Sailing with Blue Horizon

We arrived in Mazatlan on Monday in the dark after narrowly escaping a sandbar that left us with 1 ft. of water under the keel. El Cid marina, where we are staying, doubles as a posh hotel so we have been taking full advantage of the pools and hot tubs. Mazatlan itself is a complete 180 from towns like Topolobampo or Altata. It's a relatively large tourist city where a lot of people speak English and I have seen more white people here than anywhere else. I have decided that if Cabo is where the young white people go to party, Mazatlan is where the old white people go. And I understand why.
We have walked along the Malecon which is a beautiful 4 mi. stretch of sidewalk next to the beach where you can find palapas playing live music. We visited the cathedral, one of the biggest and grandest that I have seen in Mexico thus far, the market, which was a hive of stalls selling everything from pirated DVDs to pigs heads, and El Faro the lighthouse, which, after a steep climb had a great view of all of Mazatlan and the Sea of Cortez.
But the best part of Mazatlan by far is the old town. Although it's pretty during the day, at night, all of the lights that line the streets turn on making the whole neighborhood glow. We found a large restaurant-lined plaza with a gazebo and live music being played from all sides. We walked through different galleries on an ArtWalk which I enjoyed much more than I was expecting. There was an eclectic mix or pieces, my favorite being colorful textiles made entirely of thread.
Now I understand why someone would want to retire here. There's a huge ex-pat community, plenty of stuff to do if you want to do it, and plenty of beaches if all you want to do is nothing. I'm really liking this place, but wind and tide dictates that we will probably leave on Tuesday. On to the next place!