Mazatlan, Sinaloa, MX

For years, every winter my wife and I dreamed of spending some vacation time in warmer climates. Still and all, we seldom left our adopted home in Fargo, ND. A few years back, my son called and told us that he and his longtime girlfriend were to be married, and if we didn’t mind, they would like the ceremony to be held in Mazatlan, Mexico.

Truth is, Mexico was never a dream destination in my mind. We’d been more interested in the Caribbean Islands with their white sandy beaches and plentiful cruise opportunities. As we were to discover, our son’s future in-laws were longtime winter vacationers in Mazatlan. So, freshly minted passports in hand, we were off to an adventure in a foreign country. Up to this point, our only experiences in foreign countries were the British Virgin Islands and our nearby neighbors to the north in Canada. Since that trip, we have been south of the border, down Mexico way on several occasions.

I submit for your visual discernment a small gallery of images taken during our visit to Stone Island.

Our catamaran awaits as we queue for boarding.

During our stay in Mazatlan, we elected to spend a day on one of the more popular excursions, a trip to Stone Island. The island is actually miss-identified. It’s actually a peninsula. Though we could drive there, we opted to take an excursion. With planned activities, the entire trip would take six hours. The cost of the day trip is still quite reasonable. There are only a few extra cost options and they aren’t very expensive either.

I never did find out why this ship was flying a Mexican flag above the bridge and an American flag on the stern. The flag in front appears to be an American flag but close inspection shows it’s only red and white striped.

On a somewhat dreary day, the morning fog lifted to give us a mostly cloudy day with punctuations of direct sunshine. After being picked up at the hotel, we boarded a large catamaran and sailed the short distance past commercial and military docks. Only a few minutes later, we arrived at the dock on Stone Island.

Our chariots await.

We started our tour on wagons pulled by farm tractors and our first stop was a beach-side area where we were serenaded by mariachis and, cervazas in hand, we planned the day’s activities.

A three hour block of optional time was provided for lunch and activities. Guests could choose from kayaking, snorkeling, boogie boarding, banana boating, horseback riding, a horse cart tour or just relaxing under the palapas and enjoying the open bar. There was more than enough time to choose more than one activity.

The return trip would last much longer than our outbound trip. The catamaran would make a loop seaward to visit some of the offshore landmarks.

Click on one of the images below to view in larger size and scroll through the gallery.

Commercial dock leaving for Stone Island.

Fishermen plying their trade.

We chose to horseback ride along the beach.

Our son, Josh, led the way.

My wife, Lynn, with Isla Cardones in the background.

Mariachis entertain during lunch.

As the sun sets behind Bird Island, we say “Adios” to Mazatlan.

I will forever be indebted to my son and his bride for introducing us to western Mexico. Update: 1/25/2016… Last winter we went back to Mazatlan and had another great vacation. I wrote several posts about Mazatlan there. This link will take you to the first article of the series. You can navigate to the remaining ones from there.

John Steiner