For the 1st time, I have a car with me in Mazatlan, so this means I’m able to go shopping or sight seeing without having to depend on public transport. Not that there’s anything wrong with using public transportation, I’ve done it hundreds of times in Maz myself. And Maz has some of the best vehicles and lowest transportation prices in the country. They are one of the few cities that allow pulmonias, which are little golf cart rigs, open air, can seat 4 adults. Cost less then taxis. Also quicker, and since they’re open, better to look around type vehicle too. And not nearly as slow as taking a bus would be. Which I did a lot of in past years as well. I have stayed at the Las Jaibas in years past and on this visit I soon found out that the wifi here is now video streaming fast. Some of that has to do with my more modern equipment of course, but it’s nice that the infrastructure has gotten better as well over the years because I don’t recall there speeds being this high back then. Just an FYI, Uber is here too. Some towns in Mexico have outlawed them, Maz isn’t one of them.
I’m all parked and set up, have a very nice shade tree right next to my spot and a line of sight to the building housing the laundry and wifi modem…unless a RV pulls into a space between me and there. Then the signal gets blocked and is crappy. But I’m working on a scheme to fix that. One thing I found right off is that the 30 amp line I’m on often overvolts, climbing to 133. So my Progressive shuts off. That is a bit annoying, and the park refuses to do anything about it other than have me move back where you can’t get any wifi, so I’m staying here and adjusting. It really only happens at night because during the day there’s plenty of devices operating that draw the voltage down to 130. Some other RV’s on the same AC line help with reducing the line voltage during the day too, just by being connected.
This is the view of the building where the modem is. My high gain antenna can pick up a strong enough signal that I can usually stream video. The owner is, how you say, an idiot since he’s got the same exact setup that was here a decade ago. He’s never tried to hire an expert to get better wifi transmission as I’d encouraged he do years ago. Even a small, inexpensive antenna on the roof of the building would do better for his customers but he refuses to do even that. I’m parked where I have this view of the office and if a RV parks between me and that building, wifi goes to hell. But like I said, I have a plan for that…
So 3 days after I got here and set up, I’d already found the Walmart nearby, and happened to find an ad online about a catamaran cruise. A 3 hour tour they call it. Of the Mazatlan harbor and along the coast. Food and liquor in the price. Cost was $48 US. Not bad for a 3 hour tour…if we make it back! Here’s a map that shows the Marina and the RV park, The Jaibas, where I’m staying…Mazatlan Marina.
And here’s the thing about Maz, I find the address for the boat tour on their web site, and they have a google map with a stick pin showing where they are. I’d prepaid for a Thursday afternoon trip and on Wednesday, I drove down there so I’d know where to come the next day. So I knew how to find the general area. Thursday I head down, find parking and then go searching for that Dock 9 thing they say to assemble at. Couldn’t find Dock 9. And the stick pin in the google map showed they were located in the middle of the bridge nearby. Nothing in the middle of the bridge indicated anything about a catamaran cruise. Damn. No office nearby. So I go searching for Dock 9 again. Nothing. Search for any signs about the cruise or ship, nothing. And finally came across a sheet of paper, badly weathered stuck to a bulletin board, that had the name of the company on it. Oh, that’s better. And then I noticed I was standing in front of a large sign that was also badly weathered so the paint was very faint that kind of read DOCK 9. OK, now we’re getting somewhere. And then the catamaran with the company name pulled into a nearby dock. People disembarked and I got the chance to talk to someone about my cruise. Yea!
Oh, I’m told, you need to talk to that guy over there 100 yards away. So I hobble over to him, he takes me back where I’d started, they talk, then he takes me back that 100 yards plus another 25 to the office. Small sign. Doors are all locked. So now I’m thinking it’s some kind of scam. And my $48 is gone. And yes, they can be that brazen in Mexico with their scams. But, the guy spots someone else back over at the Dock 9 sign and we head back over there. And by now I’m suspecting that if it isn’t a scam, then they probably didn’t have enough ticket sales and cancelled this particular trip. Turned out the guy was the owner, and that was the case. Asked me if I could come back the next afternoon? Sure, no problem. And he follows me home so he’d know where I lived, so he could come back the next day and pick me up…free ride for my troubles that day. And that’s what he did the next afternoon. Showed up on time, and drove me back down to Dock 9.
And now, without further BS, here’s what it’s like taking a catamaran cruise for 3 hours in Mazatlan. On the Sensation Catamaran…
And here’s the entrance. That white sign is the main gate onto the dock.
And there’s the boat. Have to wait for the ticket taker to let us onto the dock.
Over there is a nice looking steak house. I’ll have to try that one night. 
.Here’s a view of the surroundings. This is called the Marina district. Nice.
They let us in the gate on time, the nice gurl recognizes my name and checks me off their passenger list, and I head down the dock to the boat. Nice boat, two decks. These white blocks people are sitting on are cushioned and very comfortable. I checked around and spotted the life vests easy enough.
And found the life boats attached to the railing. 
Would have been pretty easy to start her up and wander away with the boat.
Time to leave…
What we do is navigate out of the marina’s tight channel, dodging the bottom muck sucking barge, a floating dredge, that was in the way. Made it all right though.
I know this building has looked like this since ’06. I passed it once when I was looking to buy a yacht they had here in the harbor. It was a poor excuse for a live aboard, especially at the price they were asking so I passed on it. Anyway, this home is just sitting there unfinished while someone, some family, or some agency figures out what to do about it. See things like this all over Mexico. Sometimes falling into decay, other times looking like it wouldn’t take much to finish it, like this one. 
Here’s that dredge I mentioned earlier, we didn’t have much room…
Once out of the marina’s channel, turned south and made our way along the coastline featuring…Mazatlan. Waves were choppy but the design of the cat helped keep it stable and relatively smooth sailing. And of course it was time to open the bar. I had Pina Coladas galore. Around the middle of the cruise of course they start lowering the quantity of liquor in your drinks, which is fine. We had a small wedding party aboard, and the groom was soon dancing around without his shirt getting others to join in. Music was pretty damn good too. The Mexican pop music scene is really hot right now. Enjoyed the hell out of listening to it blaring out of the fancy audio system on board the boat.
Up the coast (north) is the Cerritos area of Maz. My RV park is just opposite, across the street really, from that 2nd tall building from the left in this next picture. That mound there is where the land ends and where the beach turns east, making a large harbor. There’s buildings over there too but so far away, can’t see them from here.
Well, anyway, time to turn our attention to Mazatlan proper, not the suburbs. And here we pass the beginning of the hotels along the Golden Zone…the Zona Dorada. It starts shortly after the Marina section. 
I think these are known colloquially as Goat Island and Deer Island… 
Meanwhile, just married guy dancing his heart out, he did get several people up and dancing with him…
And eventually, 1.5 hours had passed and we were near the tiny island that had several seals sunning themselves just hanging out. One of them was all animated as we approached. Probably old enough to remember when the humans would feed them or someone from out of town. That’s been outlawed now so all we got to do was hoot at them.
And that’s were we turned around and headed back…
Off to the west, the sun was getting low. The clouds are typical off the Maz coastline this time of year, but it was 70F. 
Hah! Dancing guy had tuckered out by this time.
Other rental party boats, and some private boats too, visiting Goat Island.
This used to be a bar…doesn’t really look like it’s still in business. This was on a Friday evening and it looks deserted. Maybe it’s just closed for the winter?
And here’s where I ended up, on the lower deck, as it got close to 5 pm and we’re slowly making our way back to the Marina. It is a bit warmer on this deck. This picture is of the taco stand where they’re setting up to feed us. Someone had forgotten to turn on the heaters though and the food was lukewarm. Tasty, but lukewarm.
Still easy to get drinks, from the bar up topside, as the waiters were constantly circulating around the guests asking if they wanted another drink. Very attentive service.
And as it neared 6 pm, we were pulling into the Marina channel, and you can see it got dark fairly quickly because of the cloud cover.
It looks like the weather was bad, but it wasn’t really. A balmy 70-75 F the entire excursion. The ocean breeze felt a bit coolish but that’s to be expected. And soon we were docked and heading home.
The owner gave me a ride back to the RV park no problem. Nice guy. I encouraged him to improve the signage there at the dock as I almost freaked out thinking it was a scam. The Dock 9 sign is the moorage companies responsibility but he has some pull with them, I’m sure.
And that was the end of my catamaran trip around the Mazatlan area. Hope you enjoyed coming along!
Thanks for reading. See you next time.