It was a sticky situation. I had canceled my reservation with Aldora and booked my dives with Memo after learning that Memo had started his own operation. Memo is the founder and former #1 Divemaster for Aldora, and we became friends during several earlier trips. I was at a lost for words because Daniel and Memo were both there, and I was like "uh..ok."

After telling Daniel that I had canceled my reservation with Aldora about a month earlier, Memo gave me the mesh bags for my gear and made plans to do the first dive at around 4:00 pm. I introduced Memo to my wife, Lisa, and my two sisters, Jacquie and Cindy. After the embarrassing confusion, I bought the tickets for the van ride to our resort destination.

Hotel:

My family and I stayed at The Diamond Resort. There are some pro's and con's about staying at an all-inclusive hotel.  I've stayed at several different hotels on Cozumel, but from now on Diamond Resort will be my choice. Some people say all-inclusives are a waste of money, and that you won't be able to enjoy eating in town. Well, in my opinion, that is fine, if you don't mind spending more money. After my first trip to Cozumel and staying at La Ceiba, I found that I spent more money staying at a regular hotel, eating in town, and paying for drinks. Here are the positives and negatives.

    Pro's:
At the Diamond, everything was included. I didn't spend a penny on anything. Everything from the food to the alcoholic drinks was covered. It seemed I ate almost every hour, and if you enjoy your cocktails, this is heaven.

The resort offered three restaurants. One is the main hall named Topaz Restaurant, buffet style and every night there is a different theme. The second is Caruso's Restaurant, an Italian, semi-formal, sit down spot. The best part about this restaurant was that the menu's didn't have prices and you could order as much as you want. I ordered every desert that was on the menu, even though after dinner I felt as big as Shamu the Killer Whale. Also, it is located on a patio and while having dinner, you could watch the show on their open stage. The third restaurant is called El Troje, a Mexican Restaurant. Everything was delicious on the menu and so was the churros...mmmmm.

During the time we weren't diving, we were kept busy with all the activities on the resort. There was always something going on every hour. I myself lounged in the pool with my kids while my wife and sister had lots of fun playing volleyball, water polo, and other miscellaneous activities with the other people on the resort. One day they had like a carnival with all these games and you would win beads at whatever game it is you were playing, then at night they held an auction with lots of prizes and you paid them with the beads you won. The resort offered all these activities: windsurfing, kayaking, snorkeling, volleyball, bingo, water polo, arts and crafts, water aerobics, and lots of other group activities.

Also on the resort is a newly built gym with nautilus weights, step master, and a treadmill. The gym also offers aerobic exercises. There is a sports bar, featuring two pool tables, Ping-Pong, and kareoke. Compared to Carlos and Charlies, this bar rocked hard, especially considering that all the alcohol was free and no money was being sported. People came up to everyone with shots of Kamikaze's and Sex on the Beach. People came up and introduced themselves, and at the end of the night, everyone knew everyone; it was really cool.

The resort has a wonderful landscape with tennis courts, a basketball court, shuffle board, and near the lobby is a giant open stage where there was nightly entertainment every night for children and adults. Vacationing with kids can be difficult, but at the resort, they had a kids club, so that was one worry off my list and with the abundance of food, my wallet was well safe within our room. I can say a lot more, but I don't want to turn this into a novel and it seems getting close to that.
      Con's:
If you come from a town where Mexican food is hard to find, then yes, you'll be missing out on all that authentic Mexican/Mayan food in town. But coming from Los Angeles, there is practically one at every corner, so I wasn't really missing out. Another thing was that a one-way trip into town cost about $10.00 (ouch).  People might say, yeah but Carlos n Charlie's, Joe's, Neptune, and all the other clubs in town are a real treat. They are, but I have been to enough fancy clubs out here in L.A., so there again I am not missing out on anything. If you don't get out that much, then I say go hit the clubs, they are a lot of fun, but one club is enough for me. I remember at one point, my friends and I ended up spending about $79.00 on drinks, and that didn't include the tip. That was just one night and that's without dinner.

Now that I am done with the resort let's head for the diving..woohoo...come to think of it this whole page sounded as if it came out of some brochure, please don't get the idea that I am trying to plug this resort; it just that it was really cool and I thought I would share my wonderful experience with anyone interested in an all inclusive-resort. Now on to the diving.