Madrone at anchor at Club Nautico in Mazatlan harbor
After a quick overnight sail (well, to be honest, half sail and half motor – the wind generally completely dies away at night in settled weather along the central Mexican coast), the sun rose over the hills behind Mazatlan as Madrone approached.
A view of Old Town from the malecon
For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been used to mornings of a few fishing pangas lazily floating at anchor and the stray early-riser walking on an otherwise deserted beach. Mazatlan is a legitimate city, though, so our morning view changed to freighters anchored in the roadstead and the gigantic Baja Ferry thundering down the approach channel to the harbor.
An example of the vibrantly colored buildings we found along the cobblestone streets
All of this was good – after a few weeks of quiet anchorages, the crew was looking forward to the hustle and bustle of an actual city. And Mazatlan did not disappoint.
A large part of the town’s economy is based on tourism, and a significant portion of the tourists come by cruise ship – one or two large ships came each day we stayed in Mazatlan. Seven or eight years ago, at the height of the violence generated by drug cartels fighting for territory, all of the cruise companies pulled out of Mazatlan. The predictable negative effect on the economy (to say nothing of the day-to-day life of the residents) and vitality of the city from a big chunk of visitors no longer visiting was devastating, and the city feels like it is just now pulling out of a slump.
A visit to Mazatlan’s impressive city indoor marketplace
The historic old town is full picturesque winding cobblestone streets lined with colonial-style buildings. A rough guess is that half to two-thirds are still functional, with the other half or a third crumbling behind the front wall. But there is a lot of construction activity to rebuild the houses, and a chat with a local cafe owner (who renovated one of the buildings for his shop) revealed that the real estate market is humming.
We easily spent the day exploring the beautiful waterfront malecon
With a good protected anchorage inside the breakwater of the main harbor and easy access to shore, Madrone’s crew enjoyed a taste of city life.
