2009-12-10  Mazatlan


Next morning we woke up in Mazatlan. Jane and I headed to breakfast, giving Carolyn a little more time to sleep. When we went back for her, she cancelled out on us. We had planned to go to Stone Island and spend the day on the beach with a pina colada or margharita or 2, but our plans ended up changing. Jane and I disembarked and planned to try and find the Gold Zone and get our free charms from Diamonds International, then come back and go to Stone Island. Instead, we were confronted with a city tour guide that offered us a tour for $20@ which we decided to take . It turned to be a really good tour. Much better then the bus load tour that Carolyn and I went on last year for twice as much.

It took us to many of the same places as the tour we took last year, but Jane wasn't with us last year so it was all new to her. At this lookout there were beautiful vistas of the ocean. We were able to get away from the vendors by hiking down this trail.

Being in an 8 person van for this tour, we were able to go places the bus couldn't, such as this area for a overlook of our ship.

We did the cliff diving thing again---we didn't dive, just watched.

We also went to a section of town the busses couldn't go to that they say is their "European" section because of the design.

Carolyn and I had gone to this church on our last tour, but this time it was nearer to Christmas and it and the surrounding area was decorated for Christmas. I loved this huge tree made out of bottles of colored water.

We were told about a huge flea market on the other side of the church so we were able to check it out quickly, too.

Since all was going well with the tour, the driver asked if we'd like to extend our tour and go to lunch. The 8 of us agreed and were taken to this restaurant in the Gold Zone. We were given a free drink (did get my pina colada and it was very good!). Jane and I also shared 2 appetisers.

Back at the ship the sun was beginning to set so I went up to the lido deck and caught a sunset before joining Jane and Carolyn in the diningroom.

Aside from the mahi mahi which I got 3 times, this was my other favorite meal---flank steak. The grouper fish dinner was good, too. On one night I had prime rib but it was cooked much more then I'd prefer.

Here are our waiters (Hector Lito and ?) entertaining us as we ate dessert. Is Carnival the only line that does this now?

Another great day!  I like going  to repeat ports and winging it.