Ross & Ramona - February, 2009

February 14-22
Trip Summary

Saturday:

Woke up in the pre-dawn hours to get to the airport.  Everything there
went smoothly.  Traveled all carry-on this time, (we overpacked so
much last time).  The shuttle bus was easy to find, and they were
quite quick to get us on our way.  We made a mid-way stop for red-stripe
and such, and then we felt like we were beginning to get our groove on.
Met Damon and Lori on the ride up.

We got to the property around 2pm.  It was early enough that they
didn't have our rooms ready, but we were free to have lunch around the
main stage and we did a little bit of shopping at the gift shop.  The
whole place was decked out for Valentine's day, with a few spa
specials listed.  We decided to go for the chocolate rub later on in
the week.

Got into our rooms, threw our clothes in the drawers as quickly as we
could, chattering away about what we'd do first.  The room was a
first floor ocean view prude.  Nice and clean.  Ramona loved to look
out onto the beach and that water.  All our previous Hedo rooms had
been garden view nudes at H2 and H3 and a quad room at H3.  We think
this location was the best so far.  It was quiet enough that we could
sleep, had a beautiful view to wake up to, and was nicely situated
near the disco and main stage area, so that we could get up, get food
and drink and just keep walking west to the nude side.  OK, so with
our stuff stowed, and Ramona in her pink cowboy hat, we left to get
some hummingbirds and hit the beach.

Note: there is this new deal about towels.  A past problem with towels
had been that they would run out of clean towels at the pools.
They've started a new policy of visitors hanging on to their towels
and exchanging dirty for clean at certain areas.  So you keep your
beach towels with you as you go about your day and trade them for
clean ones sometime in the morning (or whenever you start the day).
It is awkward, but not as awkward as not having towels on chilly
evenings.

We got our hummingbirds and towels and went to the nude side.  The
last time we were here was early August, and in comparison, this time
it was crowded (it's all relative, though, as it gets more crowded
later this week).  The beach was much much improved over last time.  I don't
know if it's seasonal or what, but the usual carpet of seaweed which covers
the floor of the bottom of the beach-cove was much more sparse and sandy,
making it more fun to hang out in the water.  A good many more fun blow-up
flotation devices were out on the water, some recently brought and donated
by the kind visitors from the previous week.

Another comparison I think we should make is about the weather.  In
August it storms about once a day.  In February, not a drop of rain.
Always sunny, with beautiful sunsets.

We also heard that the prude side was clothing optional this week.
Not sure if this was because of a nude take-over or because management
is trying something new.  But we were glad for that.

We said hello to the nude pool grotto.  Hung out a bit longer, and
then made our way to another good friend, a prude side outdoor canopy
bed.  We had dinner at the main stage, watching tons of people in
their valentine's day best (oops! we hadn't thought to bring any).

We went to the piano bar, where they were doing a Karaoke night.  We
met Amy and Jeff, and enjoyed Amy's rendition of the Rose (the first
of many).  We stayed and sang a few songs until it closed.  Then we
went to the disco, which was a bit dead, made some rounds at the hot
tub, and turned in.

Sunday:

Trying keep our good habits for as long as we can, we went to the gym.
3 out of the 5 treadmills were out of order and the 4th was acting a
bit flakey.  Ross likes his running.  It cures his hangovers.  So this
was a negative.  Eventually, he got on the good one and had a blissful
time, running three miles, watching people walking outside in the sun,
listening to John Galt's speech on his Atlas Shrugged audiobook
(doesn't get much more indulgent than that).

Tonight's theme was to Jamaica night.  We decided to hit the gift shop
to see if we could pick up anything for that.  Their gift store was
well stocked (except for a lack of redbull -- Ross sad).  Ramona
bought a very nice bag which we used for the rest of the trip.  Ross
bought some green, yellow, and black hot-pants.

Breakfast was dirty bananas for us, and then on to the beach.  We
swapped some stories with Lori and Damon.  Ross meets Mitch, whose
wife, Sharon, is on an informal shopping mission of sorts with the locals.
Sunday is a big day of transition, a lot of people just coming or going.
We also meet Rhonda and John, who, if we recall right, were sticking
around after rest of their group left.

EC Omeca comes by and incites an expedition to do naked water-sliding.
We meet Steven and Michelle on the way there.

Again the evening is spent at the main-stage.  A lot of Jamaican music
and tasty food.

Then piano bar.  The favorite thing in piano bar this week was getting
people up on the piano doing kinky stuff (Dion did a good job as piano
guy).  It was fun to watch.  Amy sang the Rose, doing another
excellent job.  At the disco, Ross's hotpants go over well, but the
disco got dead pretty fast again.

Monday:

This morning our exercise consisted of a Kayak trip out to and around
Booby Cay, a small island just off the property where we went last
time.  Really pretty water and scenery.  The most important thing
about this trip, however, was the discovery of the lobster salesmen
who set up a little lobster grilling operation on the cay, selling
them for $10 a piece.  We picked out our lobster, and were told it
would be shuttled to the beach at 1pm for lunch, giving us plenty of
time to kayak back and hang out on the beach (see later).

Yes, it is possible to make these lobster deals right there at the
nude beach, but it was more fun to pick out lobsters out, and smelling
the garlic and butter coming from the grill really got us in the mood
for them.

We make it back to the beach with plenty of time to spare.  Ramona
decides to use that time well.  We swim out to the floating platform
with a cup of our favorite agent provocateur, Appleton rum cream.
Some folks there are playing some Doobie brothers out of their iPod

and portable speakers.  Before we know it, a boat tour  from another
resort has parked itself to watch and honk its horn in support.

When we come back to shore, we meet up with Amy and Jeff, and share
the rum cream.

Then the lobster arrives.  Yummy.  We did not get our act together to
get more lobster on later days, unfortunately.  We chat with Steven
and Michelle about lobster and Booby Cay.  They tell us that they got
snorkels and snorkeled out to the Cay.  Sounds like that would be a
fun trip too.  Next time.

We spend the evening watching the sunset from the edge of the nude
beach.  Mitch and Sharon come by to watch it with us and make plans
for the evening.

We hang out at the piano bar, with M&S, and then at the disco.  Now,
we have to take a break here for a public service announcement.  This
evening, we took some good things, but we learned that unless you know
what you are taking, you should not take it.  We leave the disco to spend
the night curled up in our beds waiting for it to be over.

Tuesday:

Kind of a lost day for us.  We slept for 80% of the day.  Woke up
around 2pm, got some grub at the Reggae cafe, and then went back to
bed until midnight.  Headed to the main stage for the best midnight
hotdogs we've ever had, and then to the disco.  It was PJ night.
Sadly, we missed most of it.

This was the first night of major hot-tub action that we saw.

Wednesday:

Trying to get back into good habits, and well rested, we take a 10am
Pilates class given by Enita at the gym.  There we meet Enita and Joe,
who are doing the morning exercise classes this week.

We got our breakfast drinks and lounged about at the beach, keeping
our heads down, until it was time for our chocolate scrub appointment
at the spa.

This was a new kind of exfoliating experience for Ross.  They covered
us with chocolate and some abrasive scrub and then, just like the name
says, they scrubbed us.  Our skin was silky smooth (and smelled great)
after, as Amy will attest.  It was pretty rejuvenating.  We'll do
again.

Now at this point, a large group called the FlufferNutters, are
beginning to trickle into the resort for a big week the next week.  We
meet a few, and at the piano bar this evening we're all taught their
"Hedo song" by their leader John.  Also at piano bar EC Winston showed his
mad singing skills and solicited people for talent night.

Disco had its moments for about an hour.  Saw lots of hot-tub action again.

Thursday:

Ross gets another run in at the gym, but mostly a low-key day.

Now, tonight was toga night and talent show night.  Ross was going to
do something for the talent show, so we hung out at the main stage for
lunch, for the rehearsal and also the toga tieing lesson which was
sheduled to happen, but didn't.

We took the long beach walk, through Sandals and passed Beaches.  We
get pretty far up the beach and saw a blue and white house that the
sign says is owned by H2 and available for rent.  Didn't notice that
before.  During this walk, Ross is able to finally purchase some
redbull from a local store (the H2 gift shop never got it in stock).
So if you find that the H2 shop doesn't have something you want, it's
worth taking a walk up the beach and availing yourself of the other
options.

On the way back between Beaches and Sandals, Ross gets into a
economics discussion with the guard.  Not sure if he was just having
fun or what, but he really seemed eager to hear what an American
thought about the world financial crisis.

This was our second trip and there was a "Repeaters Cocktail" this
evening.  We hurried back for that.  Nice finger foods, but really, if
you aren't a major repeater (only our second trip to H2), it isn't
worth the hurry.

For some reason, perhaps related to the global economic downturn, they
really didn't emphasize toga night.  We had to call up someone to even
get the sheets.  We kind of remember rules like "no toga, no food" on
previous toga nights.  So that evening there were maybe 2 dozen people
at dinner in their finest Roman garb, and the rest, in the usual civies.

The talent show was a lot of run.  Ross sang the Ballad of the
Scotsman (surprised at how well Hedo band accompanied him).  Amy did a
great performance of Janis Joplin's "Mercedes Benz" song.  The guy who
really stole the show was Dr. Paul, who belted out "House of the
Rising Sun".

EC Winston gave an excellent drag show.

Then came the toga segment of the evening.  One good thing about
having so few people in togas, is that we were both crowned Queen and
King of toga night (winning some rum and some earrings).

Seemed like after that, there were big red targets on our foreheads,
because that night at piano bar, Dion picked on us to get up on the
piano and visually assist him with "YMCA".

The disco was totally hopping this night.  The DJ did a good job, kept
everyone dancing.

Friday:

It seems we had our second wind.  Ross and Ramona start up at the gym,
get our dirty bananas, and then hang out at the nude pool.

Had lunch at the reggae cafe.  You know, it might just be that we know
more about what's good to eat (curried goat, jerk chicken, chicken and
beef patties), or that they were making it better, but we had good
experiences with the food this time around.

The ECs were really visible today, and more FlufferNutters had shown up.
So it was fun to hang out in the pool and just make conversation.

The FN's kept the hot-tub constantly filled.  Lots of games and fun
stuff to watch.

We spent the evening on the beach watching the sunset.

The theme tonight was Rock Star.  We didn't quite have the wardrobe
for that, but we made due with a few things we had.  Some of the FNs
were costumed to the hilt (like Dianne and Max).  We spent dinner at
the main stage, watching everyone.  The FNs were definitely in the
majority.

The piano bar was crowded and way fun.  John made some announcements
to his FN followers regarding the clothing optional prude side (I
think this is definitely the way to go, H2).

The disco was very good again.

The hot-tub was pretty packed.

Saturday:

Today we went on one of those cruises to coves and caves, nicknamed
the "booze cruise".  This was the first time we'd done that.  Although
it costs a bit extra, and you have to wake up earlyish, this excursion
was well worth it.  More beautiful water, some caves, the boat is a
lot of fun, and you get a lot of swimming and snorkeling in.  It's
clothing optional, so you get to flash other boats.  One warning, we
feel that we should make is that if you aren't careful about the slide
off the boat, you can make a surprisingly huge belly flop.  Ramona's
impressive bruise surfaced a couple days later.

Back at the nude pool we have a good time with the FlufferNutters.
One of them was passing around a jar of marshmellow flush.  Again the
ECs are way active, and play some body-shots games.  Ramona gets a
temporary tat from Dianne, and we meet our two new grotto buddies,
Ping and Stefan.

We hung out by the hot-tub as the evening set in.  Again it was
super-crowded.

This evening we dined at Pastafari (we ended up not getting our acts
together for Munasun).  Mmmmmmm Pastafari is always excellent every
time, at either club.

Karaoke night at the piano bar.  Ross and Ramona duetted "paradise by
the dashboard light".  Dr. Paul was there and did some great numbers
too.  The bartender and the ECs.  You know, some people write off the
Karaoke nights.  We like them too.

Disco was ok for about an hour.

The hot-tub was pretty nice.  Not very packed.  Chatted with Dr. Paul and Tee.

On the way back from the hot-tub was crashed our way into the disco
for some clothing optional dancing.  Hey!  It was our last day!

Sunday:
Ramona nurses a hangover (as well as lack of sleep) while Ross
takes the hair of the dog, in the form of that bottle of rum we'd won for
our togas.  Kids, remember, you only have two kidneys and one liver.
They do get tired.

As we get on the shuttle, the driver makes Ramona put on more clothes
(though what she had on was technically legal).  Sigh.  So sad.

We get to the airport with plenty of time, run through all that and
poof!  Back to reality.


Summary:

Weather was great.  Hadn't noticed EC Winston before, but he was
really fun.  EC's Mystery, Omecka, and Mega were treats as always.
Disco was mostly dead this time around.  Best place to eat: Pastafari.
Best place to eat regularly: Reggae cafe on the prude side.  Take the
booze cruise.  We really liked having a clothing optional prude side.  Also
eally liked having an ocean view room.  Staff was very responsive to
technical troubles we had with the TV.  Fix the treadmills next time, please!

Ross & Ramona