Mazatlan, Mexico

Our second port was Mazatlan.  Cathy and I both agree that this was our favorite stop of the trip.

This is a small island next to the port.  This photo was taken on the deck of our ship before we got off that morning.  Somebody must have been burning something.  I learned one time "where there's smoke there's fire."  

This photo is looking off the other side of the ship at the port where we docked with Mazatlan in the background.  Our taxi tour took us over near the tall hill by the ocean and up the coast.

We stopped and went inside this Cathedral and listened to part of a Mass service (in spanish).  It was pretty fancy inside.  I think they said this Cathedral has been around since the 1930's and they have just continually upgraded it with towers and stuff.

This picture shows you how beautifully rocky and cliffy the ocean is arounf Mazatlan.  If you look close you'll spot our friend Hector who we met and paid $10 to dive off the cliff.  He has pretty good form (and timing).  He did survive this dive FYI without a scratch.  I asked him for a discount if his cliff dive was unsuccessful, so I think he had extra incentive not to die.

This is us hanging out in hotel pool that is friendly to cruise passengers.  Our taxi tour driver Carlos knew about this place and hooked us up.  Taj loved the pool, and so did Nickel.

The pool had a cool water slide which Taj loved (but made him a little nervous).  Taj preferred to hug on to me going down the slide but agreed to face forward for this photo.

This is Carlos.  He is the main reason Mazatlan was our favorite spot.  He was really fun and interesting tour guide and knew all the cool local spots to show us.  If you ever visit, make sure you ask for Carlos as your tour guide.  And be sure to ask him to take you to get some Suaves (marshmallow candies covered in roasted coconut shavings).

Taj and his cousins.  Taj put on this sombrero and decided to start getting down to the latin street music being played.  He really had some impressive moves and poses.