Mazatlan

We ended up spending 2.5 weeks in Mazatlan and had quite the adventure exploring this fabulous city, which turned out to be a wonderful mix of old and new mainland Mexico.


One of the first residents of Mazatlan we met after moving S/V Estrella to Marina Singlar Mazatlan (from our initial anchorage at Isla Piedra) was this lovely marine iguana. Note the size of the talons on this iguana. From tip to tip, it was approximately three feet long. And as it turns out, that is small/medium for the marine iguanas here.


On one of our trips to the downtown (and much less touristy) section of Mazatlan, we found that if one desired to hire a man to dive off a cliff, such things were indeed possible. We paid approximately $20 for such a service and were not disappointed. In the above photo, our diver is waiting for a large wave to pass for maximum diving depth. It was low tide.


Here is our diver (the small dot in the water to the left of the diving cliff) waving to us, essentially informing us that he survived. An odd novelty for sure, but we feel it was money well spent.


The diving platform is behind Josh. Note the precarious steps with lack of handrail.


We journeyed back to Isla Piedra for more beer and garlic shrimp pizza at Pizza Benji's. There is a small goat herd that lives on the hill behind the restaurant. I went for a hike while waiting for pizza and found myself quickly surrounded by loud goats conducting precarious rock climbing drills.


Also on this Isla Piedra hike were the requisite prickly pear cacti and turkey vulture.


Another wonderful hike in Mazatlan is the climb up the small mountain on the north side of the Mazatlan harbor entrance, where the world's second highest lighthouse is precariously placed. Only the lighthouse at the Rock of Gibraltar is higher in overall elevation (mountain + lighthouse).


This placard on the lighthouse marks the official latitude and longitude, the watts emitted continuously (1000), and the distance visible at sea (30 nautical miles or 50 kilometers). This lighthouse was clearly visible amongst the glow of Mazatlan as we approached the mainland on S/V Estrella.


This perspective overlooks the spit of land connecting the lighthouse mountain to the city of Mazatlan. At the center of the photograph is old Mazatlan, while the Zona Dorada (or touristy "Golden Zone") is at the left edge of the photograph. Unfortunately, the pollution emitted by the local power plant is clearly visible over the city.


We watched the Mazatlan harbor tugboats stage themselves for the arrival of the Baja ferry from La Paz. Our beloved S/V Estrella is visible behind the breakwater in the Isla Piedra anchorage.



The tall structure in the middle of the photo is the Pacifico beer (or Cervecería del Pacífico) bottling plant. Josh and I took advantage of the free brewery tour while in Mazatlan and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys beer and German engineering. (Most of the facility is run by computers designed by German beer engineers), Address: