Personal note to Denny. Thanks vey much for you web page. It was a major factor in my choice of Hedonism II for vacation this year. And now that I’ve been there, for many years to come.
Since Denny has so thoughtfully set up this wonderful page I thought the least I could do was contribute a little trip report. Especially since this page helped me to decide on Hedonism for my annual vacation.
As I write this it has been two weeks since I returned home. I’m just now getting over the "Dreaded Island Fever" that I scoffed at before the trip.
I flew Air Jamaica direct from Chicago to Montego Bay. The flight was nice and, as I flew in on a Monday, less than half full. The bus ride to Hedo was interesting in a not quite terrifying sort of way. We stopped at the "Ganja Bridge" and one of the guys in the van bought a lot of ganja for not very much money. Welcome to Jamaica, Mon. The paperwork at Hedo was relatively painless and Tony showed me to my room and welcomed me home. After lunch I wandered the resort for a while and ended up in the prude hot tub. There I met a bunch of cool people including Joe and Sophia from Illinois who were on their honeymoon. They were very nice and I partied with them for the next several days. That was how my trip began.
I had been somewhat apprehensive about traveling to Hedo as a single guy, but I had no problem with it at all while I was there. I met people almost continuously for the entire 12 days of my stay. Among the highlights were Paula and Sarah from Virginia, Bruce from Baltimore, Elliott from Washington, Dan and Mike from Australia, Floyd from Texas, Trisha from Kentucky and others too numerous to mention. Virtually everyone I met was warm and friendly. After the first day I didn’t eat alone at any meal except breakfast (I was an early riser).
A few highlights of My trip:
The ocean. I spent a lot of time in the ocean. Being from Michigan, I don’t see the ocean all that often and I’ve never seen it as beautiful as it is in Jamaica. I went snorkeling almost every day. Around the beech was wonderful but best early in the morning before it gets stirred up. The free snorkel trip was awesome too. But by far the best was the scuba. I took the resort certification class from Sandi and went on a dive the next day. I’m hooked. Giving out free dive lessons is kind of like giving away free drugs. Addictive as hell. I went on the beginner dive every day after that. It was fantastic. The coral was beautiful and the visibility was astounding. It was like flying over an alien landscape. I had no equipment or people problems at all on my dives and was lucky enough not to have ear problems either. I highly recommend it. The only regret I have is that I didn’t start in on the diving soon enough to get a PADI certified. It only costs $200 there and would be well worth it. Ah well, next time.
The nude pool. Nude swim-up bar. Need I say more? This was my favorite happy hour spot of the entire resort. The nude hot tub was also fantastic, especially at night. My only regret is that as a single male I often felt a bit intimidated by all the couples on the nude side and more than once retreated to the prude side in search of other singles to party with. Not that the couples don’t party, but they seemed to have a definite preference for other couples as party company. Of course that was just my subjective feeling, and then again maybe I just didn’t run across the right people. But over all I loved the nude side and was glad I didn’t let any body modesty keep me from enjoying it
Alcohol and food. Frozen drinks and warm beer and rum and cokes that were almost clear. Flamin’ Bob Marley shots, dirty banana’s, blow jobs, B-52’s, and purple rain. Every party ought to come with this kind of lubrication. As for food, well, the 24 hour availability nearly did me in. I ate at Pastafari several times and the service and food were extraordinary. I had thought the dress code would be a problem since I didn’t pack any shirts with collars and only brought shorts and swim trunks. But no one mentioned it and so all was well. The regular buffet line was excellent as well. In fact far better than I had expected it to be. I found something ( or several somethings) that I liked at every meal.
Activities. Toga party and beach party and PJ party and battle of the sexes. Great excuses to get mostly naked, drink a lot and get into close physical contact with your fellow hedonists. ‘Nuff said!
General comments.
I have a feeling that Hedonism is a very different place as a couple. Next time I think I’d like to bring a girlfriend to test this hypothesis. I met a ton of people (or rather several tons) as a single. But that is kind of forced on you unless you like spending all your time in paradise alone. I might not have met as many people if I’d had a mate to fall back on. I also wonder if you can really let go and be that other person (you know, the uninhibited happy go lucky, no care in the world guy) if you are with some one from home. As I said, I’ll have to try it that way next time.
Final conclusion, I had an awesome vacation. Probably the best I’ve had in years. Then there is the added bonus that all my friends are insanely jealous after seeing my pictures. J