John - August, 2012
Trip report Friday Aug 17 through Sunday Aug 28, 2012
It has been more than a year since my last trip home and even longer since I wrote a trip report. However on the occasion of my 20th visit I wanted to relive things a bit and give a little something back.
Allow me to fall back on my previous report format.
The tan fades and the temperatures drop, but the memories linger.
Travel
I live in New England, but had business in NJ/PA immediately after my return so I drove to, parked at, and left from Newark airport. I figured that would save less wear and tear on the tail end of the trip.
I hate what is happening to the airline industry. Taxes and fees make up one quarter to one third of the total airfare cost. Almost no one serves decent, free, food anymore unless you are travelling to Europe or some other far, international location. Forget about getting anything decent to eat going to Jamaica… I was particularly pissed that the airfare for this trip cost between 2-3 times what I had paid in the past. But hold out for the big reveal on both of these last two items.
US Air took off and landed on time going in both directions. On the way down I had to stop for a brief layover in Charlotte. Coming back I connected further north in Philadelphia. Since I travelled south on a Friday morning the crowd at Immigrations and Customs was manageable. Even though I was anxious to get my vacation started, I was patient and enjoyed people watching and trying to guess who else might be going to Hedo. It was a fun little game to play. Sangster had many Immigration desks manned and I was through immigration and customs, had my bag, and was in the Super Clubs waiting room in about 25 minutes. I was offered a bottle of iced water and had my paperwork in hand in a few minutes. Super Clubs had my paperwork completed before I got there and the form was a big upgrade from the simple voucher of the past. I noticed that the new form actually had my assigned room on it, so if you are familiar with the layout of the property you can figure out your room location while you are still in the airport.
I spent about 15 minutes in the Super Clubs lounge before they gathered us and we headed off for the bus. There were 2 couples, myself, and 2 single females going to Hedo, plus a few others who continued on to another resort after we were dropped off. The shuttle bus ride was slow, we went through several rain pockets, and the driver made a pit stop at the Global Villa Resort for a pee break. I don’t think anyone took advantage of the food and drinks available. Returning on a Sunday afternoon was fun. The bus had picked up several other couples before stopping to pick us up at Hedo, so the bus was full. When my friends put on a show from Moon Hill everyone in the bus broke into laughs and clapped hands except for one woman who clearly was horrified. I took a few pictures and caught her in one of them and the look on her face is priceless. I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when they discussed that later. I also wondered if the other couples had nearly as good a time as we did. They certainly seemed to keep to themselves more – but vacations are different things to different people.
Sangster was short of being a madhouse. I have seen far worse. US Air had two lines for customer check-in located in the main area of the airport lobby for their next two flights out, so you simply had to determine which line you were supposed to be in and then things went smoothly. I took off from the new terminal. The air conditioning makes the wait tolerable and there was free wifi, so I was able to catch up on email and FB my new best friends.
When I got on the plane I found out why my airfare was so expensive – I had booked a first class return seat without knowing it. Oh joy! The longest leg of my trip was spent in first class. If I didn’t land so late and didn’t still have a full hour plus drive afterwards I might have taken advantage of the free cocktails….and the food and service were much better. The extra seat width and leg room made it worthwhile for me and my over-tired body. That is definitely the way to return home from a long, tiring trip.
Weather
We had afternoon showers almost as regular as clockwork the first few days. Between 3 and 4pm a deluge would come. Some days you could see it coming across the bay and it was sometimes bad enough to chase people off the beach and pool area. Sometimes people would huddle under the protection of the pool bar or make tents of the pool cushions, and one afternoon we used the rain as an excuse to hold a grotto stuffing party. The air temperatures during the day were in the middle to upper 80s most days. The summer evenings were not nearly as hot and humid as I remember from some of my June trips. Ocean water temps were 82-86 F.
The Resort
The resort was just as lush as ever. It seems that every day there were staff working on trimming some trees, cutting the grass, or cleaning up some major project around the main pool or tennis courts.
I kind of miss the trapeze and the trampoline. I also missed, and commented on (as did several other people) that the ocean floats were a cool feature that was sadly missing. There was a single paddleboard anchored out off of the nude beach, but that is not the same. You can’t do on a paddleboard, what you could do on the old floats. The volleyball court on the nude side was down and had one pole missing. It didn’t look like they had any intention of replacing it soon. The beach looked like it could use some sand, but it almost always looks that way in my opinion.
The music in the disco was good. I stopped in each night, usually about midnight, and (sadly) the disco only drew more than a small handful of people on two or three nights, and one of those nights was the night of the pajama party. More on that and the occupancy level later.
The first day that I got there, I went right to the pool, and the music was awesome. I could have sworn that I heard David Guetta, Nadia Ali, and Armin Van Buuren and I thought I had died and gone to heaven, but after that the music played at the pool area each day was just OK. Many times there were no ECs around to hook up the sound system till well into the afternoon, and when they did come around they played a lot of crap. I would have been happy if they had let one of us hook up an ipod or even if the ECs hooked up some device and just let it shuffle.
I have come to really like the electronic card keys. I also liked the big, in-room safes that you can set your own combination to. Since I had a business trip immediately after, I travelled with a cell phone, an iPad, and a laptop. The laptop and iPad never came out of the safe.
I was assigned Room 1111, which was ocean-front prude, just a short walk from the disco. I had a spectacular view of the beach each morning. I could hear the disco from outside of my room but the noise never interfered with my sleep.
The cable TV now has three 24-hour porno channels. If I remember correctly they were 113 (unknown), 115 (Playboy) and 116 (10Star – XTSY). I heard others say that they had a 4th porn channel, but I never had the time or motivation to go through the channels.
At the Repeaters party the winner of the 5 “free” nights went to a couple with 8 previous trips. When the chance came to give the free nights to the person who had won previously I think I was the only one who had my hand up. I had won previously on my 13th visit.
The last few trips I haven’t felt the need to leave the resort. I suffer from serious FOMO (fear of missing out) and worry that I will miss something if I leave.
The Food
We had dinner at Martino’s several times and at the Japanese restaurant once. The food at the Japanese restaurant was good, and they did a good job making a vegetarian option for one of our group, but basically I go there for the camaraderie. I had the tenderloin on all trips to Martino’s and it was yummy. I also heard good things about the chops, the shrimp, and the pasta. Being waited on, and eating in air conditioning is also very welcome. The selection at the antipasto bar was small, but tasty. Besides the fact that we like being waited on, we purposely spent a lot of time in Martino’s as it was Evelyn’s last week working at the resort. She has been one of our regular servers going back as far as I can remember and we wanted to spend time with her, let her know that she was appreciated, and wish her well.
The meals in the buffet were passable. Friday’s dinner was the best. On Fridays there was lobster, which was a bit overcooked, but still a treat. Other nights there was a decent selection of items to choose from, and I always found something tasty to eat almost each trip. I eat a lot of salads, fruits, and vegetables and was always able to find something to eat at breakfast or lunch. I made an effort to get off of the beach for a bit at lunch each day and would go up to the dining room and have a salad. Oddly, there was a shortage of lettuce the first days there and they offered up shredded white cabbage instead. The shredded cabbage made an interesting alternative on the traditional Caesar salad.
There was no Appleton rum at any of the bars (WTF?), but they had Jack Daniels, Jim Beam, and Southern Comfort. Champagne was always available on request.
The People
I had planned this trip in order to get to the resort before friends who were coming in from New England and the Midwest. So, I was there several days before them. I am not usually concerned about going there by myself as I can usually find someone who has been there on one of my other trips or meet others pretty quickly. Despite travelling as a single male I found myself in the middle of a crowd in the pool within minutes arrival, talking like I had been friends with them all week (or longer). I was never hurting for someone to talk to, or have some type of good time with. There were other single males there, including one who was a bit touchy-feely (and who slowly adapted), and two single females, who never came over to the nude side (their loss). The remainder were couples.
Occupancy was very, very low. The official statement (heard second hand) was 35%, but I would estimate a total of, maybe, 120 people. There did not appear to be anyone in the back units on either side of the resort. The low occupancy had an interesting effect on the activities. On one hand the low occupancy meant never having to hunt for a seat in the dining room, but it also meant that the ECs had no motivation to do a lot of the scheduled activities. The low occupancy also meant that it was easy to meet and talk to almost everyone there. As a result I think I met, interacted with, and came away with more close Hedo friends than on any other trip. It also meant that there was a lot of down time – there were a few too many times around the pool and hot tub and in the evenings when almost no one was around – like when the catamaran cruise was out. There were not enough people at the resort to justify keeping both the piano bar and the disco open. Almost every night it was either one or the other that attracted folks. The night of the PJ party there were more people in the piano bar than in the disco. I would guess that only 15-20 people showed up for the PJ party.
As I mentioned earlier, occupancy was very low, but the sexual activity level was pretty high. I think that the low occupancy helped facilitate meeting and making friendships more quickly than might normally be obvious with higher occupancy. Then again, maybe people were just doing more out in the open than I am used to seeing.
The Entertainment Coordinators
I had read on line (through the Dennyp message board) that this group of ECs was one of the strongest ever. That was not consistent with my observations. First, I will say that upon arrival I dropped my backpack in my room and walked right to the nude pool – I hadn’t even gotten to the lion when someone down the beach shouted out my name. It was the former EC Ashley, who had worked at the resort 10 years ago (according to her). She said that she recognized me and my walk coming down the beach (I didn’t know I “had a walk”.) Regardless, it is good to return home and have someone recognize you within minutes of arrival.
Winston was in attendance for a few days, but left to fly north to do some PR at the annual Hedo Reunion at Sandy Hook, NJ. He was his usual talented self and did a great job hosting in the piano bar at night. He had not returned by the time I left.
The remainder of the ECs were generally useless. I saw almost no organized activities on the beach – no ring toss, no volleyball, no scavenger hunt, no bocce. Oh well. They did have afternoon pool games or trivia and there was one male EC who was somewhat obnoxious. He would shout across the pool and yell at anyone that was talking during his pool games. It was not cute or endearing in any way and pissed off quite a few people.
The Diving
I did seven dives on the eight non-travel days. I took one day off in the middle of the week when I was up late and did not feel 100% the next morning and Hurricane Isaac stirred up the surf at the end of the week cancelling all watersports activities. In my previous 100+ dives from the resort I have never seen more than 1 shark at a time. It was usually around the site called The Arches, so I always assumed it was the same shark that frequented the area. This trip we saw as many as 4 at one time and it was spectacularly exciting. Several of them were quite large – I would say 12+ feet. They are amazing to watch from such proximity. The only bigger charge I have had while diving was in 2008 when a dolphin came within an arm’s length of my head, swam around me and took off.
Derrick and Clifton Ritchie along with Grantley and Termaine were our divemasters throughout the week. The wheels on the dive cart are broken AGAIN, and these guys really do their best to get everyone suited up safely and comfortably and to make sure that things go smoothly.
Despite the low occupancy there were a lot of divers and trainees in attendance. When the boat was full I went out on the earlier, deep dive for advanced divers. Those trips were my favorite as they were less crowded and the pace was slower. Two of my travelling companions got their advanced open water certification while I was there, so I also knew all of the people on the deep dives and their skill levels.
I have said this before in other trip reports, but if you are interested in diving or ever wondered about trying it, this is the place to do it. The training is top notch, the equipment good enough, visibility usually at least 60-80 ft, and the water temperature consistently in the mid 80s.
I bring my own mask, fins, snorkel and regulator and use the resort tank, BC and weights, but you can go down with nothing and they will set you up.
As a gimmick I took a gps watch out on all dives. While it didn’t work underwater, it did track where I went into the water and where I came out. As a result I have GPS tracking from several of the common dive sites.
Cool T-shirts seen at Hedo:
I like long walks on the beach…and blow jobs.
Random, cool things that I observed or liked:
People who you haven’t been introduced to yet, who jump up and down and cheer when you walk into the disco!
A casual shower with the resort supplied Lever 2000 body wash.
Absolutely no problems with the air conditioner or hot water.
Newlyweds on day passes.
Pool-side lube tests.
Being completely clueless as to why a woman would work her room number into a conversation.
Orange baseball hats.
Areas of a dive site called “The Caves” that went back so far that it was dark.
Knowing almost everyone who participated in the wet T-shirt contest.
Some of my favorite times were when we would gather at a table near the prude pool before going in for dinner.
If someone comes knocking on your door in the middle of the night at home it is usually not a good thing. At Hedo, however, that middle-of-the-night knock on the door could mean something very different.
Random thoughts:
I have AT&T international service on my cell phone and got strong Digicell signals. I did not buy the resort wifi service (which I think was $90US/week), make or receive any calls, or check email all week.
A few days when it rained in the afternoon I took the opportunity to go up to the spa for a nice shave and shower. A good soak in the sauna makes for a great shave. But note that there is no light in the sauna and the steam room was not working when I was there.
I tend to do a lot of walking at Hedo, usually walking the whole resort at least once each day. The asphalt walkways and the hard beaches can really cause wear and tear on your feet and ankles. Make sure that you have good, comfortable, supportive shoes that you can wear to and from the beach.
Bring twice as much hair conditioner and skin moisturizer as you would for an equivalent trip somewhere else. You will be glad you did.
There was a lot of talk about the resort being up for sale and what the future of the resort might be. The potential for sale was blamed for everything from the lack of Appleton rum and the lack of lettuce for salad. But overall I saw the same usual care and attention being paid to the property as a whole. I sure hope that things don’t change too much. (Well, OK – they can do something with the climbing wall and finally find some use for the skating rink – maybe build out the disco in that direction…)
Overall impressions
Overall, I would rate the sexual atmosphere for the week a 9 out of 10. The week started out with a bang and stayed at a very high level. There was a lot of poolside activity. I did not make it to, or stay at the hot tub most nights. The daytime activities seemed just as busy, if not busier than the nights.
Quite possibly the best trip yet. The people were great, despite the low occupancy. The energy level was great. I got very little sleep.