detector in carry-on luggage.
Now to recap the treasure hunting. My son hit the beach (Medano Beach) at first light on day one and was greeted by 3 other locals doing the same thing! He said however they had older machines that were not waterproof. So he opted to work the 1-2' deep water. He got about 2 hours of hunting in before it got too hot, he found about 50 pesos, 2 different silver ear rings and a silver toe ring. Nothing great and he felt it was picked over so he thinks there is more than the guys he saw treasure hunting. We were there a week and he went to a few different beaches during that time. There was some pretty big surge in the water so he could not get too deep limiting the wet sand searching. By the end of the week he had enough pesos to buy dinner, 4 rings, one with tiny diamonds that test real, one with a opal and silver setting that is beautiful, couple generic silver rings and some silver ear rings. He also found lots of scrap metal and stainless parts to boats and such. In all not the quantity of jewelry he imagined but he enjoyed the experience.
We made it through TSA just fine and there was no issue with customs entering MX. However our return to the U.S. was not quite as easy. Upon arrival at the Southwest ticket counter we were advised we could not take the detector onto the plane in the carry-on luggage. I asked why and they really had no answer other than to point to a list of items that were not allowed on in carry-on luggage and they had metal detector listed! I asked for management and asked why we can fly from U.S. with it in the carry-on but not back to the U.S. which made no sense when it's the same flight and carrier. He said that TSA will not allow it through to the gate. After a lot of discussion we opted to allow them to check the bag. Certainly not what we wanted to do as we have had issues in the past with some items being stolen from our bags traveling from Mexico to U.S.
Well long story short the detector made it back safe and sound, of course the whole time it was out of our control we were concerned. I always use black zip ties on the zipper and it was not cut so they never opened the luggage. Just be aware when traveling outside the U.S. you may not always be able to bring the detector in carry-on luggage.
Now to recap the treasure hunting. My son hit the beach (Medano Beach) at first light on day one and was greeted by 3 other locals doing the same thing! He said however they had older machines that were not waterproof. So he opted to work the 1-2' deep water. He got about 2 hours of hunting in before it got too hot, he found about 50 pesos, 2 different silver ear rings and a silver toe ring. Nothing great and he felt it was picked over so he thinks there is more than the guys he saw treasure hunting. We were there a week and he went to a few different beaches during that time. There was some pretty big surge in the water so he could not get too deep limiting the wet sand searching. By the end of the week he had enough pesos to buy dinner, 4 rings, one with tiny diamonds that test real, one with a opal and silver setting that is beautiful, couple generic silver rings and some silver ear rings. He also found lots of scrap metal and stainless parts to boats and such. In all not the quantity of jewelry he imagined but he enjoyed the experience.
