Cabo was great, but who needs the tourists, right? So we stopped by Mazatlán. Mazatlán is Mexico's largest commercial port, also with some very good beaches...but you have to find them. The view from our cruise ship of this port wasn't quite as welcoming as the view in Cabo.
Where do we begin?
My mom, the vacation research guru, had found a review recommending Stone Island. As soon as we got off of the ship we were again bombarded by locals offering taxi rides to the beach. We chose to keep walking and left the safe haven of the tourist shopping center. We started off with a quick walk on a sidewalk just outside of the terminal. Instantly, I became uneasy. Barbed wire lined fences, and strange looks were plentiful. I was definitely out of my comfort zone. We reached the water and saw several fishing boats lining the shore. One man was filling buckets full of bloody water and tossing it out of his boat! Of course I was thinking the worst at this point because there were no other tourists around besides me, David, Allison & Bryan. (I later found out that there were several sharks lining the beach so the bloody water was just a product of shark fishing.) We came upon a run down little yellow building offering water taxi rides to Stone Island for $2. Sounds like my kinda price, but I was still a little sketched out from the blood incident. Allison & Bryan bought their tickets first, so David and I followed after we realized everything was probably safe enough. We all boarded into a worn little boat and headed off to Stone Island. When we arrived, and cautiously walked up the dock, we were standing on top of a dusty jetty.
Our boat to Stone Island.
Fishing boats...from a safe distance.
Far away from our ship.
Much to our surprise, there was a long, beautiful, mostly empty beach on the other side. The water was so beautiful and blue, I couldn't wait to dive in! We walked a ways down the shore until we found a suitable place to camp out for the day.
Do people actually use this boat??
Golden sand.
When we stopped, we were instantly greeted by several vendors...again. I had to get a few shots of these guys just because it's so ridiculous to me. Why would I want to buy a giant, thick Mexican blanket while sitting on the beach in 95 degree weather? Or how about a kite that has Superman parachuting on the end of it? That's an authentic Mexican good if I've ever seen one...God bless them for trying to make a living in such a difficult way though...
The highlight of the day? I'd definitely have to say the banana boat ride. You see, the thing that amazes me about Mexico is that pretty much anything goes. In the States, liability waivers have to be signed, there are restrictions, etc. But in Mexico, if you want to sit at the bow of a catamaran and take on the risk of potentially falling off, nobody's gonna stop you. If you want to take a banana boat out into the middle of the ocean and risk being devoured by sharks if you flip over, all the power to you. So we decided to go for it. Banana boat rides are pretty popular in most vacation destinations, but this was my first time on one. It's essentially a big cylinder shaped blow up boat with handles on it that you straddle. It literally does look like a banana. We were dragged all the way out to the rock formation visible in the previous photographs. When the boat driver turned around, the rope went under our "boat" and we flipped! He didn't help us or anything, it was pure teamwork to get all four of us back up on that thing. Luckily, sharks left us alone and we were all safely back on the shore within a few minutes. Although, safe isn't necessarily the word considering there were Portuguese Man-o-Wars (jellylike marine invertebrates with a powerful sting) all over the place. You don't want to touch one of those!
Finally, we decided it to call it a day and head back to the dock to get picked up. As I was walking back, I noticed an old beater car -- with a Washington license plate! What the hell??
We hopped in the rickety boat and were back to the port in no time.
The water taxi dock.
What a day! As unwelcoming as it seemed at first, Mazatlán turned out to be a great destination! The beach on Stone Island was one of my favorites. The tourists were few and far between and I was able to relax and play in the water without the hustle and bustle of resorts nearby.
Next stop: Puerto Vallarta
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