John - June, 2015
Trip report June 19-27, 2015
I had planned to complete this trip report shortly after returning, but life and Burning Man got in the way, so excuse my lateness.
Travel
I had no problems with flights or connections. Returning, I took off from the old terminal and the air conditioning there needs a serious upgrade. I like arriving in MoBay on a Friday. Ours was one of two flights arriving around lunchtime. I was able to walk right up to an immigration agent with no wait. When I got to the luggage carousel my luggage was waiting and I was through immigrations and customs, and was pulling out of the airport parking lot in 21 minutes – a new record.
I’ve read good things about Club Mobay and might consider that for the departure wait on my next trip.
Weather
As is typical for June, there was rain a few afternoons, but it never really rained hard enough to chase everyone away from the pool area. When rains came I used the opportunity to take a Hedo nap. Two evenings were quite warm and humid. No problem – just peel off some clothes. Ocean water temps were 81-84F.
The resort
The main lobby and entry way are under construction with an estimated opening date of late August, so entry into the resort was through a narrow path by the mini-golf course and behind the piano bar. One of the renovated shop areas, which I think used to sell cigars and watches serves as the check-in area. Before I even got to the check-in area the young man who carried my bag offered me a mimosa or champagne which was quickly bought to me while I was checking in. According to the message boards the construction of the lobby, dining area, and pool deck is still not complete as of the first week of Oct.
I was assigned room 2102. I had a lovely view of…..the back of the new beach grill. This is not one of the renovated rooms, but was nicely painted. It was more than adequate for the 6-8 hours per day that I spent there. The location was convenient on the days I did scuba as it was close to the dive shack and was also close to the dining area. One night the music from the disco did get a bit loud.
The grounds were lovely, as usual. You couldn’t walk far without seeing someone cutting, trimming, or painting.
Several times during the week I would stop and chat with one of the members of the grounds crew. While I never learned his name, he was a pleasure to talk to and reminded me that every day was a treasure to be thankful for.
Several times over the course of the week a tractor with a huge, weighted rake levelled sand along the beach.
Agustus seems to have been banished to the prude side, but made a few visits to the nude beach during the course of the week. He appears to have gotten some type of hearing assist device and it was much easier to communicate with him.
The availability of towels was only an issue one day – after it rained one afternoon. I tried to make a beach towel last a few days, but twice my towel got a gift from a bird in the trees above.
A few afternoons, early in the trip I decided to get off the beach in the afternoon so I would go up to the spa to shave and shower. I like to soak in the sauna before a shave. However, only one of the four showers in the two sides of the spa was working and not very well, so I gave up on that idea pretty quickly. While the sides of the spa are marked Male and Female I did see members of the opposite sex on the other side. I had no problem with that although others might.
The music in the disco was better than that on my last several trips. The DJs seemed to play more pop and dance music than I recall in the past few visits. I can say the same for the music poolside. There were several organized groups at the resort at the same time and they sponsored poolside entertainment. When the DJs left the pool area for some special event someone usually had an ipod and sound dock to keep the beat going.
There were two kinds of Hedo crud going around – the stomach kind and the respiratory kind. I caught the respiratory kind and it kept me off of the dive boat one day. I scaled things back a bit, stopped drinking, and did not go out one night and that helped me bounce back. I also heard of at least two people who caught the stomach variety, including a friend who basically stayed in his room and disappeared for two days.
The food
The meals in the buffet were more than passable. I ate all meals there except for two lunches which I ate at the CO beach grill. I would have eggs and fruit for breakfast. After one visit to the egg station, Austin would see me coming and ask if I wanted “The usual”. Papayas, mangos, and bananas were available about every other day. There was a GREAT selection of juices. And don’t forget the Jamaican coffee. Lunch was usually a salad and bit of ice milk, but I did try some of the local curried products, the jerk pork and chicken, and the local vegetable mixes. Dinner was a different story. There were always several choices of meat. All were yummy and spiced like I would like them. Only one night one cut of beef was a bit tough. The Friday night buffet offered up a fresh selection of sushi and excellent shrimp. There was a nice martini bar for those so inclined.
The people
June is a high repeater month and I was a long time June regular, so I was sure that I would see someone from previous trips, and I was not disappointed. There were also several organized groups including the Krew de Krazy Life, my friends from Castaways Travel, the Texas Two-steppers, and the Wild Women. Several of them sponsored poolside entertainment including music and pool games conducted by SeX Games. The SeX Games crew was fun and seemed to have left their obnoxious whistle at home this trip.
Occupancy was higher than I have seen it in several trips. I even met one single lady visiting on a day pass who told me that she tried to book a room and was told that the resort was full, which was clearly NOT the case. That had me wondering if the resort was trying to limit the number of single people or (maybe) single share rooms. But there were clearly rooms available and I would think that having paying bodies in rooms would be better than having them empty.
The diving
I did 10 dives on my 7 non-travel days. I had to take one full day off in the middle of the week due to the respiratory crud.
Certified divers have the opportunity to do two dives daily: one at 9:30 - a deep dive to 90 ft for advanced divers, and one at 11:30 which is usually to 40 or 60 ft. If you have ever had an interest in diving this is the place to try it out. You can get a resort certification, which allows you to go on the 11:30 dives, or to get PADI certified or upgraded. The dive staff is excellent and patient with new divers. My only gripe, and it is not a big one, is that (this week) the later dive was usually crowded and some of the less experienced divers tend to be a bit sloppy and careless and they sometimes do not respect the reef or get too close to other divers. I stopped doing the second dives when the boat was really crowded.
We hit a good variety of dive sites. The reef is coming back and the number of lion fish was down. Typical sights included a great variety of colorful fish, sea cucumbers, nurse sharks and sea turtles. We were visited by a pod of 8-10 dolphins one day including at least one newborn. We visited two sunken planes and one sunken tug boat.
The bigger, primary dive boat was out of operation one day. There appeared to be an issue with the pitch of one of the motors and I believe that it drained the battery overnight and they could not get it started. It seemed fine after recharging the battery.
The activities
Other than diving I did not participate in many of the organized daytime activities. I was mostly happy to sit back and spectate.
One of the best evening activities was the glow party around the pool. All of the colored lights and the crowd clearly having a good time getting down to the music was good fun. The foam party in the disco also looked like fun, but I did not get too deep in the four foot high foam.
Overall, I would rate the sexual atmosphere for the week a lukewarm 6 out of 10. There were some public displays of porn, but mostly it was the same 5 or 6 people.
Things I liked:
Absolutely no problems with the air conditioner or hot water.
Straw cowboy hats can be sexy.
The newly renovated courtyard area took me by surprise. Initially I did not like the astroturf, but the courtyard really is a nice open area for people to gather, before or after dinner, or to step out to from the piano bar. The free wifi was a nice plus.
Things I was not so crazy about:
Two afternoons someone bought a sound dock to the hot tub and pumped the music up pretty loud when the DJs were playing music at the pool. So it was almost like there were conflicting beats feet away from each other. I thought that showed no class. I mean really, if it’s that important that you hear your favorite music, just make a request or stay home.
I would see numerous unopened bottles of champagne on some of the decks in the morning. Why would someone request champagne and not drink it or keep it cool? Or, if it was a gift in the rooms at least keep it cool or give it away.
Random thoughts:
The selection of premium liquors was good including Jack Daniels, Dewers and Southern Comfort. Champagne was available and plentiful.
The winners of the free nights awarded at the Repeater’s Party had 17 visits without previously winning.
Arriving on a Friday and departing on a Saturday is much easier than arriving on Saturday and departing on Sunday.
Overall impressions
There are good things happening to the grounds and the resort structures. I anxiously await completion, but doubt I will be back until construction is complete.