Mazatlan is the largest commercial port and has become a premier destination for sport fishing, while remaining one of Mexico's most popular beach resorts. Located in a picturesque cove on the Pacific Coast, this city lies at about the same latitude as Hawaii, offering pleasant temperatures year round.  Nearly 40 tons of shrimp are processed each year, making Mazatlan the shrimp capital of the world. It is also known for the world's finest deep sea and fresh water (bass) fishing, estimating an annual average of 10,000 sailfish and 5000 marlin. For those that love sport fishing and eating shrimp, Mazatlan is heaven, it is also an excellent vacation destinations for enjoying many other activities too! There are bullfights every Sunday during the winter, art galleries with noted works by Mexican artists, sights such as, the second highest lighthouse in the world, 250 species of sea life swimming at Acuario Mazatlan with sea lion shows daily, cliff divers at El Mirador dive 45 feet headfirst into tide pools that contain six feet of water when the waves rush out, twice a day. While not always as glitzy as its cousins to the south, Mazatlan is one of the few resorts in Mexico that offers ultramodern deluxe resorts alongside budget beachfront hotels. Mazatlan indeed offers a Mexico that tourists will treasure and return to experience again and again. Mazatlan is broken down into three distinct areas. The downtown area (old Mazatlan) is at the southern part of a peninsula that separates the Pacific Ocean from and enormous saltwater estuary. Some four miles to the north is the 'zona dorada', home to nearly all of Mazatlan's visitor attractions. Between the two is a long curved stretch of mostly undeveloped beaches that serves as a sort of buffer between the port and resort area. This separation allows the resort community to coexist nicely with one of Mexico's busiest commercial ports. Mazatlan's long, wide sandy beaches (10 miles long) with rolling surf, are lined with an abundance of fun, open air bistros and bars, plenty of elbow room for sunbathing, strolling vendors hawk their wares, and the usual assortment of watersports are available. Dining (superb seafood) and nightlife are excellent and shopping is first rate and affordable, with several fine art gallaries, and handi craft markets, and sight seeing combines a few colonial-era sites with more contemporary attractions.