Bob - October, 2001 & March, 2002

I went back to Hedo for my 3rd trip and the second with the group from Hedo-Online.  It was a great trip eventhough I was a little concerned about flying after September 11th outside the United States.  I decided though that I wasn't going to let the terrorists win.  I took my first Hedo trip in October, 1996 and knew that hurricane season can make the weather not so great.  It turned out that I got to see what Jamaica was like with a potiential hurricane approaching.

I had to go out of Philadelphia instead of Newark as Air Jamaica had cancelled my return flight, I was supposed to return Oct. 9th.  I was informed by Go Classy Tours that they cancelled the Newark flights on Tuesdays about a month before my trip.  I wanted to fly home into Newark and was able to add a day when I got to the ticket counter in Philadelphia.  I also was able add another day to my trip with no problem when I got to Hedonism.

The trip down was uneventful and the weather was good, albeit humid.  We did get a couple of showers and thunderstorms, one on the catamaran and one while in the hot tub.  I enjoy laying on the rafts, hanging out under a tree by Delroy's bar and sipping mudslides and banana  daquiries from the machine next to the grill.  I brough a big plastic water bottle that I would just fill up and enjoy.  The burgers from the grill were great as was the jerk chicken every night at 6 pm.

The entertainment was the same and I did try Toga Night this time and actually won a bottle of Tia Maria for the most unrevealing toga.  The band Roots Explosion was great as always as was the circus show.  I got my first taste of the piano bar and it was a lot of fun.  Dave the pianist was great and this being Hedo it was great to see some of the ladies dance on the piano.

There was construction as they were renovating the prude pool and adding a water slide so they had that area closed off but the only time I heard them working was going up to the dining room for breakfast or dinner.

The most interesting days were Saturday and Sunday as for the first time I actually saw TV at Hedo.  They had a satelite TV with CNN on in the piano bar and we learned Hurricane Iris was headed towards Jamaica.  The storm wound up heading south of Jamaica and hiiting Belize.  The airport was closed at MoBay on Sunday and while I wasn't affected some people leaving that day would be there until Tuesday and Thursday with the flight backups.  We did also learn that day (Oct. 7th) that the war on terror had started in Afghanistan but it didn't dampen the mood and I still had a great time.

The trip home was good as I sprung for an Air Jamaica Express flight from Negril, the airport is across from Hedo and a $10 cab ride, back to MoBay.  It was worth extra $55 as we got rements of Tropical Storm Jerry and it was pouring.  We did hit some turbulance on the water and the approach to MoBay.  Then you take a van from the Air Jamaica Express building to the main terminal.  Check in is chaotic at Sangster as it is now a hub for Air Jamaica and with the added security that was due to Sept. 11th it was very slow.  We also had to go through a search of our carry-on  bags which was quite unorganized.  The flight left about an hour late but we got back to Newark on time and the National Guard troops were outside the airport terminal when I was picked up to go home.

The only downside was sharing a room.  I was trying to save money and I had two roommates during my stay.  I got along with my first roommate but my second roommate was a pain in the butt, I still had a great time.

I missed Hedo II so much and really couldn't wait to get back.  I had met a couple in October from New Jersey who were going back in March and I wanted to go when they went.  When I was there in October there was a group called Lifestyles tours and they were there through them.  So in January, I booked the trip through Lifestyles.  This was my first full week (Saturday to Saturday) trip to Jamaica as I was usually trying to work two short work weeks around my trips.  I had also learned about a book about Hedonism II by Chris Santilli called "The Naked Truth About Hedonism II" which was by a single woman who had traveled to Hedo since 1985.  I bought both editions of her book and felt like I was back at Hedo.  Her book is available on Amazon.com  I am not an avid reader but I couldn't put it down.  If you are planning a trip to Hedo it is a great resource as are the Hedo-Online and Denny P. web sites.

I left Saturday and it was the usual routine although the security was not as big a deal this time as I had plenty of time to spare.  The flight was uneventful but the bus ride which is usually "hell" and long was quite fun.  We had a bus full of regulars mostly from NJ and Philly and we had a greart driver and we made apprpriate beer stops (2) but I lost my taste for beer and some of the group got on me for having a Coke.  Actually, I was saving myself for Delroy's great mudslides and the daquiries from the machine.  The road to Negril is just about complete, it's a paved 2 lane highway which is much wider than before.

I got to Hedo and the best part was the Lifestyles desk had my keys and paperwork and my room was ready.  I unpacked headed to the nude beach and got a drink at Delroy's and perched myself at my daily spot under a palm tree by the point.  I also met my friends from New Jersey and we had dinner at Pastafari that first night and we had dinner a couple of other nights.

Lifestyles was also part of a Miss No Swimsuit contest sponsored by another Hedo travel agency Tom's Tours.   The Miss No Swimsuit contest featured female contestants from nudist and lifestyles clubs around the U.S.  They crowned Miss No Swimsuit 2002 on Friday.

I had a great time on the catamaran cruise eventhough I lost my swimsuit, no problem, mon as it blew overboard!  It was a blessing though as I bought two new suits and 2 new pairs of shorts.  I still needed shorts or a suit for the main dining room.

The construction was done on the prude side of the resort.  They made the prude pool larger and added a water slide which emptied you in a pool by the disco which was also fixed up and made nicer and brighter.  A spa was also added and I got a massage (there was a shack on the beach previously) which was great.  The girl was very friendly and it turned out she had visited New Jersey as her brother moved there to become a lawyer.  The staff at Hedo are very friendly and some know me from previous trips.  They also added pool tables, a couple in the small pools just off the main pool deck.  There is a walkway over the waterslide and the bar is at the bottom of the steps from the walkway.  It was nice when it was in a tree right on the beach.  They now have hammocks there.

They still had a straw market setup with wood carvings, jewelry and art for sale on the beach across from the grill.  I bought a painting of reggae band playing in front of a Jamaican flag.  The artist, named Paul, does artwork for the resorts of SuperClubs and also sold his paintings with his wife Angela on weekends.  He did the Hedonism artwork for the Jerry Springer show's stage.  He also has wood carvings and you can negotiate a price. Another guy, Yellow Man, also sells wood carvings on the beach and I bought a cat for a friend which he painted black for me.  Don't be shy the price is negotiable.

The Jerry Springer show was down there taping Spring Break shows on the beach which I did not know at the time and many people I met didn't know about either, some had read rumors about it happening though.  While I was not bothered by it, I felt bad for people that lost the prude beach for 2 days.  While some college age people go to Hedo it is not a Spring Break place.  Many people I meet at Hedo are their parents' age!  Most of the people were brought in from other resorts but there was a group from Georgetown staying at Hedo.

Jerry was staying at the Grand Lido, so I was told.  I did see him walk past me and my New Jersey friends after a taping.  They wound up with 5 shows that aired during May.  One featured a pregnant woman who followed her ex and his girlfriend to Hedo and made an ass of herself trying to spoil their vacation.  She was very rude and threw food and even a chair into the pool.  It was typical Jerry with half of her comments bleeped and the nudity censored.  Jerry looked as if he wondered what the hell he was doing there.  I did go down and mingle on the beach for a wet T-shirt contest, I didn't see that particular show when it aired on TV.  It was cheesy and definitely a misrepresentation of Hedo.  Even Playboy TV, which promotes Hedo III, which I haven't gone to, paints a picture of Hedo that may not necessarily be true or accurate.  Of course you can't get the same feeling or idea from an hour show that you get when you are there for a week.

I went to the piano bar which was a blast again despite some of the obnoxious people from the Springer show.  It was bad when Dave let the college guys strip on the piano to his tune "Piece By Piece".  Dave was great and played a new song called "Hedonismville" a parody of Margaritaville.  You can find the words in Chris Santilli's book.  "Hedonismville" was written by a guest from Pennsylvania.

I also went to the disco and the hot tub, the hot tub on the nude beach is a great spot to meet people before dinner and to wrap up the night.

The trip home was uneventful and it was nice that Newark flight leaves at 6:30pm and the bus doesn't leave until 3 pm.

I'll be going back to Hedo with Lifestyles from October 15th through 20th, 2002.