Our bus took us first to the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, a church with yellow spires and a grey, cinder-block looking exterior, but having an ornate and rather stunning interior.

Outside the cathedral, flowering shrubs bloomed in large concrete planters.

Looking up at the twin spires of the cathedral, which were easily visible from almost any place in town.

A view of the altar, indirect lighting giving a subtle glow to the massive concrete or stone edifice.

The tour took us along the coastal road, past beaches, rock divers, souvenir huts and statues, with our guide, Maria, giving us a lot of information on the city's history and culture along the way.

A rock diver leaps from the stone tower into a shallow, rocky surf. Apparently, it's all in the timing. Insane!

We had several stops for pix and souvenirs before we arrived in the newer part of the city for an extended stop at a jewelry store and the Pampantla Flyers show nearby. The only downside of the trip was the lack of bathrooms during the tour. The one jewelry store we stopped at had only one bathroom, and two (or possibly more) buses arriving there nearly simultaneously. Needless to say, the line was long. Fortunately, we had ducked out of the jewelry store to visit some shops along the street, and found some nice t-shirts. The line for the loo was not any shorter when we returned, however, and it took the remaining 20 minutes before the show for me to get through the line.

As a result, the shaded seats in the outdoor theater were all taken, so we sat in the sun. The show featured a combination of native ritual dances with traditional Mexican dances such as the hat dance, and a charro lariat demonstration.

The first part of the show featured traditional dances, like the one seen here.

Before the pole trick, the Flyers climbed onto this wheel-like device, and became a human ferris wheel, shifting their weight as they reached the top of the rotation to keep the thing turning at a good clip.

The finale was the Pampantla Flyers, where in an ancient ritual 5 men climb a 50-foot pole. The lead guy dances at the top of the pole, and then the other four come off upside down, attached to ropes, the four of them circling the pole as the ropes unwind and they descend to the ground. It was a pretty good show.

As the rectangular frame at the top of the pole spins, the ropes unwind from the pole and get longer, the 4 flyers descending to the ground upside down while looping around the pole. According to the ritual, there are a precise number of rotations (18, I think) before they reach terra firma.

Fortunately it wasn't too long, as the theater was closed off, so even though we were outside we had no breeze at all where we were sitting. Then it was back to the bus, and return to the pier. We browsed through the Mercado at the entrance to the pier, but didn't find anything we hadn't already seen in various shops and stalls during the tour.

At our room, we found a pink envelope and a message saying the pirate ship excursion had been cancelled due to lack of participation. We grabbed the excursion catalog and went to lunch, hoping to run into Mom and Dad so we could select an alternative that all of us would enjoy. Found them easily after lunch, and we chose the Chileno Bay sail and snorkel. Then napped until the excursion office opened at 4. We had no difficulty making the change, and we hopped down to M&D's stateroom to give them their tickets. By then it was time for the "sail-away" party on the aft Nav, which we attended for about two margaritas.

The sail-away party for Mazatlan: margaritas on the aft Navigation Deck.

A rear view from the Nav deck as we sail out of the channel toward open water.

An interesting thing about this lighthouse: rising some 300 feet from sea level, it's the second tallest natural lighthouse in the world, behind Gibraltar. Or so said our tour guide.

As we pulled out of Mazatlan, the wind picked up a bit and it got cooler, so we went forward to the crow's nest, spending the rest of the afternoon there until time to go below to change for dinner.

A view from the Crow's Nest of the sun setting behind the Pacific, as we relaxed before dinner.

Dinner was quick enough that we arrived early for the NTT, finding that wasn't necessary because Randall had already reserved our four bar stools for us. I guess he really likes us or something. Tonight's theme was Big Ears and a Tail, not so much to be clever as to avoid any copyright issues with playing Disney songs. We did well, getting 38 out of 45 and grabbing the high score. Prizes went to 4th place team, a continuation of Randall's idea to spread the winnings around to make it more fun for all. We did get a free round of drinks for our efforts. Stayed at the Piano Bar through the "chat" set, which is what the second set has turned in to. Then Jill and I put in an appearance in the Crow's Nest. As with the previous night, we saw no one but crew staff. Bedtime called, as we faced a 6:45 wake-up for our last excursion.