Radar Dome Transit
07 April 2015 | Isla Mujeres, Mexico
Susan / mostly sunny, 86 degrees F
The large cardboard box containing the Garmin xHD radar dome held everyone's attention at the airports. First at check-in (SeaTac) where the US Airlines counter-ladies were not at all sure they'd allow it on the airplane. Radar dome...? Does it have magnets? Does it have a battery? They repeat: No magnets? No batteries? and a host of other questions at least five times. Still not sure it can fly. Phone calls are made. Everyone watches and listens in; the line behind us moves slowly around us. A half an hour later, the agent gets the ok. All we have to do is pay $200 oversized baggage fee. This even though we're flying first class and are checking only two other bags, well under the per person limit.
At the other end (Cancun) the customs agents have their own questions. Jerry explains (in Spanish) it's a radar dome, equipment for a yacht-in-transit. The agent calls someone else to decide what to do. He makes a phone call, checks our paperwork, asks for the receipt / cost of the unit. Time passes. Finally a decision; we have two choices: leave it at the airport and get the necessary official paperwork from CIS / Puerto Juarez or pay duty on the amount over the general allowance of $500 per person which turns out to be around US$ 225. Factoring in the cost and time of the return trip(s) to Puerto Juarez and the airport, and the possibility of further hassles of locating it and transporting it we decide to pay. After that transaction is complete and all official stamps are stamped, the customs agent walks us around the line to the exit, stopping to talk with the military guard to let him know we are ok to depart the airport. The good news is they are so focused on the Big Box that they do not require us to scan all of our other luggage which would have revealed the AIS, chart plotter and other equipment and supplies; nor do they collect our customs form.
On the balance, we did ok. All equipment is now on Vida Dulce ready for installation and testing over the next several days.