Stone Island

[dianelevene]

I saw a nice looking tour with a company called Mazatlán Van Tours.  It combines a city tour with some time on Stone Island.  The trip includes lunch and drinks plus two choices of beach activities (horse back riding through village, boogie boards, kayaking, banana boat, or a horse cart tour).  It sounds like a nice excursion and not too bad a price at about $65 per person.  We usually do the beach days on our own but it sounds like it is kind of complicated to find the transportation to Stone Island and my husband's bad knees have caused some mobility issues right now.  I am thinking that easy is good for us for this trip so maybe just booking a tour is the right way to go.  Has anyone used this company and were you happy?  Should we just try to find the Stone Island water taxis ourselves?  We've never been to Mazatlán before so it would be nice to see some of the city.  We are in port from 9 am to 6 pm so we have plenty of time.

[Mike45LC]

Stone Island is very easy to get to on your own.  Just search this forum and you will find detailed directions and even maps!  

 

Mazatlan is the port with lots of "golf carts' as taxis.  If your husband's knees are bad, you can grab a golf cart to drive you to the ferry dock.  We did this for my brother, and I think we paid $10 for the ride.  Very expensive for the very short drive, but the driver did have to wait at the cruise passenger center a long time relative to the short ride we wanted.  

 

Lots of cafes, water activities, etc. available on the beach. 

 

I would visit Stone Island then grab a golf cart to El Centro and visit the Cathedral and the Market.

 

[pinto18]

We always just do Stone island on our own..its pretty easy. Once you get there though depending on the extent of the mobility problems it could be difficult to get on and off the water taxi and then walk down the beach..basically its a long stretch of beach with rustic style beach restaurants ..activities available if you want .We just plop down at our fav restaurant and they give us lounge chairs and umbrellas for the day ( assuming you eat/drink)

[dianelevene]

10 hours ago, pinto18 said:

We always just do Stone island on our own..its pretty easy. Once you get there though depending on the extent of the mobility problems it could be difficult to get on and off the water taxi and then walk down the beach..basically its a long stretch of beach with rustic style beach restaurants ..activities available if you want .We just plop down at our fav restaurant and they give us lounge chairs and umbrellas for the day ( assuming you eat/drink)

Which is your favorite restaurant that you use at Stone Island?

[dianelevene]

Thanks for the tips.  I signed up for a couple of ship tours in other ports because we got the Free At Sea stuff from NCL (which isn't really very free, LOL!)  But this looks like a port we can easily manage on our own.  I may skip the tour to Stone Island and just do it ourselves.  Thanks for the tips.

[pinto18]

On 11/16/2022 at 6:13 AM, dianelevene said:

Which is your favorite restaurant that you use at Stone Island?

There are probably lots of good ones but we always end up at Lety's . It is a ways down the beach though. Great food ( coconut shrimp yummmm) and drinks. They are happy to get you lounge chairs and umbrellas to hang all day ( as long as you order drinks or food) . Just a note...there are a lot of vendors walking up and down the beach trying to sell you jewelry , trinkets, etc. This bothers some people. But..just say no gracias  and they will walk on by .

Or better yet buy something from them!

Oh also you are likely to see beach dogs and kitties hanging around. I usually end up feeding them since Im a softie

[pppiglet]

We had a great time at Molokay's years ago.  If you like shrimp I remember they had a huge shrimp platter we all shared.  Very relaxing and they arranged ATV's for us also.  We plan to go back there on our April cruise. 

[Lorabelle]

I have done a similar tour twice through King David Tours to Stone Island.  Their cost is $35 per person.  They pick you up at the port and take you to the ferry station.  Once you're on the other side, they have a wagon that takes you to the restaurant where you will spend your time.  It also includes the two activities you mentioned, lunch and some beverages.  You can order other things if you want something different than what comes with the package.  

 

We have also done Stone Island on our own many times.  As others have said, it's a simple process to get their on your own.  However, if your husband has mobility issues, you might want to consider the tour, as there will be minimal walking with that.  When we were there last spring, my knee was acting up, and we figured we'd just grab a taxi to the ferry.  No one would take us.  They didn't want to leave the port for our little fare and risk missing out on a potential customer wanting a full day tour or something.  We ended up walking to the ferry, which was fine, but I'm going to guess it's about 1/2 mile to the ferry dock.  And once you get on the Stone Island side, there may or may not be anyone there you can pay to take you to one of the restaurants, that's always been hit or miss with us.  Many times we have had to walk down the beach, in the sand.  And it's a fair distance, even to the closest one.  

 

So, anyway, while it's easy to do both, if you have mobility issues, I feel like you are better off with a tour, whether the one you mentioned or the King David that I have taken. 

 

The first time we did the King David tour, he gave us a brief old town tour before heading to the ferry.  I can't remember if they did that the second time or not.  You can ask them about it, maybe they can do it if you request.  It was only about 15 or 20 minutes, but it was a nice, quick tour with a brief stop at the beautiful cathedral in town.  

[dianelevene]

Thanks for the tour company recommendation.  I will look them up.  Always good to hear about a tour company that someone else liked.

[Lorabelle]

On 11/30/2022 at 11:23 AM, dianelevene said:

Thanks for the tour company recommendation.  I will look them up.  Always good to hear about a tour company that someone else liked.

You're welcome.  We have used them twice to Stone Island and my adult kids have taken their Jungle and Beach tour and enjoyed that one as well.