Ben had spent a significant amount of research and effort in planning for the April 8, 2024 total eclipse of the sun that will be visible in a swath across North America. Our big RV trip was in part a scouting trip to check out Texas as a potential eclipse viewing site, but we learned from that RV trip that weather patterns caused by the Gulf of Mexico frequently cause cloudy skies and violent weather in early April.
Statistically, the location along the path of totality with the highest probability of clear sky is Mazatlan, so we made reservations for a resort hotel in the totality zone as soon as their scheduling books opened. However, when we tried to book flights, they were all sold out for the weekend of the eclipse 9 months before the eclipse date. Our travel agent was able to snag flights that were booked en bloc with a resort that does business with AAA if we arrived earlier and departed later. This was with a different resort, so we will spend the first 2 nights at the Park Royal Beach resort, and the subsequent 5 nights at the Royal Villas Resort.
We had prior positive experiences with the Royal Villas Resort during a Princess Cruises Mazatlan excursion, and it is also closer to the center of the totality zone so the duration of totality will be a bit longer.
Unfortunately, nobody can guaranty the weather, and leading into the weekend the forecast is for cloudy skies on the morning of the eclipse. That will be a great disappointment if we can't see the totality with the corona dancing around the black disk, but we will just have to keep our fingers crossed.
We had to fly out of Vancouver BC on WestJet because all US flights to Mazatlan were sold out. We were a bit nervous about potential delays because of the Eclipse and spring break traffic, so we left home 5 hours before our scheduled 8:50am departure. We ended up having to use the JetSet parking where you drop off your car and keys (semi-valet), and take a shuttle bus to the terminals. On return, a vending machine will scan your receipt and return you the keys with parking space assignment. The economy long term self park was sold out, so we had little choice.
We had booked WestJet's Premium class which is basically domestic first class, and thought we would be allowed access to their first class airport lounge, but we learned that the fine print reads that access is only granted if you are flying a 787 Dreamliner across the Atlantic. That seems oddly specific and arbitrary, but we ended up disappointed that we didn't have a free breakfast and drinks waiting for us at the airport.
Getting checked in proved confusing because although we were booked on an international flight to Mexico, when we got to the WestJet International check in counter, we were told that for some reason, they can't check any baggage there so we had to go to the far opposite end of the airport check-in counters to WestJet Domestic check-in. That had us walk an extra mile back and forth. But we had no troubles getting through security and to our gate well in advance of boarding. We could have slept in another hour or two easily.
WestJet Premium has typical domestic first class seats, 4 across with plenty of hip and leg room. There are only 6 rows of first class and a curtain between it and economy. Despite instructions by the flight attendants for passengers to use the bathroom within their designated cabins, there was a continuous stream of passengers from economy up to the one bathroom behind the cockpit, to the point where it was pretty disruptive. However, we did have to sympathize with all the economy passengers being stuck with only 2 toilets at the very back of the plane. On Delta, the flight attendants are much stricter about policing the stay in your cabin bathroom assignments, so those flights are much more peaceful and quiet.
The flight is only a bit over 4 hours, so an easy flight. We could probably have saved money by booking premium economy or even economy, but we were concerned those tickets may have been sold out earlier.
In Mazatlan, we deplaned down portable boarding stairs onto the tarmac, and were then herded down a series of corridors with numerous hurry up and wait stops. We finally got to customs. There were only 3 lines and 5 or 6 agents working so it just took a long time.
We did collect our luggage and rendezvoused with another couple- Ben's fishing buddy and his wife, who were joining us on this Eclipse adventure. Ben and Mark packed fishing rods to do some surf casting to pass the time. There were all sorts of people targeting us in the Baggage claim representing themselves as Taxi representatives but who were actually doing everything they could to lure us into sitting through a 90 minute sales presentation for this or that resort. We wisely steered clear of them and went directly out to the taxi curb where there was a huge cue that probably had over 50 couples standing in it with bags. Mark, being fluent in Spanish, was able to sneak us onto a van that had another couple already hired to go to the hotel zone, although to a different hotel, but we offered to pay cash and skipped a very long taxi cue.
The drive to Mazatlan's waterfront hotel zone is about a half hour and Mazatlan has pretty modern infrastructure, including a Walmart en route to the beach zone.
Getting Checked into the Park Royal Beach resort was easy enough, and it was encouraging to see people in the entry gate and lobby with lists that had our names on it as expected arrivals.
The lobby is nice and airy with a restaurant and bar opening onto a vast swimming pool. The greeter informed us that the pool is heated, unlike many other resort pools in the area, including the Royal Villas Resort. It is right on the beach. It took about a half hour for our rooms to be ready. Instead of room keys or cards, they have a bracelet that is fastened around our wrists, like at theme parks. I guess this makes it harder to lose your room keys, and allows staff to spot hotel guests in the pool and public areas.
The rooms are spacious but our rooms didn't have balconies. There were just fixed windows that needed washing overlooking the water and pool. The rooms were clean enough, and furnishing in OK conditions, but the mattresses are rock hard.
It didn't take long to change into swim gear and flip flops to get into the mood. Mark headed straight to the beach and started casting a very light weight rod he had carried on the plane. By the time Ben was about to head out, Mark came back in and got his heavier rod out of the rod case that Ben had checked, and they both headed out to the beach together.
Ben hooked and played a sizable torpedo shaped fish in the surf, but it broke off the leader before it could be brought to the beach. Mark eventually worked his way down towards the Marina jetty and caught a nice Yellow fin Jack. He looked pretty happy showing it off at the pool side. Ben eventually caught and landed another fish but it was just a small sculpin like fish. Mark was a little like the dog that caught the car because our hotel rooms don't have refrigerators, so his wife was not too happy to return to the room and find a fish in the bathroom sink in a bed of ice.
Since it was getting late, and there aren't a lot of restaurants in this area north of the Marina, we ended up having mediocre dinners in the hotel restaurant which took a really long time to come out. You also have to twist arms to get the wait staff to bring you the bill. We ended up chasing them down after a half hour an cornering them to get them to close our bills.
The temperatures when we arrived were very pleasant in the mid to upper 70's with a light to moderate breeze. In the evening, it cooled off enough that we regretted not bringing down light coats to wear at dinner, but that was nothing that a hot shower couldn't fix.
