Ken & Keri - 04/02

We arrived at O'Hare just as the Air Jamaica people were opening up for check in. We were the first to check in and we got our favorite seats. Exit row!!! Lots of extra space to stretch out. Surprisingly, the flight was only half full. And even more surprising, we left a few minutes early!! Woo hoo!! It was a great flight as usual.

We arrived at MoBay and headed for customs, which was moving pretty quickly, except for the line we chose! But, we finally made it through with no hassle, got our bags and headed over to catch the bus. This was the first time we had taken the bus since our first trip and we actually enjoyed it. We had the bus to ourselves and our driver was a great guy. With one quick pit stop for Red Stripes, we were off to Hedo. They have gotten a lot of the road finished! But, there are still some portions that are not even close to being done. It's slow moving through those sections but they make up for the time lost when they hit the finished sections! It only took about an hour and ten minutes to get to Hedo.

When we arrived at Hedo we were greeted by our friends who had arrived early that morning via the red eye from LA. Then a few minutes later more of our friends showed up. Seeing all of these wonderful people again was a great way to start the trip.

After we all said our hellos, Ken headed off to the bar to get our first drinks and I started the check in process. Now, I have to tell you, I was pleasantly surprised when I was handed our room key immediately!! That has never happened before. By the time Ken made his way back with our drinks, I was checked in and had our keys. So, it was off to the room to drop off our bags.

We have a friend that lives inland who we usually link up with when we get into Negril, so we called him to come and pick us up. We had never been to his home before so he took us there. He lives about 25 minutes from Hedo in the country, where he is a farmer. It is absolutely beautiful and peaceful out there! It is nothing like the farms here in the midwest. His land was very hilly and so lush. What I wouldn't give to be able to grow pineapples and coconuts in our back yard. He cut down a couple of coconuts for us to drink and we chatted for awhile, then it was time to head back to Hedo. He said we would stop in town for a beer and then head back. Town consisted of about four buildings and a stand that sold jerk chicken and beer. It was a beautiful little place. I am so glad that our friend brought us to see where he grew up. It was very peaceful. But, we were ready to head back to Hedo and rejoin our friends who were wondering what the heck was taking us so long!

I have to say, we love all of the new additions! Especially the waterslide! It was so much fun! Just so everyone knows...You go faster when you're naked! It's the only way to go. All of the little pools around the slide are nice too. At night they have lights that change colors, which made for some great photos. We spent quite a bit of time around the prude pool/waterslide area sans clothes and nobody seemed to mind.

Now, I can't really give you a day by day account of our trip because it's all a bit blurry! But, we did have a daily routine. We met everyone at breakfast around 9:00 everyday and then it was back to the room for showers and then down to the nude pool.

Our crew spends a lot of time at the pool! And why not, it has everything we need. One of the couples in the crew got the last room right by the pool so we even had a private bathroom to use this time around. It worked out well for storing all of our stuff too. Thanks guys!!

Just about every afternoon we would all head over to the waterslide for a little fun. It was a great addition to our daily routine! Then it was back to the pool. We had jerk chicken almost every night before going back to get ready for dinner. Now, let's talk about dinner. First let me say that the Japanese restaurant is fantastic! We ate there twice. And Pastafari's was excellent as usual. But, I have to say, dinner in the dining room was not so hot. It wasn't awful, but it could have been better. The salad bar was always good if you couldn't find something else that you liked.

We did check out the disco once or twice but we aren't really big fans of the disco. Maybe if they had more of a music selection we would have been there a bit more. We found that they are still playing the same songs that they have played for the last few years. It was a little boring. But that's just us. There were people that really enjoyed it too. Same thing with the piano bar. We would really just pop in there to get a drink after dinner but we didn't hang out there. It was nice one night after dinner a bunch of us went into the piano bar to sit and relax for a while in the air conditioning and have a drink. This was before Dave got there to play, so it was pretty quiet.

So what did we do with our evenings after dinner? Well, we would head back to our rooms and change and then it was off to the point. Which our group has renamed "Puffer Point". It got that name because of the puffer fish that hung out by the rocks by the point. It was a great place to sit back enjoy the local herbs and laugh with all of our friends. We even brought a couple candles with us for ambiance. : )

We almost forgot that we weren't at Hedo. One of the catamarans was leaving (I think it was from Lido) and they mooned Rick's. So a couple of us girls stood up and flashed them. Then one of the guys, stood up and gave them a helicopter (Use your imagination!). After he sat down we realized that there was a family about 50 feet from us! They weren't too disturbed thank goodness. Everyone got a good laugh out of it. It is amazing how quickly Rick's clears out after the sunset! So it was back to the bus and back "home".

Ok, now that I'm done rambling, I should probably summarize the basics. Towels were plentiful, service at the nude pool bar was excellent as usual(Thanks Delroy!), I dream about Robert's grilled ham and cheese and fries(Does he keep getting better looking or what?!), the staff was wonderful and welcoming, the resort looks great(They were constantly doing landscape work), no complaints!

Oh yeah, one complaint, we had to leave! We were among the first to leave this time around and man was it hard! I actually sobbed. I always cry when we leave Hedo but this time it was a full on sob! We were really going to miss our friends. It will be awhile until we are all together again and that just stinks! So we said goodbyes at the pool and then a bunch of our friends walked us up front. More hugs and kisses and then we hopped on the bus. We got a beautiful send off of moons as we pulled away. (Did I tell you guys you have great butts?!)

We took the plane back to MoBay and we really enjoyed the flight. A buzz of the nude beach and then our last look at the island that we love so much. We were pretty drunk when we got to MoBay, so we did a quick shopping spree (Had to get that rum cream and coffee),

and headed up to Margaritaville for some food. Along the way we bumped into some friends that left Hedo long before we did that day. Their flight was delayed by four hours. We chatted with them for awhile and then said our goodbyes (again). We woofed down our food pretty quickly because we had to catch our flight. We hurried out of Margaritaville only to find out that we had an hour delay! So we chatted with our friends for a while longer and then said our goodbyes (yet again!).

We want to thank all of our friends! We love you guys and miss you all terribly! We were glad that those of you that defected to Hedo 3 last year came back to join us too! We knew you'd come back! ; )

Ken & Keri - April, 2002