APRIL 2: MAZATLAN  8-5pm

Up next is another one of those ports I had never heard of until this cruise. As I did my research on this place, it seemed like "the thing to do" was to go to Stone Island, which really isn't an "island" at all. I researched the place, looked at videos and pictures and for some reason...it just didn't really appeal to me. I don't know why. It just didn't catch my attention at all. So more research brought me to Deer Island. There seemed to be some snorkeling around the area and places to explore and it seemed more "our type" of thing to do. 

However, I was really struggling with how to get there. I had read that you could take a taxi or pulmonia to the golden zone and catch a boat to go over. However, it seemed like this might be risky and the "unknown" cost to me wasn't appealing. Some said around $25 for 3 people one way...but we had 4 and then the cost to get over...who knows. I just really wanted to secure something with a vendor. 

There was an excursion that would take you there for an hour and then back over to the Golden Zone to stay at some hotel. Not what I wanted to do. I wanted to STAY at Deer Island. 

Then there were multiple excursions you could book and go over by kayak...not what I wanted to do. 

Then I ran across one vendor that was really close to port...5 minutes away (Aqua Sports) that had a tour. It would be $20/pp for this excursion and you could stay as long as you wanted. It sounded perfect! And that's where perfect ended. I contacted them, they replied. I ask several questions and then crickets. I emailed again saying "So I take it you don't offer this since you have not responded back". That got them to respond finally with answering my questions. They had also offered transportation for all of us, round trip, for $25. I told them I wanted to do that to make it easier on us and I would like to book. Then crickets again and again and again. No matter how many times I emailed, I got nuttin!

I was really flying by the seat of my pants on this port as well. Now there would be no Deer Island. 😞 

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We were up by 6:45am and the sun was coming up.

It was a nice balmy weather of 66 degrees outside. I don't like balmy. I like warmer if not hot! Ugh. I was hoping the day would get warmer as it went on. Fingers and toes crossed...fingers and toes. 

Since we were in no hurry to get off the ship, I sat out on the balcony and watched us pull in while the family came to life and started getting ready for the day. 

We decided to head up to breakfast at 7:30am. Karl was not willing to wait any longer and I think the hubby had already went up to get coffee twice by now. You see the luxury in not being a coffee drinker and drinking pop? It's readily available in your room and you don't have to go anywhere to get your caffeine fix! 

The bacon was not showing its face again today...back on bacation again. It takes more vacations than I do!

After a leisurely breakfast, the family got up and started to head to the room. "Wait, where are you guys going?" They said back to the room to get our bags. "What bags??? We aren't going to be needing any bags today." The deer in the headlights look on the hubby's face was priceless. "Wait, you mean I don't have to carry anything today?"  Nope, he was bagless today and I would be the only one carrying a purse with my equipment in it. 

We headed off the ship by 8:30am. This port is another weird one. You get off the ship in a shipping area and have to be transported over to the port on these trolley like contraptions. They are like the limo version of the palmonia's I guess. And look how fast they are...they have racing stripes!

We made our way through all the containers and it reminded me of some action packed movies I've watched. Has anyone watched the movie The Container? It was pretty good.

Pulling up to the port

Once in port, it looked like a regular port with shopping vendors and places to hang out and eat at...but of course we weren't interested in that...we were ready to get our day started. 

We headed out of the port to find a taxi driver. Yes, they will all be out there ready to take you anywhere you want to go.

So what are we doing today? Many people suggested to take a tour in the pulmonia for the day. We are not really tour people (again, unless staying there) and I ask Sakari about it she definitely did not want to spend the day driving around. So, she decided she wanted to go to the aquarium here. She loves places like this so why not try it out! At least it would be something to do. 

The taxi driver said he would take us for $15. It took us a total of 15 minutes to get there. 

We arrived at the Gran Acuario Mazatlan and headed inside to pay for our tickets. They charge $460 MX per person or around $30 US. 

About the aquarium:

There are 30 habitats including an aviary, crocodile, flamingo area, penguin and sea lions but most important...the aquariums!!! We love our aquariums. 

In we went...

We decided not to take the stairs up into the building because...well, I was saving my legs for all the walking we were about to do. They do have an elevator! Woo hoo!

Up to the top we went.

It was time to explore our favorite area...the aquarium.  You'll walk to different rooms seeing different creatures and fish and excitement grows wondering what is around the corner. 

There are some curious fish in here.

They have some VERY large display tanks...it kinda reminds me of the one we have here at our local zoo. I could spend hours just sitting and watching it. 

The eel tank...I have to say there was a lot of them in this tank. They were hiding in every crevice. 

They had an entire room dedicated to just jellyfish. Each tank was in a different color to make them light up as they bobbed around. 

I will spare you from having to look at each color. Same jellyfish, different color.

They had an educational room for the tots. 

And one for the adults as well

SHARK!  Several sharks would swim in a big tank that went up and over you.

The filtration is massive on these tanks. I can only imagine what it takes to keep them clean and running. My few salt water tanks I used to have had quite the set up including a filtration system in our basement as well. Oh how I miss them. 

We have definitely seen our share of these lobsters every time we snorkel and dive. 

A nice view from above of the grounds. 

They also had a "petting" area. It was time to test Karl's guts ability. 

THIS GUY!!!! OH MY GOSH HOW I LOVE PUFFER FISH!!! THEY ARE ONE OF MY FAVORITES AND HAVE SUCH A CURIOUS PERSONAILITY!!! They had several of them in the tank.

He kinda looked at them and moved on. Oh no you don't, get back here and touch something mister!

We got to the stingray tank and it took quite a bit of courage to get Karl to stick his hand in there. He would put his hand in and wait for them to come and quickly pull it out. We finally convinced him to leave it there or we would make fun on him the rest of the day and go home and tell all his friends. Eventually he caved in. 

Tortuga!!!

We decided to head outside. But first we had to stop and get pop...which will cost you $3.00 for one.

We stood on the walkway and watched some type of ?duck? and it would dive under and STAY UNDER forever! Then you'd never know just where it was going to pop up. It was super quick swimming and would make it half way across the water then duck under and come back. It was pretty amazing to watch. 

Gatorland...I don't really care for gators. They look creepy. 

We really wanted to see the penguins and headed over to that building.

Now our espanol is muy pequeno... meaning very little known to us but sometimes enough to understand. 😉 We followed some signs and went into a building. It went up, there was nothing. We kept going up, still nothing. It was a rather large building. Um, ok. Maybe they don't have the penguins anymore?

We continued and started to head back down. Hey at least they had some cute displays right? It made me want to head to Alaska now. I mean at least there it's SUPPOSED to be cold.

Then finally...we found them. 

Once we got out of the building, we would notice that we had went in the wrong way and that's why we weren't seeing anything. Oopsy

A lot of birds up in the trees today

We decided to head to the bird aviary because Sakari is a bird person of course. 

She absolutely loved this little owl.

We actually loved they had a huge cage that you could go into with the birds. They were flying around everywhere and a lot of them.

They had a big stadium where they had a bird show and we headed over to watch...only they came outside into an open area.

This guy had 2 birds and another guy had 1. Before long, they were talking in Spanish and building excitement and we had absolutely no idea what they were saying or about to do. Then....they released them!! Wait what??? These birds took off into the sky and out of sight. Before long, they returned and just kept flying around for a VERY long time. They would circle the buildings, go out over the street area, around the building, it was just crazy to watch. My heart pitter pattered a lot during this flight display. 

They all stayed together during the entire flight.

Sometimes they got really close to the audience as they zoomed by.

Then their trainers walked to an entirely different area and called them back and in they came. It was just so amazing to watch. I don't know how they do it! I wish Sakari could train hers like this but I would never trust that. 

Here comes a baby dinosaur...have you ever seen a dinosaur in real life Karl?

Heading over to the flamingo area:

We heard a commotion in a building and went to check it out. They were getting ready for a sea lion show. I guess if I can't swim with them, I'll watch them do tricks. Of course the entire show was in Spanish so no idea what they were saying but none the less, it was funny to watch them perform.

This is Toby:

This lady talked and talked and talked and honestly it got quite annoying. Maybe because we couldn't understand but it was really drug out a little too long. Just have him do the tricks already. 

We weren't the only one watching the show...

Next was Tito:

I felt like Tito did more interesting tricks but Sakari liked Toby better. Eh, they were both outstanding. 

We went to another bird show and they had several birds do a few tricks. 

They also brought out the owl and Sakari cheered!

Well, we had pretty much seen and done it all. It was time to head out and explore a little bit. It was now probably around a little after noon.

After finishing up at the aquarium, we walked down the street a ways but didn't see much but did take a picture of a few statues:

I made the executive decision to grab a cab and have them take us to the area where the cliff divers are located. We had plenty of time to spare so why not? I was pretty sure it would give me high anxiety but I was willing chance it anyhow. 

Our driver charged up $10 to get there. I'm not sure if this was considered one of the Palmonia cars or not but it looked like a car that had the top cut off, then roll bars and another top put on. It was all open aired.

I took pictures along the way.

This guy had a serious sound system in it with speakers in the roof. 

When we first got there, there was a really large crowd in the area. By the wall at the street I noticed a guy who was standing there and was wet. I assumed he was one of the divers that had just went. We decided to have a seat along the wall and wait. 

They had various vendors in the area selling fruits and small gifts. 

We decided to get a cup of mango. It was delicious but there was a lot. We had wished that we would have just bought one and shared. It was too much for us to eat all of it. I think they charged $5 each cup or maybe it was $10. I can't remember but that sounds about right. 

While we were sitting on the wall eating our mango and every other bite we would throw down on the rocks below us...gotta feed the birds...I started noticing something moving. After watching for awhile, I tell Sakari there's a crab on the rocks! But there wasn't just A CRAB there were tons of them everywhere.

I seen a mermaid in the distance and decided to go over and check it out.

Well at least the cliff divers don't actually have to climb the cliff to get to the top. 

We waited for quite some time and the crowd was gone. I guess no more cliff divers and my anxiety was spared. I overheard someone say that they are not on a schedule and they dive when there's a big enough crowd. 

"Ok, let's walk down the street and do something! I'm tired of sitting here". 

My little ducklings, I mean family, started following and down the street we went to see if we could find anything interesting. 

I'm not really sure what this was? I was sure it had plenty of stairs to climb and I wasn't really in the mood to climb stairs so we didn't. I imagine the people up there could see the same as what I could from below only they are higher. 🤷‍♀️

I looked over to the other side of the street and immediately noticed something in the rocks:

This is known as Cueva del Diablo...The Devil's Cave. The Chapel of San Bartolome is right above it. This cave is known to have various stories surrounding it:

It was a place they used to hide soldiers guarding ammunition in the war days

Pirates used it to keep their treasures in here

The devil was released when work was done at the foot of the hill and the devil was heard inside

Others say people have went in and never came out even though it's a very small cave that doesn't go back very far

Among other stories told... 

...you be the judge!

There were plenty of statues along the way...I only took a few pictures. 

Jack Cousteau:

Of course you won't find me passing up a mermaid picture. I had Sakari stand by it because well, I'm sure they were once related back in the day.

Right below this mermaid statue was a weird looking concrete (?) slide that looked like it might have went into a pool at one point? I starred at it for awhile trying to figure out just what this was and what it was used for. 

So of course, I had to look it up and this is what I found:

It is called Carpa Olivera de Mazatlan. The pool in the sea. It says it's a pool for aquatic fun and an ocean wave pool and one of the few that exist in the world. It says it is free to the public, but precautions are taken to ensure the safety of swimmers in relation to dangerous tides and waves. They say it is a revolutionary concept and the creator brought the vision of a pool fed by sea waters. There was a restaurant on site too. The pool slide was built in 2014. The salt water of the sea flows constantly to fill the pool from the waves and since it's always refilling, it made a unique experience for those who stayed at the hotels in Mazatlan. It's one of 7 marine pools in the world. 

I have found pictures of it with water filling it. It looks pretty cool. I guess today was a low tide? There was nothing in it and it wasn't being used. There's video's online as well. I think it's a pretty cool concept although sliding down a concrete slide that's not wet...hmmm, I don't know about that or how it would even work. 

Then we came to a little roundabout area and I looked across the street to find even more statues (I remembered seeing these in pictures before) and I knew we had to go over. 

This area is known as Liverpool Alley. This alley is a replica of England's Liverpool Street, which honors The Beatles. There are statues of the members of The Beatles that look like they are crossing the famous London Street on their iconic Abbey Road album cover. Of course the kids joined in on the fun. 

The Cavern Club, which is where the band debuted.

The classic red British style car with flags printed on its rooftop (I have one of these replica's at home added to my "red" collection in my travel room)

Of course you have to have the red phone booth to go along with it (I also have one of these)

♪ We all live in a yellow submarine, yellow submarine, yellow submarine ♪ ♫

After enjoying this area for awhile and sitting down to rest, it was time to move on.

Well, it was getting late and I knew we should probably head back. We stopped a cab that pulled up and ask how much back to the port and he said $25! Wait what? You're kidding right? It only cost us $15 from the port all the way to the aquarium. Then he started talking about a "tour"..."I can take you on a tour to see the sights for $40". Um...I didn't ask for a tour, we just want to go back to the ship. It was getting late. He kept pressing "How about a 1 hour tour...I'll show you all the things of importance. Places you didn't go with a great view of the ship. How about $25?"  No, we just want to go to the ship. 

Finally we agreed on $14 to go back to the ship, still more than I thought it should be but at least more like it. Then he throws in, I'll take you the long way and show you the sites. Consider it a "mini-tour". I verified several times...we have agreed on $14 right? Because we are not requesting a tour...just a ride back to the ship. He confirmed. Alrighty then...you pick your route Mr cab driver...whatever that route may be for $14. 🤷‍♀️

We started heading up a winding road and I could at least see the ship in the distance:

He pulled over and said "You want to get out and take pictures?" I told him that was ok, I already did. He said "You must have a fast camera"... yes, yes I do. 

This is Creston Hill, the highest point in the entire city and a place you can go to and climb all the way up to the top. It is 334 steps to get up there. This is also where you will find the glass bridge, that was built in 2017,and you can pay an additional cost to walk out onto it. This is one of the most popular things to do in Mazatlan. (I'm glad I managed to find a better way to spend my day than giving myself a heart attack). 

Since 1928 the hill was used as a maritime marker and they would have bonfires to guide ships in the port. In 1879 it was improved by using an oil lamp. Then in 1905 it was replaced by a lighthouse (El Faro) that's still there today. It is considered one the highest lighthouses built on natural terrain in the world. 

It also used to be an island. However, in 1930 a stone road was built that linked it to the city of Mazatlan. 

We finally made it back to port after our short but sweet detour.

I will let you guess who's hungry...

The mango's only filled him up for a short time. He wanted some authentic Mexican food. 

Well, I wasn't going to pass that up either. 

After eating we decided to visit all the shops in the area. Sakari managed to find a cute little necklace that was nothing but a chain but it was all hearts. They wanted $35 for it and wouldn't budge. Karl had already spent his money on gifts for his mom and sister back home. She was sad she didn't get the necklace but good things come to those who wait and aren't impulsive buyers...after we got back home, we went shopping at our local craft store and found the exact same necklace...for $3.95!!!!

Then it was time to catch the tram back to the ship.

We arrived back to the room and I immediately put my phone on the charger because it was dead...which meant I completely forgot to take a picture of our turtle towel animal today. Ugh!

Sakari and Karl decided they were going to do the ropes course and the hubby and I decided we wanted to go on the Sky zooming pedal roller coaster above the ocean ride. 

We split up so I wasn't able to get any pictures of them on the ropes course...as much as I wanted to since rumor had it that Karl may be afraid of heights. They managed to finish the ropes course and our line was taking so long that after waiting all that time, the people behind us got tired of waiting and Sakari and Karl were able to get in line behind us.

The hubby and I raced around the track and I gave it my all. I won the race, or at least in my eyes I did and that's my story and I'm sticking to it no matter what information you may get from others. That meant when we finished, I was able to grab my camera in time to see them coming back around to the finish line and snap some pictures. 

The sun was starting to go down and Sakari wanted some pictures of her and Karl in the sunset.

This is not the time to be playing around...you realize we ARE on a ship right? There will be no Titanic's for us!!

We headed back to the room to change for dinner and ended up at the buffet instead. I was throwing caution to the wind and had rice, 😶 noodles 😶and even an egg roll 😶 to top it off. Hubby did not say a word. 😄🤐

I was a good girl for desert and stuck with the sugar free. That makes up for all the cheating right??? It does right???

At 7:30pm we decided to take in a show and went to the Rock Revolution show in the theater. 

As always, some of the singers could sing and others weren't the greatest however...

Carnival has stepped up their game a bit and this show included DRONES!! I love drones and they all lit up and was in sync and it (in my opinion) made the show! It definitely reminded me of something the other cruise lines would do. 

So tonight was another party....The GLOW party! Woo hoo! We like glow parties. We like parties. We like to dance. We love the 80's. Even Sakari knows all the words to the songs. We like the....everything about it actually. 

We raced back to the room after the show and put on our neon glow shirts and headed up to the pool deck. 

Hey look, Richard Simmons has arrived!

There were actually a lot of people that were dressed up in 80's attire. Wayyyyy more than on NCL. These people really get into it clothes hair and all. They gave me a lot of good ideas. Next time we are on Carnival, I'm definitely going all out!

This party was so much fun and we danced the night away!! We had to tell Karl to calm down and few times before he jumped on us. So glad that we have someone else that likes to dance as much as we do. 

Now like always, it was cold so we were in pants and long sleeves. Karl kept his hoodie on and didn't even show his neon green shirt. 

Deon had the party going...he gets a little carried away (if you've sailed with him, you know what I'm talking about)

We stayed until 11:30pm and then called it a night. We were all tired and needed to get some rest because tomorrow was a big PLANNED day this time around...finally. We took our light up glow torches they passed out with us back to the room...and I brought them home and actually used them at Sakari's birthday glow party last weekend. LOL