Tim & Denise Tiner Travels: 2016 - Playa Del Carmen

The sacred day (other than Dustin and Kerri's wedding) arrived today....scuba diving in the beautiful ocean down here in the Mexican Riviera. I was not let down! I obviously could not sleep and when I did, it was cold again. So asleep by 11 PM, awake by 4:30 AM. At least my body was rested...just sleep deprived. I was nervous and excited. So at 6:30 AM, I got up and showered...just to wake myself up. I repacked some things and then headed down the road to a hotel hoping a cab would be there. There was one. So off we went to the Diversty Dive Shop. I arrived at the time told us and a young fellow was just opening the shop up. We talked a minute and then I went back out to the street to watch for the kids (Brent, Ashley, Travis and MacKenzie). They arrived 5 minutes later. We spent the next 30 minutes getting wet suits fitted and organizing the gear on to a bike with a huge basket on it. While doing that, our Dive Master and another young lady arrived. The Dive Master was from Germany and the young lady (Megan) was from England. She is certifying to be a Dive Master and she became my buddy for our dives. Once we were ready, we headed down the street walking about 3 blocks where we came to a beach where their boat was waiting. It had all our tanks and weights on it. We just had to get the gear loaded...which the Mexican helpers did. It was a cool morning...a bit overcast. We moored out about a quarter to half mile, put our gear on with the helpers helping us and then a nice back roll into the beautiful warm sea. The water felt so good! One of my bucket list items was about to be completed. We checked our weights to see if we were weighted well and then down we went. Slowly of course. It turned out that I was not weighted enough and struggled at times with my buoyancy. They finally got me to about 20 lbs of weight...and all seemed good. At one point, the Dive Master found a weight belt with all its wieights on the sea floor....so he used some of the weight to put on me!

We did two dives...one dive took us south as that was the way the current took us. But it was not planned to be that way. The Dive Master thought the current was going north. As a result, we did not see much of the reef system. But it was a first good practice dive for me...I think all of us. After the first dive, we were on the surface for about an hour visiting and talking. And then we went down a 2nd time....this time a bit north from where we started the first time. This time there was plenty of reef and marine life. My buoyancy this time was perfect and I really did well keeping my neutral buoyancy. Have a I said how much fun it was?!?! :-).

After diving, we walked back to the Dive Shop (albeit I think they replaced my shoes with someone else's! I swear they feel so different.). We hailed two taxi's...one for the kids and one for me. I arrived back at Casa Almendra where Denise was all packed up and ready to move to the Riu Palace Mexico for the wedding festivities.

The Riu Palace Mexico is beautiful...our room is so much better here at the resort. It even has blankets for our beds which made a big difference on sleeping last night (yes...I'm writing this in the morning as we were up way past our bed time last night). We finally slept warm...albeit in two beds since they just take two double beds and put them together. And the sheets are so tightly tucked into the mattress....well I felt like I was in a straight jacket all night! But I was warm!

It was so good to finally meet up with Kerri and Dustin. This is their big event and things are going so well. They found out the costs were going to be significantly less due to some things they had planned to do differently. So that was good news to them. Upon arriving our room was not quite ready, so we headed down to a Mexican restaurant for a quick lunch. Really yummy it was...and Denise and I were in hog heaven having fasted at our BNB. Ashley & Travis's BNB had a big spread laid out for them...Ashley knowing that I was getting nothing....brought me a breakfast sandwich to the dive shop. I knew there was a reason Heavenly Father sent her to us! So thoughtful...love you Ashley. Anyway, back at our BNB, Denise woke up to a small scrambled egg, dry toast and a bit of juice. She was still fasting unfortunately. :-( Oh...back to lunch. I wish I had taken pictures of Brent....the man has died and arrived in heaven. So much food, anything to drink...what else could this man want! We ate like little piggy's then went back and got our keys to our rooms.

Our room is very nice...quite big. We are ground floor with a terrace off to a garden court yard. Anyway...no one wants to hear about the room. So off we went to find Dustin. He was waiting at the pool with two smoothies in hand for his mom and dad. What a good son. I did not tip him though! So good. The sun had finally come out as I said when diving late morning and was still out. It finally felt warm...like we thought it would. We just laid around the pool talking to Dustin's friends and Kerri's family. Trevor Moore is here. Eric Ransdale...a Coast Guard friend. And Riley Curtis...another long time friend from Utah. Great to see these guys.

Dinner was held at the Italian restaurant. They reserved almost the whole thing...27 guests. The food was great and visiting was fun. While we were there, Mike and Josh (Denise's brother and nephew) arrived. It was great to see them. They are going to be here into next week and have a few days of diving that they are going to do. I should stay with them!!! Anyway, after dinner, it started to sprinkle rain a bit. But that did not stop us to go sit outside and visit. Brent and others found the buffet...which contained cracked lobster tails I might add...and had a 2nd course in the buffet. I think Travis and MacKenzie did also.

To conclude, we all went to the 'show'...which was a 'game show' that required people from the audience. Well...the audience that was selected mostly from Dustin and Kerri's party. Dustin, Travis, Eric along with Kerri and her friend were participants. It was a silly thing and I felt like I was watching some of the Spanish channels back home....the not so good ones!

Well...another very fun day in the books. Now we focus on Dustin's wedding. I'm so excited that their special day that they have been looking forward to is finally here.

Some scuba pics....a good one of me saying that I'm having a blast! Thank you, Travis, for being a good son and being the underwater photographer. You did AWESOME. We all cannot wait to see all the footage!

The photographer and his wife (Mackenzie and Travis).....they don't need air apparently since they don't use their regulators!

Some big fish I found...Ashley and Brent!

The whole gang...we had so much fun together. Missed Denise though!

Brent and Ashley in the foyer of the Riu Palace Mexico....we've arrived to Paradise.

Room decorations....

Pics of our room. As I said it was large and nice....

Denise...like all of us...bellied up to the bar for unlimited, NON-ALCOHOLIC, drinks!

Pool side lounging...

Italian food in Mexico....Cassidy is actually in Rome, Italy and enjoying the real thing. We miss both Karlie and Cassidy (and their husbands). We wish they could be here!