4/20/01-4/27/01
I'm not going to make this a play by play, there's plenty of that out there. Its plenty long though. From the moment I got to the airport in my home town to the moment I got back, I made it fun and memorable. The vacation starts the minute you lock the front door. That's the only way to go. So even though there were airport debacles and a lot of time spent on the shuttle bus from MB to Hedo, it was all part of the experience, and none of it had a negative moment.
The shuttle ride over to Negril was long. It was around 9:00 pm or so, and dark. Driving through the communities was interesting though. I would agree that the shuttle ride should be taken once, but we decided without a lot of hesitation to take the charter plane back. I think it was airlink, we didn't book until about a day or two before we left, and had no problems at all. Everything w/ the air link thing went very smoothly. The plane ride was beautiful and the first time I'd ever been on a plane that small (6 seats including pilot and co-pilot). It wasn't scarry at all. Most enjoyable.
So in between the shuttle ride and the charter plane, I had an absolute BLAST! It was the first vacation I'd ever taken of that sort (beach resort relax, not-much-tourist-stuff-thing). I'm about 75% prude. I did do the naked thing daytime and night time. I made it a policy to try *almost* everything. I am not much of a group activities person, so I didn't do any of the contests, if you like that kind of thing, and aren't shy, then I'm sure they are a lot of fun. I went with a guy friend of mine. I'm sure we appeared to be a couple, which made it hard to be a single person "looking" but "looking" was not top on my priority list, and my friend and I were having such a great time it didn't really matter. There is nothing special about the nude side except that everyone is naked. You can even go topless on the prude side, the only excepton is that the jerk chicken just didn't seem to be available at the prude side grill. We would ask for it, they'd say "not till 6:30", we'd go over at like 6:40 the same day and they'd say they were out. I think that's the Jamaican way though. The jerk chicken on the nude side is definately awesome though. I think when we went to get it we even had clothes on and no one gave us a hard time about our clothes. We were on a mission, and I think it was obvious. I think though that if you are hanging out on the nude side, you should be nude. Respect.
I thought the hedo staff was great. The food was good (I loved the chocolate/cinnamon cake thing they had out for desert, if anyone knows what that is or has a recipe, I'd love to try that, yummm). Went to Pastafaris twice. The first time was absolutely delicious. The second was not great at all. The food took too long (I think we were there for almost 2 hours), the anti-pasta bar was not as good as the first night (the eggplant was perfect the first night, and almost dreadful the second) and something I ate/drank that night had me up early the next morning and *running* over to buy kaopectate, which unfortunately I had to keep close to me for the next 2 days, luckily that was the last two days of the trip) It was the biggest bummer of the trip, but still didn't hold me back and keep me from enjoying myself. Ate at scotch bonnet one night, the bananna cream tort was the BEST! (i don't eat a lot of desert at home, so the hedo ones were very much a treat, very delicious)
There is so much to do at Hedo (without being naked) we took a tennis lesson, it was great, made it to the work out area once (although we found that we stayed pretty active the whole time, which kinda made up for all the eating we did), ping pong, pool, swimming, snorkelling, kayaking, sailing the cats, life size chess, dancing at the disco (which I thought was too crowded toga and pj night to even enjoy, so didn't stay long those nites, other nights were fun though) walking the beach, hammock time (the prude side definately has the hammock thing goin' on. All in the shade, plenty available. Most enjoyable. The afternoon rains (about 4 out of the seven days) was the perfect nap time. And even if you were out in the rain, it didn't bother you because the temperature is so mild. Paulette the prude beach bartender was awesome, kept our insulated plastic cups full with whatever we wanted.
The sunsets from hedo are tough to see because the beach kinda faces south, and the point kinda sticks out in front of the sunset, you have to walk down the beach some, and then you can't walk back to hedo on the beach because they close the gates at dusk. We walked down once to watch the sunset, then just cut through one of the other resorts and took the road back. No big deal.
We ventured beyond the walls of hedo twice by taxi. I had really wanted to go to Alfreds one night, but that never happened. Maybe next time. We went into Negril once, and went out into the country once. Both were great experiences, and although probably not a true taste of what its like to live there, definately gave you perspective contrasted with life at hedo. The Jamaicans are great people, and I had an excellent experience getting to know some. The vendors in Negril at the 'market' were hilarious. You have to go with the right attitude though, and understand that this is their lively hood. They are very good sales people. But they like to have fun too. I brought some candy to share, and gave a lot to vendors who had kids. I also brought scool supplies to leave at the hedo desk, they were very much appreciated. EVERYONE should do this, even if its just a box of pencils.
On the naked night life - I'll just say this bluntly, having sex with strangers is not something I really enjoy, and being around strangers having sex is not really my thing either. So I guess that would encompass some of the 75% prude part of me. I did go to the nude hot tub/pool twice. I really enjoyed swimming in the nude pool and no one was really over there (I don't know why more people don't hang out in the pool I would have to take exception to the rule: being naked isn't about sex *except at night in the hot tub*) The first time at the hot tub was without my contacts/glasses, so I couldn't really see anything, it was early (10:00 pm) anyway so maybe there wasn't much going on, and the water was pretty cool. The second night was quite the opposite (I had my contacts in). After reading the message board for a while before the trip, it sounds like its hit or miss on the nude hot tub action (depending on what you're into). This second night was (had to be) WILD by anyone's standards. It wasn't lifestyles week, the Springer group had mostly dissipated. If the sex police were there, they must have been sleeping. I saw EVERYTHING (Intercourse, oral sex, group sex) Most was up on the edge of the hot tub (in full view), not actually in it. I was pretty drunk, but knew I was out of my league. I do want to make one note here though (which may sound contradictory to how I've described myself) But a special thank you to Bubbles (not even sure if you read this website). For a shy slightly uptight (by hedo standards) 3/4 prude woman, I truly value the 'bubbles' experience. It was just my speed (so to speak), but I was a little too introverted, overwhelmed and drunk to properly thank you and let you know I did appreciate it.
So why go to hedo if being naked isn't your goal? Well, you don't have to be naked, but not wearing underwear the whole time was definately a plus. The atmosphere is free, there are no kids, its not all couples. I haven't stayed at any other resort to compare it to, but just by walking down the beach past the other resorts (and through a couple of them), there is definately a different feel, more formal, more exclusive (its hard to describe in words) at the others. I definately enjoy being around different types of people, and hedo appeared to have more diversity. The people there were friendly. We talked with some great people, and had some interesting conversations (the trip conicided w/ butt crack tours).
Would I go back, maybe. It would depend on who I was vacationing with. I would go back to Jamaica, and even Negril, but I'm the kind of person who likes to try new things. I don't have the resources to take a vacation every 6 months, so I think I would choose a different vacation next time, but I would recommend hedo to anyone I thought had an open enough mind. I can see why there are so many repeat visitors though. And the repeat visitors were definately one of the bennefits, they really add to the atmosphere. If I could take a vacation twice a year, hedo would probably be one of the stops (after I've tried a couple others to compare).
If you have any questions, comments, concerns or criticism (but go easy on me) feel free to email me.
Carolyn