Hedonism II (2000) Negril, Jamaica February 16 - 21, 2000
I had been very busy at work since my trip to Ireland last summer and felt I needed something to look forward to in 2000. So against my financial judgment, I decided I needed another trip to look forward to.
So in December, I was sitting at work and decided to call my travel agent at AAA and check on prices for Jamaica. I was originally going to go to Breezes Golf and Beach Resort as I had not been there since 1997. I had my agent check prices (which were a little high) for that and then decided to change my mind and go to Hedonism II. I had not been to Hedonism II since October 1996.
I was originally go to go for seven days but really felt five was all I could not afford. Going as a single traveller and liking to have my own room I have always paid the Guarenteed Single room rate which is one and a half times the double occupancy rate. Since the time I booked the trip, I also wound up buying a new computer as my old one quit on me. This will be my last trip for a while so I wanted to have a fabulous time.
I met a lot of people online through the Visitor's Schedule on Denny P.'s web site. Through Denny's site I also found Hedo-Online hosted by Kenny and Ginger.
My agent booked my trip through Air Jamaica Vacations.
I left home at 4:30am. to get to the airport for my 7:00am. flight out of Newark to Montego Bay. I got to the gate in plenty of time. Checking in at Newark was no problem either. Interestingly, the sign above the desk at the gate said the flight was leaving at 7:40am. It turns out they just posted the wrong time. I had an hour to sit and relax before the flight. I bought a Coke and got into Jamaica mode with Bob Marley playing on my Walkman. I only brought a carry-on bag anad my Trafalgar bag for my beach stuff. So it was a breeze to get to the gate.
The plane left on time at 7:00am. and I had a window seat (8H), however for some reason there was no window in that row, so I switched with the people in front and sat in 7H. It turned out the flight was not very full but this was because we had to stop in Philadelphia to fill the plane with more passengers. After a short half hour flight (I had to go to the bathroom so it felt longer) we landed in Philadelphia. We had a half hour stopover so the plane could fill up. Fortunately, I could use the rest room. Unfortunately, I had to move back to my assigned seat, windowless seat 8H. The plane was an Airbus 310, it had two seats on the sides and three in the middle.
One thing that is interesting when you fly is there are video screens where you can follow the route and progress of the flight. This is great as it can be nice to know where you are and how much further you have to go to get there.
We left Philadelphia at about 8:30am. I enjoyed reading the Air Jamaica Skywritings Magazine and talking to the lady sitting next to me. It was interesting to read that Jamica is becoming a new destination for Spring Break. There was also an article on Noel Coward who spent much time in Jamaica with Ian Fleming, who wrote many novels and created James Bond. For breakfast I had pancakes, sausage and orange juice.
We landed in Montego Bay at 11:55am. After climbing down the steps to the Tarmac and into the terminal building. After passing through customs I made my way down to the SuperClubs desk in the Transportation Hall. After a rest room break and a stop to buy some water, I got in the van to Hedo for the "ride from hell".
There were about 7 other people on the bus. I enjoyed talking with Butch, Wendy and Nicole who were sitting in front of me. This was truly a ride from hell. Not for the company on the bus, but for the 80 mile one and a half hour ride on the road to Negril. The road is barely two lanes wide. However, they are building a new road and widening the existing road. The driver did a good job negotiating the potholes in the old road and construction areas in the new road. It was not much of a surprise that little work was being done on the road. I did see the typical locals alongside the road though. It is still amazing how poor some areas of Jamaica still are after all these years. I did see some nice small towns that I missed on my last trip to Hedonism. The driver had IRIE-FM, one of Jamaica's radio stations on. It was interesting to hear the great sounds of reggae and find out what was going on around the island.
I arrived at Hedo at about 2:30pm. and my room was not ready. This was of no surprise, fortunately I didn't have to wait long. I went and had a Red Stripe at the bar and watched some of the lunchtime activities.
Finally, my room was ready. I was in Room 1202, a Garden View room on the prude side of the resort. I had a view of the trapeze on the prude beach. I quickly unpacked and put on my suit and headed down to the nude beach.
It was great to finally be away from everything! Even clothes! I did have to get dressed for dinner and put my suit on to go back to my room.
I got a chair on the cove of the nude beach by the bar. I got myself a drink from Delroy (he's one of the bartenders along with Scumba). I then got a cheeseburger and fries from Robert's grill. Delroy, Scumba and Robert provided great food, drinks and service throughout my stay at Hedo.
I then started to meet my online friends, Kenny and Ginger, Bob and Beth, Mario, Nita and Darcey, Chris and Julie through Denny P's web site and the Hedo-Online site. I also met Ken and Barbie (no I'm not kidding!, Barbara is actually a doctor) and many others throughout the week including Peter and Cheryl and Rick and Ellen. I met so many people that I apologize if I missed mentioning anyone.
I also enjoyed the music at Delroy's, he has a great mix. I love Bob Marley, Luciano and the '70s stuff he would put on. I bought a CD by A.J. Brown at the Hedo gift shop. I think he performed at Showtime one night.
It was great relaxing and soaking up the sun au naturel. I also enjoyed laying on the rafts in the water and swimming in the nude pool and swimming up for a drink at the bar. I did pay a price for laying on the rafts as I did get some sunburn on my back. The water was a little murky so having my sand shoes was a big plus.
On Friday I went out on the 11:30 snorkeling boat. We went to a reef about a half a mile off the Hedo Beach. The reef was beautiful although the water was a bit choppy so cleaning and putting on the mask after coming up each time was an adventure. I drank a lot of salt water every time I'd go to put the snorkel in my mouth. I love the Senor Majcher, I swam with a whole school of the yellow black and gray fish. It was great to snorkel nude, it felt very natural. This was the first time I every snorkeled nude.
On Saturday morning was the clothing optional catamaran cruise. We went snorkeling at the same reef and then went to the Pickled Parrot. It was fun to watch the daring souls dive off the cliffs. It was a very tranquill place and there was a cave to swim over and take a look at. We had a great time dancing as there was a guy playing reggae on the guitar and I enjoyed beer and rum punch from the bar. I also met new friends, Peter and Cheryl. On the way back we hit a shower and it began to pour. It was nice not having be in a wet suit or shirt although it was a little cold so I wrapped up in my Bob Marley towel.
When we docked I made a mad dash to my room to take a rest room break and get a dry shirt. I had thought about taking a nap as I was a little tired. Then I thought, hey I'm in Jamaica, I can sleep on the beach. I headed down to the nude beach and fortunately the rain had pretty much stopped. I went and got a drink at the bar. Then I went up to the pool and there were about 75 to 100 people in the hot tub. I sat in there and made new friends until dinner.
The nude hot tub was a great place to meet people. I would go there before dinner and then late at night. It was fun to sit and listen to people chat and just relax, it was very therapeutic, esapecially on my sunburned back. Late at night some people would do a little more than chat. Occasionally a security guard patrolling the area would cool things down. Most of the time the security was not there and late night extra cirricular activities were no problem. There were about 95 percent couples in the hot tub. However, one night there were quite a few single people. A couple of guys even brought tunes the last two nights. They cranked up good stuff, Led Zeppelin, Meat Loaf, Rocky Horror, Billy Joel and Pink Floyd among other great stuff. I saw one couple dancing outside the hot tub.
It was great to have breakfast and dinner with my online friends. The food at Hedo was great. The Jerk Pork was delicious and the Pumpkin Soup was good considering I don't like Pumpkin Pie. It is always good to drink plenty of water as it is easy to get dehydrated from the hot sun and alcohol consumption you take in during you stay. Everything is served as a buffett although there is staff that will get you drinks and water. I found that it was sometimes easier to go get my drinks myself.
The service at the dining room bar was pretty quick. It was funny, one night I'm having dinner with Rick and Ellen and the guy takes my plate away while I was talking. I wound up going back for a salad.
I went to Pastafari on my last night and it was not as good as I was hoping. The menu (which changes nightly) was not all that good. I love Penne pasta but it was served with bacon so it wasn't all that great. I like it with a tomato vodka cream sauce. The bread and appetizers were good as was the champagne.
Showtime, the nightly entertainment was good. The house band Blues Explosion was really good. They had a few great singers perform too. On Sunday they did an oldies night and the girl who sang was really great. I loved hearing those great 70's disco hits. The dance floor was packed that night. The Talent Show on Thursday was OK, too many slow songs that made me feel a little depressed. Although many couples danced and I'm sure the songs meant more to them than they did to me. On Friday night they had a Beach Party with relay races, one involving two people in a hula hoop. There was also a circus show too! It's amazing to watch someone swing from a trapeze.. It's wild when two people swing and one tries to catch the other.
Thursday was also Toga Night which they said meant "no sheet, no eat" although many people didn't wear a toga and still got to eat dinner. This was the first time I ever wore a toga. I usually was never courageous enough or couldn't figure out how to tie one. I watched the demonstration they had in the afternoon and tried to find the easiest way to tie it. I wound up just tying it around my neck a couple of times.
After the Talent Show, we made a conga line and paraded around the dining room. Then they had a contest for various toga types, homemade (meaning you brought sheets from home), Roman tied, most revealing and virgin toga (meaning you're pretty much covered up). I wound up winning a bottle of Tia Maria in the virgin toga contest. It was worth it as it took about 20 minutes to tie the damn toga!
I went to the disco after Showtime the first few nights. It took a while to get going. The best crowd was on Toga Night. They had some great music (although I hate when they speed up stuff which they did a lot). I also met Kristin (who I thought looked like a Nicole, she thought and did look a little like Britney Spears with her glasses), Tiffany and Becky. They were all in their early 20's. They were fun to dance and hang out with.
Most nights I would stay at the disco until the hot tub got started, usually around 1:00am or so. There were many nights I could have crashed before dinner but then I would say "I'm in Jamaica, I can sleep when I get home" and by 10 I would get my "second wind".
As I said before, my room was 1202 and I was very close to the disco. The disco was not deafeningly loud on the inside but you can hear it from halfway down the prude bach to halfway up the nude beach. I could hear Will Smith's "Miami" in my room with the windows closed. My last night I was tired so I went back to my room after Showtime for a nap at about 10:30pm. I slept until about 12:30am. and headed for the hot tub for my final night to relax and have fun. I went to the disco around 3:30am. and hung with Nicole and Becky and went to bed around 5:00am.
I got up on my final day and was depressed to be going home. Fortunately, my flight was not until 6:00pm. and I didn't have to leave Hedo until 3:00pm. I got up around 9:00am. got into my suit (I had thought about going to Negril but there wasn't enough time) and headed to breakfast. After breakfast I headed to the nude beach to relax under a shady tree as my back was pretty sunburned. I had a final few drinks and a cheesburger for lunch. Man, those cheeseburgers and drinks were good this week! Then I laid in a chair in the wading pool (between the cold hot tub and the hot tub, there's also a grotto with a waterfall). Then I sat in the hot tub a little bit and took a final dip in the pool. I had said my goodbyes to friends as they were leaving before me, but I saw Barbie and Ken and Nita and Darcey and said my final goodbyes.
I then went to men's room to change in my travelling home clothes as I had to check out by noon or pay $100. After changing I had a last mudslide and beer at the bar and waited for the bus.
Well 3:00pm came and there was the bus. It was quite depressing to watch the people getting off the bus, to a greeting musician, to start their vacation. Oh well, all good things must come to an end. After waiting for a latecomer we left at 3:15pm.
The ride was the same although more depressing since I was going home and it would be a while before I would be able to get back to Hedonism II again.
We got to the airport at 5:00pm. Air Jamaica had a representative at the hotel to check me in at 10:30 am. but I did not want my bags going to the airport. I also feel better having my bags with me. They suggest doing the hotel flight check-in as you can go right to the departure area. I also didn't want to waste any of this last day, I never usually get almost a full day at the resort when I leave.
Despite the "massive sea of humanity" I checked in with no problem. I was surprised to find out the departure tax went from $21 to $27, I guess they have to pay for the new road to Negril somehow. However, I understand that departure taxes go to pay airport and customs personnel and maintainence. I had no choice so I paid my departure tax (it has to be paid in cash). I then went down to the waiting area. I got a Coke at the bar and took a quick look at CD's in the duty free shop but they were too expensive $30 US, I paid $21 US for A.J. Brown at Hedonism. In all the craziness of tryiong to do this within 15 minutes I almost lost my carry on luggage but found it and made the mad dash to the gate, onto the Tarmac, up the steps and on to the plane.
I had seat 9H for the flight home (it was direct into Newark) and we took off on time. I enjoyed talking with the guy next to me who was a freelance travel writer who was in Montego Bay for the weekend doing an article on the Half Moon Resort in Montego Bay. He was a native to Jamaica although he looked and sounded more like he was European. The chicken dinner was good and I enjoyed reading more of the Skywritings magazine.
We landed in Newark on time at 9:35pm. and again going through customs and the airport with my carry-on luggage was a breeze. I met my ride and was home by 10:30 pm.
I really had a great time and it was a much needed vacation. I feel more relaxed and can look back fondly on the great time I had and the great people I met.