Day 1 was mostly a travel day. We left early in the morning and drove to Phoenix where we had a direct flight to Mazatlan. We originally planned to drive but the US State Dept was sending out warnings about the road and Rich found a cheap airfare so we decided to fly. In between staying up late to pack and getting up to leave early I slept pretty much all the way from Green Valley to the Resort. Once we arrived at the Resort, we unpacked and walked around taking pictures.
This first collage is of our room from the outside (our room is the first sliding glass door on the lower floor, and from the inside (2 big beds and a sitting area). I love the clean white, blue, and tan coloring of the room.
This is a collage of the some of the other areas of the resort: the entrance to the Marina; our building from across "our" pool; the ferry running from the Resort to the beach; and the pool bar in the "other" pool.
This is a collage of some of our fellow sunbathers. Sometimes I felt like I had traveled to the Jurassic Park Island and they were getting ready to leap.
Day 2 We took the El Cid Shuttle to the other 3 El Cid’s in Mazatlan. They each had their own special items but we were very happy with our choice. (Especially with Rich’s love of all things nautical.
This is a collage of the pools and beach area in the other resorts.
Day 3 We took the ferry across the marina entrance to the beach area and spent the morning on the beach and the afternoon by the pool.
This is a collage of: Our Building from the marina entrance; Part of the marina itself; The beach looking back towards our building; and looking down the beach in the other direction.
Day 4 We took a sailboat to Stone Island, not a real island but an isolated peninsula which is easier to reach by boat than driving.
On the trip to the island we saw a small island of sea lions as well as several rock islands that the birds have been painting for decades.
Getting closer to Stone Island we saw the lighthouse (the highest active lighthouse) (somewhat misleading as it is quite short but on a tall island). This breakwater is augmented with I think of as giant toy jacks. That sailboat was our tour boat. And the beach where we spent the day.
Stone island itself was a study in contrasts. As part of our tour we were able to do 2 activities. The first activity we chose was a horse driven carriage around the “town”. The town felt like a sleepy Mexican Fishing Village. No real streets, some trucks, lots of horses, lots of construction, but with tourists everywhere. You could take a horseback ride, a horse drawn carriage or an ATM.
For our second activity we decided to take the banana boat ride (that is Rich getting on in the front and me trying to figure out how to get on in the back.) Definitely not a sleepy ride.
Day 5 We took the shuttle into town and walked around the Golden Zone. I did not take my camera (not sure why, but I am sure I had a good reason) 2 years ago we drove to Mazatlan and stayed in another resort while we visited with our friends Bob & Connie who were staying in their fifth wheel in a RV Park (since closed - we tried unsuccessfully to find it.) This day was full of “this is where we *** with Bob & Connie”. In addition we revisited the hotel where we stayed that time, and the shop where we purchased several items for the house. Since we were traveling by air this time purchasing items was not an option. I did manage to get plenty of steps on the step counter.
Day 6 We took the Mazatlan City Tour.
The first place we stopped was the big public Market. Mazatlan's answer to Walmart. You can buy just about anything you want, pretty good prices, just not one owner. I went for color here not odd. I did get some photos of the Pig’s heads and the whole steer they had for sale but decided not to share.
Next we went to see the Cathedral. Lovely from the outside and the inside.
Then we went for panorama views from a hilltop: Including the main Boardwalk and beach; the smaller beach area; one of the 2 Cruise ships in port that day; and the Cathedral from a distance.
And lastly we went to see Mazatlan’s Cliff Divers.
Day 7 We hung around the pool all day saving up energy for the next big travel day
Day 8 Was the reverse of day 1, although at the end of the day we were not completely unpacked and definitely not ready to continue with life at home. We were very happy to see Max, as was he to see us.
No comments:
Post a Comment