Day Forty Two February 16

Today is Mazatlan with an arrival time of 09:00 and departure time of 18:00. The city has a population of 500,000 residents and hosts nearly 2 million visitors annually.

My morning deck walk produced a wonderful sunrise. As the ship cruised closer to Mazatlan, a mountain came into view. The mountain looked very similar to Sugarloaf in Rio de Janeiro. Quite a lot of fog shrounded the mountain as well as the harbour so the pilot who was on board to direct the ship to its mooring position waited until the fog cleared away before allowing the ship to dock.

After docking and waiting for clearance from the Mexican authorities, a huge Mega ship approached. We thought it would be too big to dock and that a tendering service would be necessary. This was not the case as the 'Carnival ship Panorama' cruised directly pass our stateroom balcony some three metres long. In perspective, it was nearly 3 times the length of our ship. It carried out a u-turn and docked directly behind us. This ship has a capacity of over 3,000 passengers including a water slide and roller coaster on the top deck. It does a weekly turnaround from LA to Mexico.

A shuttle ride was offered by the terminal to take us from the ship to the outside. Stores were plentiful, selling typical mexican souvenirs and taxi drivers offering us rides into town and tours of the island.

Our ship tour was a walking tour of Old Mazatlan visiting the cathedral, the town's market as well as Machado Square. There was no time allotted for shopping except for to a silver jewellery store. Any of these tours seem to have one stop where they are trying to selling their inventory to you. Janice has learned that mexican silver tarnishes as soon as we get it home so no shopping for us.

Our final stop was to see cliff diving. These divers must wait for the precise time when the tide comes in before diving to prevent serious accidents as the water is not deep enough otherwise. It is a strange job profession and something that I would not want to put on my CV or resume.

We were provided a beverage at a local restaurant and those wanting to go back to the ship were shuttled back in open style taxis holding six people. Consider them as pickups with seats and a cover for the elements.

Another good day at Trivia as our team took first place and placed second the previous day. Before retiring, the clocks were turned ahead again. That is two hours we have lost since leaving California. Now I know why people do not like travelling East on big trips. We are not looking forward to cruising the Atlantic as there will be more time changes to come. The time difference from the east coast of North America to say England is 5 hours.

Thursday is a sea day and we will be back at art class.