Green Onions

Maria's Happy Horses seems to be the go-to for this on Stone Island (Isla De La Piedra) based on other threads. There was someone on the beach with 4 horses, but we didn't get any details.

Went to Stone Island on 2/22/2018. Everyone so far is right, it's a bit of a walk unless you go on a tour. We prefer to walk from the port, pay the $2 US pp round trip fee for the boat, then walk down the beach 1/2 mile. Had been to Lety's in 2009 and picked it again because they had the nicest lounge chairs and we were the first ones at any of the restaurants and could pick out where we wanted to sit. As the crowds arrived everyone bee-lined for Lety's, although a few settled for Victor's and Pili's on the either side, plus the one (name forgotten) on the other side of Pili's. IMHO Lety's gets the crowd because of the internet buzz, but the service became a bit slow once the place filled up. We chatted with people who went to the other adjacent restaurants and their experience was the same as Lety's, albeit without the crowd. My advice is spread out and give the other restaurants a chance too!

Than being said, the mixed drinks at Lety's were good (Margaritas and Pina Coladas), the food is great (coconut shrimp, mmmmm), the bathrooms clean and included a Costco sized hand sanitizer container (they get Americans), and the vendors were ubiquitous but not pushy.

Stone Island will always be included on any trip I make to Mazatlan.

Visted Las Hadas on 2/21/18. Took a cab from the port for $10 US for the four of us. At the gate asked about the day use fee. The guard didn't understand what we were asking for, but fortunately one of us knew enough Spanish to ask again. After a phone call we were waived through. The desk clerk quoted $100 US, but we paid with a credit card and were charged $4,800 Pesos. Checking my bank statement it worked out to just under $65 US per adult which equated to the current exchange rate, more or less.

After that we had a most excellent day. The day pass included a breakfast buffet (get the made to order omelette), use of the beach and pool, lunch at the restaurant overlooking the bay, and drinks. Service was top notch, the day was relaxing, and the only downside was the day pass was good 9-6, but we had to leave way too early to make it back to the ship. Don't know if it was the off season, but the resort seemed relatively empty.

Asked for a cab at the resort entrance and it was there in minutes, the fee was $15 US.

I would recommend this for anyone looking for a relaxing day on the beach in Manzanillo.

The restaurant fronts the Plaza Machado which is two blocks west and two blocks south of the Plaza in front of the Cathedral (Basilica Inmaculada Concepcion). I don't remember the name, but it was the second one on your left if you walked east from the intersection of Constitucion and Calle Heriberto Frias along Constitucion.

We did Los Veranos on our own last week and had a fantastic time. They have a shuttle pick up near the cruise terminal or you can go to their office. By shuttle, I mean something that wouldn't quite pass US DOT standards but provided a fun ride along the coast and up the canyon to their site.

The guides were funny, engaging, and quickly put my DW at ease that she was not going to die that day. Their equipment is well maintained and the zip lines are in great shape. The set up is to start you on a few really easy lines between two trees and work you up to the long ones that criss-cross the river. All of us found it really fun. The whole experience lasted about 4.5 hours round trip.

Note: It is moderately strenuous getting around their course and you have to climb several circular stair cases which might seem a bit open for some. However, at no time did this middle aged overweight tourist feel winded, pushed to the limit, or exposed to any real danger.

The main area at the end is beautiful and the food and drinks excellent, just note that you will be paying US domestic prices for these (lunch ran about $65). I would recommend this tour to anyone who wants to have a little adventure in their trip and see some beautiful scenery.

We did Stone Island on our own last week and wandered to the end of the line of restaurants to the Beach Break. While it looked nice, we didn't have a positive experience. They said they had horseback riding, however, they only had five horses and we were told every 20 minutes for about two hours that we were next. The price was cheap (originally quoted $7pp, lowered it to $5pp when we said we were going to leave) for a 20 minute ride. They finally said it was our turn, then said we had to wait another 20 minutes. Decided to give up on that and order margaritas. Two of them had hair in them (hopefully the tequila provided some level of disinfection!). We realized at that point it was time to move on.

We had spent the day at Lety's during a previous trip. I wish we had gone with what we knew. We ended up wandering the downtown and found a fantastic sidewalk café after visiting the Cathedral.

To answer the last post, I think Randy's is now Maria's. From reading other posts that would have been the better option for us.

To answer one of the original poster's questions, there aren't any beaches nearby, although there is a park with a concrete headwall along the bay not too far away.

On our cruise last week we went in to the port with the idea we would figure out what to do when we got there. We walked up to one of the many guys waiving a sign advertising tours, talked to him for about 3 minutes, and ended up with four others on a very personalized tour of Altan Ha and a city tour of Belize City. We learned a lot about the history, economy, agriculture, and culture of Belize.

Returning to the cruise terminal, we visited the Moho Chocolate factory and I enjoyed a Belikin Beer before boarding the tender back to the ship.

All in all the day turned out better than we had expected.

We used UBER from Hobby to Bayport on a Sunday, the cost was $34. The driver had a Ford Fiesta so the two of us and our luggage just about fit. We could have made three with luggage work, but it would have been tight.

Bayport to Hobby proved trickier. We checked an hour before we were scheduled to disembark and no UBERX vehicles were available. We checked again right before our disembarkation time, same thing. Checked one last time as we were about to walk over to the taxis and an UBERX driver was two minutes away. He had just dropped off a couple early for their cruise. He was driving a Nissan Pathfinder which had a little more room. Cost was $39 which I attribute to peak pricing.

Both of our drivers had never been to the Bayport Cruise port, and, given its location, it might be a spotty place to get picked up from.

This was our first time using UBER (our adult kids had to convince us to try it out). We had a great experience with both drivers and found the whole process quite fun. We had no problem spotting the UBER car both times so we could waive them over. Next time we are thinking of printing out the UBER logo so it might be easier for the driver to pick us out of the crowd waiting to be picked up.

Quick comment on our visit, March 4, 2015:

GO: If you want a very quiet day on a beautiful beach with very little to distract you.

DON'T GO: If you are adverse to doing a port on your own, expect to have your drink refilled the moment it is empty, and really enjoy being elbow to elbow with strangers.

That may sound snarky, so I apologize if you are offended.

The details:

Taxi Ride: This would be an E ticket if they still existed. I personally enjoyed flying down an overgrown road at 120 kph (75 mph).

Check In: We had a minor snag in that I had not verified they had received our PayPal deposit so we were not on their list, I should have followed up with an e-mail, but this was quickly taken care of and we were soon seated under a palapa on the beach.

Beach: The sand is soft and not hot, the palm trees and other vegetation are showing signs that this place will only get better in the years to come, the palapas are just big enough to squeeze most of two lounge chairs under if you want out of the sun, and the lounge chairs were comfortable.

Seaweed: This was mentioned in previous posts and was present that day. Being from California when you say seaweed I think "kelp". This stuff isn't that bad. They cleaned it up the best they could around mid day once the tide started going out. You did have to wade until about waist deep before you kept bumping into it in the water. Hey, it's nature, experience it.

Snorkeling: There was a strong breeze that day which made for excellent laying about but created a bit too much wave action so we didn't even try swimming out to see if it was any good or not. The water temperature was perfect.

Service: One of the employees would make rounds about once an hour or so. Like others posted, you could stop at the "bar" on the way back from the rest room if you needed a refill.

Food: We weren't offered a choice, just a time, but it was good taqueria fare. Chips & guacamole, chicken, beef, & shrimp tacos. The covered porch area is an idealistic setting for enjoying the meal.

Massage: Since they didn't have our reservation, they had to quickly arrange for this. I gather he was not their regular masseuse, but if you like a really deep tissue massage it was great. The setting was the best part. We don't do this on a regular basis so it was a great indulgence.

Conclusion: One of the other couples there said it best, "I wonder if the cruise ship can just pick us up here in two days on their way back up the coast?" We left with a desire to figure out the logistics on how to come back and stay longer next time. Andreas and Monica do a great job running this as true "boutique" hotel. Almaplena was just the break we needed.

Looking at the Google Earth image, it appears the Lazy Lizard has the biggest beach on the Island. There are a couple of "Beach Resorts" shown, any opinions on those?

We are interested in having a quiet day visiting small shops, sitting on a beach (chairs optional), swimming in a nice spot, and having a "not for the timid" lunch at a place with local flavor. There are three ships in port on our day in Belize City, is this a good place to find these things?

ASB&Cruiseluvr wrote:

At the very end I broke down and bought a little turtle with a moving head from a child for $1.

Was this a very friendly and precocious boy around seven years old? He was by far the best salesman on Stone Island when we were there last week.

I picked up a lot of good advice on this thread prior to our cruise last week. I posted the following on another thread but thought I would repeat it here:

Took the water taxi to Stone Island (200 pesos each round trip, paid $2 US since we hadn't converted our currency). Please note that the water taxis require a little balancing skill to get in and out. We had to step onto the bow off the dock, nothing too hard.

Walked the beach at Stone Island and ate lunch at Lety's (the place next to Victor's). Had an excellent lunch (1/2 garlic shrimp/ 1/2 cocoanut shrimp and the fish plate) and a couple of drinks for $22. Had to say "No Gracias" about every 1.5 minutes to various vendors as we ate - not a problem. Please note that the restaurants on Stone Island are not for the picky. These are not your health department approved squeeky clean chain restaurants - they are rustic in every way. We met people who had come to Stone Island on tours who were appalled at the idea of eating there. However, it was exactly what we wanted (and we didn't die or catch any thing that we know about yet).

Decided to walk further south along the beach to a place in front of the RV area and lay out. This was beyond all the tourist areas so we had a quiet hour or so (i.e. no vendors).