April 6-13, 2002
Preface
If you are a regular reader of my prior trip reports, you know that I normally eschew (look it up) relating the details of the resort itself and instead I concentrate on the personal side of things. Well, this time enough has changed at Hedo II that I felt a need to comment in that area. But don't despair; I will end this report with some personal reflections on the week.
Resort Changes
I had the good fortune to see the groundbreaking for a lot of the construction back in July. I also saw the progress in early December. I was amazed when I saw the finished product. The whole area from the main dining room down to the beach and over to the gym area looked impressive.
The first think you notice is the structure for the waterslide. There is a tall wooden tower that takes you up to the slide. Half way up the tower is a suspension bridge that connects to another tower that ends up down on the prude beach by the new pool.
Speaking of pools there are 4 new pools on the prude side. One is about the size of the nude pool. It has a swim-up bar that replaced the tree bar. The tree bar structure is still there, but now has some hammocks in it. One smaller pool is the landing area for the waterslide. It dumps you out right in front of the disco windows on the side away from the DJ station. The benches were removed from that side and the walls replaced with all windows like in a greenhouse. You can watch the sliders land from inside the disco. There are two smaller pools that have waterfalls in them. They are about 10'-12' square. The whole area is well landscaped and lit nicely at night.
The rock-climbing wall was ready for use, but I didn't see anyone try it.
Then there's the ice skating rink. Can't say much more about that. It's plastic-surfaced, not real ice. No one was using it that I know of.
The new gym and spa area is really awesome. They installed lots of new equipment. The aerobics room is huge. It's all air-conditioned. The spa area has saunas and three soaking pools that anyone can use. There is a charge for other spa services (I'll be posting a list of what's available along with prices a bit later.) There are double massage rooms and single rooms. There is also a hydrotherapy room. There is also a beauty shop. For those who might remember her form the Tour Desk, Tamika is the spa receptionist.
The Japanese restaurant, Munahana, was operational. The menu is limited and repetitive if you return multiple times. But the food was good as were the attempts of the Jamaican chefs to try to act like a Benihana chef including the pseudo-Japanese accents. The Scotch Bonnet restaurant was open again, too. I didn't eat there this trip. Pastafaris was still serving the same dinners as they have been for quite some time. The good thing is that there are now 4 dining choices. On certain days, some of the restaurants were closed.
There is a miniature golf course behind Veronica's piano bar. I never saw anyone play it. It wasn't apparent where the equipment was kept. The course was laid out under a bunch of trees so there was always debris on the course.
Travel
I took the Air Jamaica red-eye from Los Angeles. I flew a Southwest shuttle from Phoenix to LA. The flights were all early. I timed myself at 65 minutes from the time the door opened at Montego Bay to the time my room door opened at Hedo II. We were the first flight in that morning so there were no lines. My TimAir flight was it's normal 16 minutes to Negril from Montego Bay. My room was ready when I got to the resort.
The flight back was uneventful. It arrived in LA a bit early. I overnighted at a friend's house and returned the next morning on Southwest - again getting in early. Security was no problem anywhere and caused little delay. I did get selected for a random bag check before boarding the Air Jamaica flight in LA. The inspectors were polite and quick.
The Rest of the Story
This trip to Hedo II was planned on two days notice. I went alone and was not with any group.(Yes, I was supposed to be at the Caribbean Reef Club in Cancun - but that's yet another story.) I didn't even check the Visitor Schedule on my web site to see who would be there - I just went and showed up. There was a nice group of people there. It was a small crowd, but that made it easier to meet almost everyone, at least those on the nude side. I got in some relaxing, which was my main objective of this trip. But I did spend a lot of time socializing with others. I think 2 AM was the earliest I retired and more often it was close to 4 or 5 AM. I ran into a number of guests who I have traveled with before. That was a pleasant surprise. At least it was for me I hope it was for them, too. I met some others who I recruited for future Wet, Wild, and Wicked trips. I even met a few people from the Phoenix area who I didn't know before.
Reflections (nothing really much about Hedonism II, just some ramblings because this is my web site and I can ramble if I want to)
I may have mentioned to some of you that fate has played a big part in my life over the recent 2-4 years. At the time of some events in my life, I'm not really sure why things happen the way they do. Then later, it becomes clearer. Someone I meet, in a certain place, at a certain time, just because of some seemingly random event really turns out to be someone special. That has happened very often to me. There have been a lot of people with a very positive impact on my life that just seemed to pop into my circle of friends because of a chance decision to be someplace or because I chose to do something different than what I originally planned to do. On top of that, sometimes there is a chain of coincidental experiences with that same person. I've had that happen again in the last few months in my business and personal side of my life. I can't ignore those signs. Now, where is DennyP going with this off the deep end? Did he have too many DennyP specials at the nude bar (ask Delroy or Scumba for one)?
Hell, I'm not really sure where I'm going with this. I just have a feeling that this Hedo trip will turn out to be a fateful one in the near future from a business standpoint. I made the decision to go to Hedo and made the reservations only two days before the trip commenced. That day, I received a card in the mail from the principal of the Jamaican school that we've been helping out for a few years with school supplies and Christmas presents. The day I returned, I got another card in the mail from Jamaica from an ex-Hedo employee who we also gave some donations to for some other school children. I see something brewing in the cards here - pun intended. That part of this saga will play out over the next few months I believe. Stay tuned to this site to see if anything develops.
More Reflections
I live in a beautiful part of this country and I am grateful for that good fortune. Each Sunday night as I return home from church I drive through some of the prettiest areas around here. I sometime take some back roads up into the mountains and sit in my car and reflect on my good fortunes as dusk comes to the mountains and valleys. It's a nice time for some introspective analysis of the state of my life. I think everyone should do that once in a while. I must say I'm happy about my condition. My frequent trips to Hedonism II and the people I've met there are great contributors to that feeling. Just as important, are the people in my regular life business and personal.
My wealth is in my friends and acquaintances. This trip added immensely to my bank account. I want to thank everyone I met last week for that deposit into my balance. I enjoy sharing that wealth. I wish each of you could join me in a week at Hedonism II in the future.
Epilogue finally!
Just as I was getting close to home this evening on my way back from Mass, as I was doing about 50 mph along a dark stretch of road two huge dark shapes appeared in front of me. I'm used to seeing animals like coyotes, road runners, wild pigs, and other wildlife at most any time out here - but right in front of me was a huge cow and her calf. They were slowly walking across the road oblivious to the cars rushing by. That kind of reminded me of the bus ride from Montego Bay to Negril. Fortunately, I didn't see anyone get in an accident. I did see a Sheriff's truck at a fast food place where I stopped and related the story. He gave me an odd look until 3 other people stopped in with the same story.
Tying this back with the above, I wonder what kind of fateful ending there will be to that incident? Maybe I'm destined to be invited for a steak dinner tomorrow.